(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


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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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