Great Albums You May Have Missed
John Barleycorn Reborn - Dark Britannica ( 2007 )
For those convinced that the glory days of the English folk scene are behind us, I'd like to draw your attention to the first in a series of excellent compilations put together by the Coven Spring and Woven Wheat Whispers labels.
John Barleycorn Reborn focuses on dark English folklore and the cycles of birth, death and rebirth. In the words of Woven Wheat Whispers' Mark Coyle :
" This compilation explores the darker side of British folk music, evoking the mystery of our ancient past and peoples, the strangeness of their beliefs, arcane traditions and the remnants of this carried down the centuries as folklore. " It's a remarkably eclectic collection, taking in traditional folk, pagan folk crackling with menace and unease, neo folk, folk rock, mediaeval folk, psychedelic folk and a bunch of more unusual folk / subtle electronic hybrids that I'm not even sure have a name. While folk's commercial fortunes may not be a patch on what they were in the days of Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention ( although the Unthanks seem to be doing okay for themselves ), this paints a pretty convincing argument for the current revival trumping the old hands for overall ambition and inventiveness. I'm tempted to use the old chestnut 'an embarrassment of riches.' Let's say I have.
There's a remarkable level of consistency but highlights for me are Mary Jane's funky folk- rock take on Twa Corbies which sounds like it's influenced by Gentle Giant as much as Fairport Convention. Pumajaw's The Burning Of Auchindoun draws you in with it's almost post-rock feel, all hypnotic guitar riffs and droning soundscapes. The Straw Bear Band's Trial By Bread & Butter sounds like the pagan offspring of Devendra Banhart and John Lennon. Martyn Bates The Resurrection Apprentice is a beautifully creepy pipe piece which tells just as evocative a story as the vocal pieces on here. Electronic Voice Phenomena's The Sorrow of Rimmon sounds like Portishead backing Marianne Faithful.
That's the real appeal of this collection. Every artist has their own very distinct personality, but there's a remarkable cohesion that a set of this scope shouldn't be able to achieve as effortlessly as it has. Dive in, it's a great way to sample the current dark folk scene - there are plenty of artists here I'll be exploring further, so keep an eye on future reviews if this is your bag.
BUY John Barleycorn Reborn ON CD HERE.
Part 1: Birth:
1. The Horses Of The Gods – John Barleycorn (3:56)
2. The Owl Service – North Country Maid (2:39)
3. The Story – The Wicker Man (2:30)
4. Damh The Bard – Spirit of Albion (4:15)
5. Mary Jane – Twa Corbies (5:13)
6. Andrew King – Dives and Lazarus (6:29)
7. The Triple Tree – Three Crowns (5:37)
8. Sol Invictus – To Kill All Kings (5:55)
9. Sieben – Ogham On The Hill (Remix) (4:03)
10. Sharron Kraus – Horn Dance (3:30)
11. Charlotte Greig And Johan Asherton – Lay The Bent To The Bonny Broom (7:54)
12. Pumajaw – The Burning Of Auchindoun (5:43)
13. Peter Ulrich – The Scryer & The Shewstone (5:06)
14. Alphane Moon – Where The Hazel Grows (4:30)
15. English Heretic – Hippomania (6:50)
16. Far Black Furlong – Icy Solstice Eye (3:28)
Part 2: Death:
1. The Anvil – John Barleycorn Must Die (4:37)
2. Tinkerscuss – To Make You Stay (2:55)
3. The Straw Bear Band – Trial By Bread & Butter (3:37)
4. Electronic Voice Phenomena – The Sorrow Of Rimmon (3:56)
5. The Purple Minds Of Lazeron – Dragonfly (4:21)
6. Sand Snowman – Stained Glass Morning (5:56)
7. The A. Lords – Summerhouse (5:11)
8. The Kitchen Cynics – The Guidman’s Ground (4:18)
9. Quickthorn – Pew Pew (2:32)
10. Clive Powell – Reed Sodger (4:19)
11. Venereum Arvum – Child 102: Willie and Earl Richard’s Daughter (aka The Birth of Robin Hood) (7:33)
12. Drohne – Nottamun Town (6:55)
13. Stormcrow – Gargoyle (6:16)
14. Doug Peters – Pact (4:21)
15. While Angels Watch – Obsidian Blade (5:07)
16. Xenis Emputae Travelling Band – John Barleycorn: His Life, Death And Resurrection (4:52)
17. Martyn Bates – The Resurrection Apprentice (2:42)
Moody Londoner's Still Corners have released their new video for Endless Summer from last year's excellent Creatures Of An Hour album.
It's Woody Guthrie's 100th Birthday on the 14th of July this year and there are a number of significant releases lined up to celebrate his Centennial.
Billy Bragg and Wilco's Mermaid Avenue is set to be re-released as a 4 disc box set on the 21st of April, containing remastered editions of Volume 1 & 2, the previously unreleased Volume 3 featuring a further 17 tracks recorded during the same sessions, and the Man In The Sand DVD. Preorder here.
We get committed readings of a number of tunes that would end up on his first album, but the real reason to buy this is for the slew of interesting covers. You've likely heard Pretty Peggy-O elsewhere as it stayed in his live repertoire well into 1963. More interesting are his readings of Leadbelly's ever popular In The Pines, which he admits " he don't know so good " yet, and Woody Guthrie's 1913 Massacre, from which he borrowed Song To Woody's melody.
While early offerings from the Moody Blues and the Small Faces ( the excellent That Man ) are present here, the majority of featured artists are unknown outside of psych collecting circles and most of these only released a few singles, which just goes to show how fertile the scene was at this time, as this is a remarkably consistent and often groundbreaking set of songs.
Fleet Foxes mastermind Robin Pecknold has just shared a new demo through his Soundcloud account.
01. Make Believe
This quasi-legal European CD release will be passed up by a number of people because it's not an officially sanctioned release, and because it was recorded smack, bang in the middle of Neil's most maligned run of albums.
We also get a couple of tracks from Trans, which seems to have been given a much needed reappraisal lately, and rightly so - Sample and Hold and Computer Age are both classics and the added punch of the Horse on these versions only reinforces this fact.
Highly rated funky psych folk rarity Refuge by Heaven & Earth has had a long overdue CD release, and there's a vinyl reissue on the way this week.
There's a remarkable level of consistency but highlights for me are Mary Jane's funky folk- rock take on Twa Corbies which sounds like it's influenced by Gentle Giant as much as Fairport Convention. Pumajaw's The Burning Of Auchindoun draws you in with it's almost post-rock feel, all hypnotic guitar riffs and droning soundscapes. The Straw Bear Band's Trial By Bread & Butter sounds like the pagan offspring of Devendra Banhart and John Lennon. Martyn Bates The Resurrection Apprentice is a beautifully creepy pipe piece which tells just as evocative a story as the vocal pieces on here. Electronic Voice Phenomena's The Sorrow of Rimmon sounds like Portishead backing Marianne Faithful.
Love ( 1966 )
A much more ambitious record, with harpsichords,flutes and horns added to the mix and sustained songwriting on the first side which is almost the match of the Forever Changes material. 7 & 7 is refines and perfects the debut's garage sensibilities while She Comes in Colors and Orange Skies show Arthur Lee and Bryan MacLean's songwriting developing rapidly. Revelation takes up all of the second side and is a sprawling blues rock piece with moments of greatness and self indulgence fairly evenly stacked. ( 9/10 ) BUY IT HERE
Forever Changes ( 1967 )
Often regarded as the strongest of the post Forever Changes album, I actually think it's one of their weaker offerings. With a new line up, this is a much more heavy rocking version of Love, which seems to be inspired by the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Santana. Lee still had a great single in him with Always See Your Face, but elsewhere the tracks get a little too jammy with solo's that go on for too long, and you miss the impression that every note is in exactly the right place that the first three albums left you with. Still some good songs here, but they often feel like they're at the demo stage and are crying out for an arranger. ( 5/10 ) BUY IT HERE
Out Here ( 1969 )
Continuing on in the vein of Out Here, this is much more concise and features one of Lee's best post Forever Changes songs in The Everlasting First, which features a notable guitar contribution by Lee's friend Jimi Hendrix. It's not quite as diverse as Out Here however and towards the end the songs do begin to get a little repetitive. It's a little on the short side too, and could do with a couple more quality tracks on the second half to help the flow. ( 6/10 ) BUY IT HERE
Out There
Love Lost ( recorded 1971 )
Reel To Real ( 1974 )
I'd also recommend checking out two archival releases put out by Sundazed. Ifyoubelievein and Candy's Waltz are both full of acoustic demo recordings put down by Bryan Maclean.
The material on Ifyoubelievein is the most interesting and was recorded in the sixties and seventies. Barber John, Fresh Hope, and Strong Commitment in particular are very strong additions to his catalogue.
Lloyd soon jumped ship and headed off on an interesting trajectory of his own which included October Country ( a harmony psych-pop outfit who's single My Girlfriend is a Witch is essential listening) and The Smoke ( a Beach Boys style psych concept group ). Then at the age of 20 he was appointed vice-president of MGM, earned a grammy for producing Lou Rawls's Natural Man, produced the Dirty Dancing soundtrack and worked with Pat Boone on his bizarre heavy metal covers album. Go figure.
Great Albums You May Have Missed
Sixties pop, library music, krautrock, soundtracks, psychedelia and jazz all feature prominently and it seems like they're coming from so many different directions that this should really be a hopelessly confused jumble, but they effortlessly coalesce everything into a very distinctive and individualist whole. 
