neo-folk

(Album of Month) October 2014: Comus – First Utterance (1971)

2014/10/31

Comus Let’s ruminate a bit over October. Isn’t there something strangely dark and alluring about this month? In nature, we look forward to trees changing their colors and the heat from summer subsiding to cool our muggy air. We look forward to these things, knowing full well that they’re signals of something shortly arriving: for…
Tír na nÓg: Mariner Blues and Boat Song (1971)

2014/10/30

Tír na nÓg – Sonny and Leo Before throwing you head first into the dark masterpiece of tomorrow’s album of the month, how about something far gentler? Yet in its own way, quite heavy. Out of Ireland, comes the Dubliner duo Tír na nÓg. Taking their name appropriately enough from the Otherworldly (Land of Eternal Youth),…
Trees: Streets of Derry and Sally Free and Easy (1971)

2014/10/29

Trees – 1971 Now this kicks off the new English folk decade with a bang. When you first hear the opening track of Trees’ On the Shore you’ll notice something extremely different, folk music that’s rocks in wild ways you’ve probably never heard within the same style. Its the sound of a band fully absorbing…
Trees: Lady Margaret and Black Widow (1970)

2014/10/28

Trees – 1970 When you hear Trees’ neo-traditional “Fool” you’re hearing the sound of folk-rock mutating from within. The song itself means to describe the rise and fall of the historical Luddites, in uncertain terms, whose protest against industrial machines threatening the way of life and known existence of the then common textile artisans. In…
Third Ear Band: Earth and Fire (1970)

2014/10/27

Third Eye Band – 1970 There was once a time when a band like the Third Ear Band, which sounded beyond rock and folk into some other realm of dance music, would open for the likes of Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones. There was a time when such a band could play at the…
Heron: Yellow Roses and Little Angel (1970)

2014/10/26

Heron – 1970 There’s a sound you faintly hear as you play the opening track from Heron’s 1970 self-titled debut, its the faint sound of a rolling river and bird song. As the gorgeous romantic pastoral folk song unfolds, and ends to the sound of distant bird song, you start to realize the exact reason…
Mr. Fox: Mr. Fox and Mendle (1970)

2014/10/25

Mr. Fox Here’s but a small taste of what’s coming during Hallowe’en. I hinted at before that by the end of the ‘60s a few groups like Forest, Steeleye Span, and even Fairport Convention were touching a bit on the dark side of folklore and hidden traditionals. By turn of the decade, groups like the…
John and Beverley Martyn: Annie the Aviator and Parcels (1970)

2014/10/24

John and Beverley Martyn What could have been? That’s the theme of Beverley Martyn’s (now Kutner) life. One time, a long time ago, John Martyn and her were destined to be the royalty of England’s neo-folk movement. I’ll pick up John’s story later but for now lets focus on Beverley. While other female folk singers…
Fotheringay: Gypsy Davy and Steeleye Span: Fisherman’s Wife (1970)

2014/10/23

Fotheringay – 1970 Today’s post tries to capture what exactly was going on with Sandy and Ashley after they left Fairport Convention. Sandy left because she felt her ability to contribute original songs was going to be ignored. Ashley left because he felt Fairport was going to start ignoring the new traditional route they’d taken…
Vashti Bunyan: Rose Hip November (1970)

2014/10/22

Vashti Bunyan – 1970 There was something special about the year 1970. Only in such a year, can a producer like Joe Boyd encourage a young gal who had resigned from industrial life altogether, venturing to leave it all behind to follow her boyfriend to live in a commune, only to come back and record…