Psych /
The Tumbler
John Martyn’s second album was released in December 1968. Another album in
the folk tradition but featuring the jazz flautist Harold McNair,
particularly on the romantic Dusty, The Gardeners and Fly On Home. As a
young man John stayed with his sister who lived near Hampton Court and
the song Dusty was inspired by his happy memories of Hampton Court Fair. This album was produced by Al Stewart and had more of a sparkle than
London Conversation and John said, “The album ‘sings’ a bit more than…
Bless The Weather
Though his earlier albums had merit, John Martyn truly came into his own with 1971’s Bless the Weather. The bittersweet grace of “Go Easy,” “Back Down the River,” and “Head and Heart” showcase Martyn’s agile folk-blues guitar touch as well as his delicate vocal shadings and sparse lyric style. A brooding Celtic atmosphere hangs over these tracks, reflected in the mellow fatalism of the title tune and the regretful yet accepting outlook of “Let the Good Things Come.” Whatever the feelings express…
Stormbringer!
**2018 HQ remastering** Originally released in February 1970 by Island Records this is the first and classic album by John and Beverley Martyn. After being rehearsed in Woodstock, NY Stormbringer! was recorded and mixed in only 8 days with engineer John Wood and producer Joe Boyd. John Martyn, inspired by the Band's Music from Big Pink, worked hard to find a distinctive guitar sound and in two tracks (Would You Believe Me? and The Ocean) introduced his pioneering guitar technique. Levon Helm gue…
Road To Ruin
**2018 HQ remastering. Presented in the original gatefold sleeve on 180gram vinyl, this is the first time that the album has been available on vinyl for over 20 years** John and Beverley Martyn’s 2nd album, also released in 1970, was Produced by Joe Boyd and engineered by John Wood at Sound Techniques, the Island Records studio. This album is John and Beverly's follow up to Stormbringer. In much of the same manner as that album, here Martyn recruited Pentangle member Danny Thompson on bass (who …
Pink Moon
The culmination of Nick Drake's emotional outpouring. Pink Moon is Drake’s deepest and most emotional record, originally released in 1972, following a long bout of severe depression. Whatever darkness he was in, he was able to channel those emotions into this final album, creating an opus that continues to grow in popularity and is reissued here on 180-gram vinyl. Unlike his other albums, this was recorded without a backing band, creating an even more intimate and personal experience. The title …
Bryter Layter
**2018 repress. Reissue on heavyweight vinyl in textured sleeve** With even more of the Fairport Convention crew helping him out -- including bassist Dave Pegg and drummer Dave Mattacks along with, again, a bit of help from Richard Thompson -- as well as John Cale and a variety of others, Drake tackled another excellent selection of songs on his second album. Demonstrating the abilities shown on Five Leaves Left didn't consist of a fluke, Bryter Layter featured another set of exquisitely arrange…
Five Leaves Left
Whether you know it or not, you've heard Nick Drake before. Maybe
it's from his other albums, maybe it's from that VW commercial, maybe
it's just the sound of that quiet bleakness we all feel when sadness
comes to the door and doesn't want to leave. This music lives with all
of us. It exists in quiet lonely nights, chilly autumn evenings, and the
muted grey of the world when it's been raining all day.During his too-short musical career, Nick used music to look at those
little feelings we a…
Lassa sta' la Me Creatura
** Audiophile pressing (Pure Analogue Cutting, One-Stage Pressing Process, 180 g.) edition of 490 copies ** More than 40 years after its publication, the album Lassa sta 'la me creatura continues to be systematically cited in the stories of Italian music related to the' 70s as a completely unique and innovative event in the music scene of those years. A remarkable Italian folk/ethnic album with experimental tendencies, released in 1974 on the legendary Intingo label, Canzoniere Del Lazio was one…
A Rare Conundrum
Though recorded in England, Bert Jansch’s time in America recording the preceding ‘L.A. Turnaround’ and ‘Santa Barbara Honeymoon’ is still much in evidence. The breezy, bluesy style carries effortless across standout tracks ‘Looking For a Home’ and ‘3AM’, alongside the more familiar UK folk territory of ‘The Curragh of Kildare’ and ‘Pretty Saro’. Recorded at London’s now-legendary Air Studios, the production – steered by Jansch and new collaborator Rod Clements – has a wonderful lightness of tou…
Maison Rose
We begin by saying that this is an album unlike any other. A bold statement, perhaps. Yet look in the Scented Gardens of the Mind book and you will see this description: "a revelation of a folk album, with songs of incredible beauty and innovative arrangements. It features traditional instruments you've hardly ever heard before and touches of the avant-garde. Play this album directly after that of another randomly chosen female folk album, and you will notice the difference! This is one of the b…
The End of the Line/Perspectives
Double LP version. The genesis of Havenstreet goes back to 1969, when Phil Ridgway and Jeff Vinter played in The Gas, an experimental psychedelic band heavily influenced by Barrett-era Pink Floyd.
The two friends started to write songs their own songs, ending up as a
folk duo. With the offer to record some of their material at a friend's
studio, they recruited more musical friends, so Havenstreet was born.
The influences had expanded now to bands and artists such as Peter Hammill, Strawbs, T…
A Midsummer's Night Dream
LP version. Sommor presents the first ever legitimate reissue of Oberon's A Midsummer's Night Dream,
one of the rarest psych-folk albums from the UK, originally released in
1971 in a private edition of 99 copies. Oberon consisted of seven young
musicians who met while studying at Radley College in Oxford. Drawing
upon such influences as Fairport Convention, The Pentangle, King Crimson, The Incredible String Band, and Sandy Denny,
the group created a stunning piece of progressive folk. Fanta…
Ship to Shore
2018 repress. Stunning debut album from 1976 by legendary/cult UK folk musician Nigel Mazlyn Jones. Originally issued as a private pressing, Ship to Shore
combines 6 and 12-string acoustic guitars with electric textures,
effects and unusual soundscapes, culminating in the haunting
progressive-folk 11-minute title-track. A folk-rock/acid-folk
masterpiece highly recommended to anyone into John Martyn, Nick Drake, Michael Chapman, Bob Theil, or Pink Floyd. Mastertape sound, including an insert …
Room For Thought
Largely known for their fantastic album And I Turned As I Had Turned As A Boy from 1971, a true folk-rock delight, British group Dulcimer had also recorded a second album to be released that same year, but for some reason it went unreleased. So here, finally, is the first-ever vinyl release of this lost UK folk-rock album, and it's taken from the original mastertapes. Limited to 500 copies in nice artwork and backflapped old-style covers. Pressed on 180 gram vinyl.
Lantaloon
Third and last album by UK folk-rock outfit Dando Shaft, from 1972. Another brilliant set of acoustic folk-rock and traditional folk. 500 copies only, pressed on 180 gram vinyl. Includes a reproduction of the original big poster and an insert with liners by Andy Morten.
Red Hash
First reissue of this underground folk-psych classic, originally released in 1973 as a self-released LP. Red Hash features eleven haunting tracks of folk-pop played on acoustic and electric guitar and arranged with percussion, cello, flute, piano, organ, bass and mandolin. This plus Gary's transcendent vocals bring to mind the perfectly-damaged vibes found in David Crosby's masterpiece of peace, love and paranoia, If I Could Only Remember My Name and the recently re-discovered and acclaimed Para…
Love Is Our Existence
LP version. Tip-on gatefold sleeve; Includes liner notes; Edition of 500. Craig Smith was an extraordinarily gifted songwriter and musician who seemed poised for a successful career in the 1960s music business until his life was derailed by drugs and schizophrenia. In 1969 clean-cut, charismatic Craig Smith became Maitreya Kali, a dark, disturbed psychedelic Messiah figure with a black widow spider tattooed on his third eye. He laid out his strange vision on a self-released double-album Apache/I…
"Second Poem To Karmela" Or Gypsies Are Important
Temporary Offer. Light In The Attic and the legendary folk/blues/roots label Vanguard Records are proud to begin a series of collaborations under the umbrella Vanguard Vault. The series will explore the vaults of Vanguard and see the reissuing of obscure nuggets, psychedelic weirdness and just some good old-fashioned seminal music.
Originally released in 1968 on Vanguard Records, Peter Walker’s album “Second Poem To Karmela” Or Gypsies Are Important was a ground breaking blend of folk, raga, ps…
One Nation Underground
Another time, indeed! It's been fifty years since Pearls Before Swine first appeared. A genteel, oft-hushed missive from a far corner of the psychedelic hive mind, One Nation Underground was released on an Independent outlier of a record label, removed from the mainstream and still its spirit came to be widely appreciated by a generation and more. Today, this music has been reissued by labels around the world dozens of times. Tragic, then, that it hasn't been heard properly in decades! The stere…
First Utterance
Official 180g reissue, from the original master tapes no less, of one of the most insane (and influential) experimental folk records of all time. This was Comus. Super dark themes and nightmarish visions abound in this total one-off of a record. First Utterance was, and still is, “difficult”. Fortunately today an appreciative audience exists for “difficult” stuff like this.Kent-based art students Roger Wootton and Glenn Goring had played acoustic covers of Velvet Underground numbers in London fo…