folk-rock

Nick Drake: At the Chime of the City Clock and Northern Sky (1970)

2014/10/21

Nick Drake – 1970 The turn of the decade, now we’re spiraling into an era where English folk music could really spread its wings. Nick Drake, far from being the perceived sad sack they’d hear later on Pink Moon was attempting to present all his gifted taste and sophistication. Although, the failure of Five Leaves Left left him…
Nick Drake: Way to Blue and Thoughts of Mary Jane (1969)

2014/10/20

Nick Drake – Five Leaves Left Photo Sessions Nick Drake is a hard musician to write about. Most history that can be written about his life has already been combed over and detailed. Nick Drake, though was hardly an artist known or remembered as so during his brief living life. How could an artist who…
Tim Buckley: Blue Melody (1969)

2014/10/19

Tim Buckley – 1969 Before, I continue England’s change into a shape-shifting neo-folk sound in the ’70s lets catch up a little bit with how folk was changing in the West. After Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde and the Byrd’s The Notorious Byrd Brothers new routes beyond psychedelia had to be found. Here are the ingenious ways some other…
The Pentangle: Light Flight and Hunting Song (1969)

2014/10/16

The Pentangle – 1969 Sometimes, I wish I had an interesting story to tell for certain bands. This one especially so. The album these songs were off of Basket of Light wasn’t created by a huge cataclysmic shift in sound or happening. This album was simply the work of immensely talented musicians who did the…
Fairport Convention: Matty Groves and Tam Lin (1969)

2014/10/15

Fairport Convention at Farley Chamberlayne Yesterday we left Fairport Convention finally realizing the vision they had to head towards to. Today, we see how they get there. This destination was the creation of English folk-rock as most people know it and a true classic no matter what country you come from. What does that mean?…
Fairport Convention: Fotheringay and A Sailor’s Life (1968)

2014/10/14

Fairport Convention – 1968 (Unhalfbricking photo session) Sometimes all you need to make the right change is a key ingredient to slide into place. My track of the day by the Fairport Convention makes that case vividly. Before they would become the most well known and thoroughly English folk-rock group they were decidedly going in the…
Sandy Denny and the Strawbs: Who Knows Where the Time Goes and Two Weeks Last Summer (1967)

2014/10/13

Sandy Denny – 1967 Today, I post a track laden with hindsight of what could have been. There was a time when the English folk rock history books could have been rewritten if but a few minor things happened. Released in 1973, but recorded in 1967, by the Strawbs on their album All Our Own…
The Pentangle: Traveling Song and Let No Man Steal Your Thyme (1968)

2014/10/12

The Pentangle – 1968 This is just a preview of what’s coming up. The Pentangle’s “Traveling Song” my track of the day, signals the shift of Britain’s folk groups from mere mimicry of traditional music. This shift would take traditional music, and reimagine it as a current form of expression. Formed in 1967, this group…
The Byrds: Wild Mountain Thyme (1966)

2014/10/06

The Byrds – 1966 What exactly was the genesis showing a new way forward in English folk music? My track of the day, “Wild Mountain Thyme” by The Byrds, starts showing the huge influence rock and pop music started to play in shaping this new neo-folk music that was to be made in England. A…
Joan Manuel Serrat: Mediterraneo (1971)

2014/09/17

Joan Manuel Serrat – 1971 The track of the day, Joan Manuel Serrat’s “Mediterraneo” is quite the unique rebel song. Its one thing to rise up against the oppressor, and its another thing to rebel against dug in beliefs and traditions that threaten to replace one for another. You can uprise and dispose places/people but…