Folk /
Anne Briggs
Reissue of the first Anne Briggs album, originally issued on Topic. The first full-length album from the legendary folk singer, originally released in 1971. Anne Briggs was a huge influence on the entire British folk-rock movement, especially other female singers such as Sandy Denny, Jacqui McShee, and Maddy Prior. Anne Briggs is a strong collection of traditional folk songs and original material and one of the most important releases of the British folk revival. Despite the fact that Briggs had…
The Time Has Come
New version of this acclaimed album, previously reissued in sporadically available fashion by the laughable CBS/Columbia remnant empire. New liner notes by Andy Beta; most homes would appreciate an upgrade pf this all-time lip-melter and here it is. One of the most important figures of the British folk revival of the 1960s, Anne Briggs was a huge influence on such luminaries as Sandy Denny, Maddy Prior and Linda Thompson. This is her second full-length, originally released in 1971. Unlike previo…
Green Rocky Road: The Loop Tapes, Pine Street Recordings
Never-released 1963 home recordings packaged in a CD gatefold Japanese mini-LP jacket. Discovered on the same reel-to-reel tapes that housed the Cotton Eyed Joe release. Remastered at Abbey Road Studios by Peter Mew. With 8-page booklet with beautiful, newly-unearthed photos of Karen Dalton from 1962-1963. Liner notes by Dick Weissman. The release of Green Rocky Road fills in the lacunae in the rightly romanticized mythos of the late folk music legend Karen Dalton and goes a long way in clarifyi…
Cotton Eyed Joe
Subtitled: The Loop Tapes -- Live In Boulder 1962. Great package of this previously never-heard material. 2CD gatefold jacket -- 21 tracks -- 85 minutes of never released 1962 live reel-to-reel ultra-rare historic recordings since Karen Dalton only released two LPs. This 2CD set proves Karen Dalton's influence on her famous friends and peers (Bob Dylan, Fred Neil, Tim Buckley, Tim Hardin). Unusual CD packaging -- gatefold jackets (similar to '60s heavy cardboard LP jackets w/ inner CD sleeves). …
Scott 3
Scott 3, originally released in 1969, marked a big change in Walker's approach to albums as, for the first time, the record is dominated by his original compositions. In fact, the only other songwriter that makes it onto the album is Walker's idol, Belgium's legendary singer/songwriter Jacques Brel. Scott 3 again features string heavy production courtesy of Wally Scott, though it occasionally moves out of pop ballad territory into a more cinematic feel influenced by Ennio Morricone, among others…
Scott 2
Originally released in 1968, Scott 2 made it all the way to number one on the UK pop charts, perhaps the strangest number one hit in pop history. Continuing with his orchestral obsession, Scott 2 features over-the-top string and horn arrangements, occasionally veering into dangerously schmaltzy territory. This production style is in drastic contrast to the lyrical content, songs of despair, prostitution, homosexuality, and brutal honesty, indicting the same glamorous and glitzy lifestyle that hi…
Scott
One of the most enigmatic figures in pop music history Scott Walker (nee Scott Engel) first saw massive success in England with his band The Walker Brothers in 1965. Not really brothers, nor were they British, the trio left Hollywood seeking fame in England, and they found it there for a time with their particular brand of orchestrated pop. Following the group's demise in 1967, Walker set out to pursue solo stardom in perhaps the most peculiar way possible, with over-the-top baroque pop songs ow…
A Day Without Disaster
A Day Without Disaster is the newest chapter in the musical adventures of Nick Castro & The Young Elders. The group has spent the last year recording and touring the world while honing their skills both in the studio and on stage. This EP, on Italian label A Silent Place, is a glimpse into the ever-evolving minds of NC & The Young Elders, which are dwelling somewhere between the romantic male/female duets of Richard & Linda Thompson and the exotic worldly arrangements of the Incredible String Ba…
Autumn Testament
Comprised of Brad Rose (The North Sea) and Keith Wood (Hush Arbors), The Golden Oaks features road show magicians springing forth candles from wooded sanctuaries. Composed via the postal system, Autumn Testament is a hymn to the season of red, gold, and orange. A canopyn of leaves shelters the proceedings from the fog that threatens to obscure these sounds. This is a glorious combination of organic grace, blessed by the forests of past centuries and those still in their infant stages. The trees …
Guitar soli
The debt that modern guitarist composers owe to the late Robbie Basho can hardly be overstated. Though Fahey invented the genre and Kottke proved its marketability, it was Basho's technique, vision, and self-image that resonated most strongly with Will Ackerman and the so-called New Age guitar movement he founded. It's a crime Basho's music hasn't been available on record for many years. Now older guitar fans can welcome back an old friend and newer ones can learn where it all came from on this …
America
Though America was released in 1971 as a single LP, finger-style guitarist John Fahey conceived it as a double album. This CD finally allows Fahey's full vision to be heard (an additional nine tracks are included here for the first time). It's a true treat for Fahey lovers. The title track features the guitarist on the 12-string guitar, sounding more resonant than ever on the seven-minute composition. "Dvorak" is based on the composer's Eighth Symphony, which Fahey tackles in fine fashion. Fahey…
It's So Hard To Tell Who's Going To Love You The Best
Now Available on Special Edition CD & DVD Set* Living in a media-saturated era where an artist can go from utter obscurity to 'the greatest' within a matter of mere months, it really does pay to look backwards and dig-out genuine gems that have shouldered the weight of a few decades and seem all the fitter for it. 'It's So Hard To Tell Who's Going To Love You The Best' from the late Karen Dalton is one such record. The subject of fevered crate-digging by those in-the-know for years, 'It's So Har…
Radio Algeria
2006 release, repressed! Radio Algeria is a multi-dimensional assembly of audio culture from the Mediterranean coast to the undefined border areas of the Sahara Desert and beyond. This is perhaps the most diverse collection of the Algerian listening experience ever presented featuring raw Berber folk, modern Arabic pop, sacred Islamic traditional, Andalusian orchestral, Guesba (the origin of Rai), classic early Rai, Khabyle, Tuareg, Saharaui, and hybrid music styles influenced by Europeans to th…
Our Times
Homestead & Wolfe was a very obscure folk-harmony group based around the United Methodist Good Samaritan Church in California. The songs were recorded between 1973-75 and released with few copies. The album was almost forgotten until it was reissued in 2004. Comprised of two female vocals, one male vocal with superb male and female harmonies throughout. The group performed original material in a rich, melodic folk-rock-country style that is well executed, as well as earnest and personal.
Southern Comfort
Recorded when legendary blues harpist Walter 'Shakey' Horton visited the UK in 1968, "Southern comfort" is a superb showcase for his talents as well those of bass player Jerome Arnold (BUTTERFIELD BLUES BAND), drummer Jessie C. Lewis (BUTTERFIELD BLUES BAND) and trailblazer guitarist Martin Stone (SAVOY BROWN/MIGHTY BABY). Though mostly a superb blues set, however, it is best known today for the epic closing track (over 12 minutes) one of the most mind blowing psychedelic workouts ever recorded.
Orient Express
Recorded by a Frenchman, a Belgian and an Iranian whod wound up in New Yorks East Village via extensive travels out East, this 1969 classic is arguably the finest fusion of traditional Middle Eastern music and psychedelia ever recorded. Featuring guitar and drums as well as oud, electric sitar, melodica, dumbek and minitar, its a hypnotic, compelling blast from start to finish. As the original sleevenotes state: Like the train whose name they bear, the Orient Express travels easily from West to …
Holy Music
Recorded in San Francisco in August 1966, and originally released on the M.G.M./Verve label, this collection of lengthy, acid-tinged folk instrumentals is one of the earliest specifically psychedelic albums ever recorded, and it makes its CD debut here. As the original sleevenotes state: "Malachi's music transcends the traditions of East and West, and represents the new synthesis which is still being worked out in aesthetics, philosophy and religion by those participating in the psychedelic revo…
At Home
Dennis Lambert and Craig Nuttycombe had been on the fringes of LAs music scene for some time, including stints with bands such as the East Side Kids and the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, when they decided to proceed as a duo. This beautifully intimate 1970 release was recorded live at the home they shared in Sausalito, California, and co-produced by David Anderle (The Doors, Love), Chad Stuart (Chad and Jeremy) and Glyn Johns (the Beatles, the Rolling Stones). A mellow collection of self…
Light Of Day
This higly original 1966 collection has been called the first acid folk record of all time. Certainly its hippy themes and exotic instrumentation are well ahead of their time, but Kilroy died tragically young and his album has largely been neglected ever since, despite featuring legendary guitarist Stefan Grossman. This is its first CD appearance, and comes complete with explanotory liner notes making it a must for all fans of psychedelic singer-songwriters. Eastern dreamy and trippy trance/dron…
Moyshe McStiff And The Tartan Lancers Of The Sacred Heart
Featuring Incredible String Band founder Clive Palmer, COB (an acronym for "Clive's Original Band") made some of the most imaginative and moving music of their time, and this 1972 masterpiece is considered by many to be the finest folk record ever to emerge from the British Isles. Along with members Mick Bennett and John Bidwell, Moyshe McStiff and the Tartan Lancers of the Sacred Heart is an overwhelmingly beautiful and compelling collection of songs set to Eastern-tinged arrangements and Celti…