★Island
Spooky Two
"Spooky Two is this British blues-rock band's pièce de résistance. All eight of the tracks compound free-styled rock and loose-fitting guitar playing, resulting in some fantastic raw music … their smooth, relaxed tempos and riffs mirrored bands like …
Unhalfbricking
Unhalfbricking is the third album by the British folk rock band Fairport Convention and their second album released in 1969. It is seen as a transitional album in their history and marked a further musical move away from American influences towards m…
What We Did On Our Holidays
Sandy Denny's haunting, ethereal vocals gave Fairport a big boost on her debut with the group. A more folk-based album than their initial effort, What We Did on Our Holidays is divided between original material and a few well-chosen covers. This cont…
Liege & Lief
Liege & Lief is the fourth album by the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. It is the third album the group released in the UK during 1969, all of which prominently feature Sandy Denny as lead female vocalist (Denny did not appear on the grou…
Kip Of The Serenes
*2023 stock* Ireland's answer to the Incredible String Band, Dr. Strangely Strange engaged in the same type of psychedelic acoustic music with folksy arrangements. With traditional instruments like penny whistle, fiddle, harmonium, and mandolin, Dr. …
Solid Air (LP)
Released in February 1973 and regarded by many as the John Martyn album. The title track was written for friend and peer Nick Drake and concerned Drake's mental strife at the time. (Drake took his own life the following year, a great loss to John per…
I've Always Kept a Unicorn: The Acoustic Sandy Denny
"Transcendental. I’ve never heard a voice like Sandy Denny’s. She started out with the band Strawbs, which she left when she realized they weren’t particularly folk enough for her, and joined Fairport Convention, where her, and many others, would mak…
Kip Of The Serenes
Dr. Strangely Strange were an experimental Irish folk group, formed in Dublin in 1967 by Tim Booth and Ivan Pawle. the Strangelys were friends and contemporaries of the Incredible String Band, whose producer Joe Boyd signed them to his Witchseason ma…
Sunday's Child
John Martyn's follow-up to 1973's Inside Out is a much more song-oriented, less experimental effort which concentrates on the joys of home and family. Sunday's Child skillfully blends the sensual ("You Can Discover") with the sweet ("My Baby Girl"), …
Inside Out
Of all the musicians who attempted to marry modern jazz/rock ideas with
traditional British folk in the late '60s/early '70s, John Martyn was
the most challenging and aggressive. He had others giving him a run for
his money, sure -- Richard Thomp…
The Tumbler
John Martyn’s second album was released in December 1968. Another album in
the folk tradition but featuring the jazz flautist Harold McNair,
particularly on the romantic Dusty, The Gardeners and Fly On Home. As a
young man John stayed with his sis…
Bless The Weather
Though his earlier albums had merit, John Martyn truly came into his own with 1971’s Bless the Weather. The bittersweet grace of “Go Easy,” “Back Down the River,” and “Head and Heart” showcase Martyn’s agile folk-blues guitar touch as well as his del…
Pink Moon
The culmination of Nick Drake's emotional outpouring. Pink Moon is Drake’s deepest and most emotional record, originally released in 1972, following a long bout of severe depression. Whatever darkness he was in, he was able to channel those emotions …
Bryter Layter
**2018 repress. Reissue on heavyweight vinyl in textured sleeve** With even more of the Fairport Convention crew helping him out -- including bassist Dave Pegg and drummer Dave Mattacks along with, again, a bit of help from Richard Thompson -- as wel…
Five Leaves Left
Whether you know it or not, you've heard Nick Drake before. Maybe
it's from his other albums, maybe it's from that VW commercial, maybe
it's just the sound of that quiet bleakness we all feel when sadness
comes to the door and doesn't want to leav…