(2020) VA - Sumer Is Icumen In~The Pagan Sound of British and Irish Folk 1966-75 [FLAC]

    (2020) VA - Sumer Is Icumen In~The Pagan Sound of British and Irish Folk 1966-75 (box-set)      





Review:

Like Elfland's shimmering tide-like border in Lord Dunsany's fantasy classic, a mystic world of sacrificial grain gods, green men, fertility rites, and sanctuary stones exists just beneath the surface of the contemporary British Isles. A mere century or two of modernity isn't enough to fully dim wild Albion's millennia of legends and magical lore. By the early 1960s, linchpins of England's second folk revival like Ewan MacColl and A.L. Lloyd had helped renew public interest in traditional song, but as the decade rolled into its second half, the emerging counterculture began to face off against folk's old guard, bringing psychedelia, electricity, and a metaphysical curiosity into the mix. Grapefruit Records' excellent 2015 anthology Dust on the Nettles went a long way in exploring this cosmic folk-rock collision, and five years later, they offer up a welcome sequel in Sumer Is Icumen In: The Pagan Sound of British & Irish Folk 1966-1975. Like its predecessor, this set celebrates both the scenes' key players and its distant outliers, but shifts its focus to the eerier, more spiritual side of the folk-rock movement. Fans of the 1973 cult classic folk-horror film The Wicker Man, take note. While much-celebrated stalwarts (Fairport Convention, Pentangle, etc.) get their proper due, it's names like Oberon, Meic Stevens, and Jan Dukes de Grey that really conjure up the ancient mists. Enchanted recorders, frame drums, and dulcimers mingled with surreal backwards tape effects and rumbling organ drones as folk music became more progressive through the filter of artists like Comus, Dr. Strangely Strange, and Third Ear Band. Even some of the starker-sounding traditionalists like Archie Fisher and Anne Briggs (the latter's previously unreleased "Summer's In" is a standout) appear here with buzzing sitars and electric backing bands. It's as if by tapping into the islands' ancient currents, these artists found a freedom of expression to both celebrate and liberate old mythologies while building new ones for future generations. The results are quite magical and still captivating a half-century later.  — allmusic by Timothy Monger





   





Track List:



Disc 1

01 - Third Ear Band - Lark Rise

02 - Magnet - Corn Rigs

03 - Traffic - John Barleycorn

04 - Midwinter - Sanctuary Stone

05 - Vulcans Hammer - The Keys Of Canterbury

06 - The Celebrated Ratliffe Stout Band - The Wood-Gathering Man

07 - Steeleye Span - Twa Corbies

08 - Folkal Point - Lovely John

09 - Strawbs - Canon Dale (Alternative Version)

10 - Kevin Coyne - White Horse

11 - Meic Stevens - Yorric

12 - The Young Tradition - Lyke Wake Dirge

13 - Amber - Swan In The Evening

14 - Synanthesia - Minerva

15 - The Minor Birds - The Parting Glass

16 - Parameter - Virgin Childe

17 - Carolanne Pegg - The Sapphire

18 - Dry Heart - Cabin On The Clifftop

19 - Mighty Baby - Winter Passes

20 - Mike Oldfield - On Horseback



Disc 2

01 - Fairport Convention - Tam Lin

02 - Gallery - Let No Man Steal Your Thyme

03 - Tim Hart And Maddy Prior - False Knight On The Road

04 - Lal Waterson - The Scarecrow (Demo Version)

05 - Chimera - Silver Man

06 - Shirley Collins And The Albion Country Band - The White Hare

07 - Horden Raikes - Mad Tom Of Bedlam

08 - The Sallyangie - The Song Of The Healer

09 - Bridget St John - Lizard Long Tonque Boy (Alternative Version)

10 - DR Strangely Strange - Strings In The Earth And Air

11 - Jan Dukes De Grey - Sorcerers

12 - Dave And Toni Arthur - Green Grass

13 - Simon Finn - Wheres Your Master Gone

14 - Oberon - Nottamun Town

15 - Fresh Maggots - The House Carpenter

16 - JP Sunshine - Hand In Hand

17 - Comus - The Bite

18 - The Sun Also Rises - Death

19 - Tea And Symphony - Winter

20 - Principal Edwards Magic Theatre - Autumn Lady Dancing Song

21 - Anne Briggs - Summers In



Disc 3

01 - Stone Angel - The Bells Of Dunwich

02 - Pentangle - Cruel Sister

03 - Incredible String Band - Witches Hat

04 - Archie Fisher - Reynerdine

05 - Mellow Candle - The Poet And The Witch

06 - Curved Air - Elfin Boy

07 - Sweeneys Men - Pretty Polly

08 - Parke - Three Ravens

09 - Green Man - Salisbury Plain

10 - Spriguns Of Tolgus - Flodden Field

11 - The MacDonald Folk Group - Geordie

12 - Michael Raven And Joan Mills - The Queen Of The Night

13 - George Deacon And Marion Ross - Holsworthy Peters Fair

14 - Staverton Bridge - Captain Wedderburns Courtship

15 - Shirley Kent - Butterfly On The Shore

16 - Marc Bolan - Eastern Spell

17 - Heather Adrian And John - The Lark In The Morning

18 - The Coterie - Scarborough Fair

19 - Mr Fox - Mendle

20 - Choir - Sumer Is A-Cumin In





Media Report:

Genre: british folk, folk-rock

Country: UK

Format: FLAC

Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec

Bit rate mode: Variable

Channel(s): 2 channels

Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz

Bit depth: 16 bits

Compression mode: Lossless

Writing library: libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)





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