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| 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 her breathtaking precious songs that she came up while in the Donovan’s Hebrides estate. This is the quiet type of music that Donovan had inspired, and just a drop in the bucket of all the new folk artists inspired by England’s new folk sound. The second generation of English folk-rock starts here. Some famous like the ones you know already by now: Marc Bolan, the Incredible String Band, and Nick Drake…some like Vashti and other like minded artists who I’ll swiftly introduce below. Hopefully, these choice selections will pique your interest for what’s next.
Lets start with the person who inspired this post, Vashti. Notably working with Robert Kirby (Nick Drake’s arranger), Robin Williamson of the Incredible String Band, and Dave Swarbrick of Fairport Convention, she created this largely unheralded (in its time) bit of neo-folk:
//www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/6en1BTlY0Kw?rel=0
How about the primitive pastoral wind folk of Forest, specifically “Graveyard” from the Full Circle album:
//www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/tfANIXC-3-c?rel=0
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| Magna Carta |
The epic songs of Magna Carta, especially the “Seasons” side long album cut which signaled the dawn of progressive folk:
//www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/N1QoyCjHn5c?rel=0
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| Third Ear Band – 1970 |
or The Third Ear Band’s free-folk thoroughly world beat influenced style of English music entrancing a bunch of new listeners:
Further, down we travel through the new thoroughly mutating British Isles tomorrow…
Recommended listening:
– Vashti Bunyan: Just Another Diamond Day (1970)
– Forest: Full Circle (1970)
– Magna Carta: Seasons (1970)
– Third Ear Band: Third Ear Band (1970)