CD-Charts Position 171
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Mirror Blue

CD-Charts > Music > English Folk
by: Richard Thompson

Release Date January 17, 1994
Variable quality - but shot through with brilliance e.g "Beeswing" - worth the price of admission on its own. Sounds like he was being pulled away from his natural path, but only temporarily.

CD-Charts Position 172
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Rock Island Line - The Singles Anthology

CD-Charts > Music > English Folk
by: Lonnie Donegan

Release Date February 26, 2008
Influence is curious currency. And Lonnie Donegan as a performing artist had bags of it.
The Quarrymen became The Beatles and the three chord tricks became British R&B. Whilst skiffle itself was not durable in terms of the public eye it spawned a whole era of music that charts British music history.

Mr Donegan then. Here is probably the most comprehensive and best value compilation of the man's material. There are decent alternatives but this collection of Singles (both A-sides and B-sides) does a good job of covering the man's career from the mid-1950s to the mid-late 1960s.

"Rock Island Line" sounds like it's in the eye of the storm when it gathers pace. Magic but accessible magic. Sounds American but quintessentially ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 173
Average Rating:

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Rainmaker / Fully Qualified Survivor

CD-Charts > Music > English Folk
by: Michael Chapman

Release Date October 04, 2004
I've got these albums separately, 'Rainmaker' containing a few bonus tracks that aren't on this twofer. Even so, this is a great value item. 'Rainmaker' is Chapman's 1969 debut and consists of a mixture of the singer accompanying himself with his distinctive and imaginative acoustic guitar playing, group numbers and the odd instrumental. The sound is a bit rough compared with 'Fully Qualified Survivor,' which is a classic in its own right and is the superior album. Whereas the production on 'Rainmaker' tends to compress and merge the layers of sound, 'Survivor' seems so clear and expansive.
As far as the tracks themselves are concerned, 'Rainmaker' opens with the outstanding 'It Didn't Work Out' which builds relentlessly to a tumultuous climax. Chapman likes ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 174
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Life's a Riot With Spy Vs. Spy: Expanded Edition

CD-Charts > Music > English Folk
by: Billy Bragg

Release Date March 06, 2006
`Life's a Riot with Spy vs. Spy' screams for attention with the same originality today as it did in 1983. The `Urban' folk music of Billy Bragg has never gone out of fashion, it was famously, never in fashion and this debut album is a timeless reminder of the electric troubadour who would later dub himself `Johnny Clash' arrived fully formed like the `Milkman of Human Kindness' personified.

The songs still stand up today particularly the classic `New England', The Busy Girl Buys Beauty', `Lovers Town Revisited' and `To Have and To Have Not' which is unfortunately as relevant now as it was twenty five years ago. That these seven songs were put out on `Utility' as the last defining act of Charisma Records before being assimilated into a major label shows the ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 175
Average Rating:

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Lookaftering

CD-Charts > Music > English Folk
by: Vashti Bunyan

Release Date October 17, 2005
Having enjoyed the undoubted quality of Vashti Bunyan's 1960s recordings, I responded to the many high ratings of this 2005 album and purchased it. It is a serious failure for the inevitable reasons. As a very young woman, she had an effortless control of her voice without need of training. Now as a much older woman, her lack of control of breathing and intonation is painfully exposed. This is one of those comebacks which a kinder producer would have talked her out of. The weakness in Vashti's performance is compounded by too-close mike-ing, over resonant acoustic and poor recording balance with the voice swamped by the accompaniment. I defy anyone to extract more than the merest gist of the lyric without recourse to the notes.

Enjoy Vahti's youthful work ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 176
Average Rating:

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Live At The BBC

CD-Charts > Music > English Folk
by: Sandy Denny

Release Date September 10, 2007
Although I've only given this 3 Stars it is an excellent product but the fact remains that the recording quality of some of it is such that it sounds as if it was recorded off the radio (and the medium wave at that) rather than for it. One for all Sandy Denny afficionados but not those unfamiliar with her work.

CD-Charts Position 177
Average Rating:

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Listen Listen : An introduction to Sandy Denny

CD-Charts > Music > English Folk
by: Sandy Denny

Release Date May 31, 1999
Don't be deterred by the rather dreary black and white photo of Sandy Denny on the cover - this album is full of top quality, often quite beautiful, music from one of Britain's most distinctive and memorable female singers. Though the album is described as 'an introduction to Sandy Denny', this seems too modest; 'very best of' would not be an inappropriate title. It features around four tracks from each of her four solo albums, which were recorded between 1971and 1977, in the years after leaving the influential folk-rock group Fairport Convention. Every track is of high quality, with crystal clear remastered sound, and the collection succeeds in picking much of the best material from these solo albums.Although on some tracks the music is typical of the well-loved Island Records early ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 178
Average Rating:

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Beginnings: The Best of the Early Years

CD-Charts > Music > English Folk
by: Clannad

Release Date August 25, 2008
Don't be deterred by the rather dreary black and white photo of Sandy Denny on the cover - this album is full of top quality, often quite beautiful, music from one of Britain's most distinctive and memorable female singers. Though the album is described as 'an introduction to Sandy Denny', this seems too modest; 'very best of' would not be an inappropriate title. It features around four tracks from each of her four solo albums, which were recorded between 1971and 1977, in the years after leaving the influential folk-rock group Fairport Convention. Every track is of high quality, with crystal clear remastered sound, and the collection succeeds in picking much of the best material from these solo albums.Although on some tracks the music is typical of the well-loved Island Records early ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 179
Average Rating:

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The Times They Are A-Changin'

CD-Charts > Music > English Folk
by: Ian Campbell

Release Date February 26, 2008
Don't be deterred by the rather dreary black and white photo of Sandy Denny on the cover - this album is full of top quality, often quite beautiful, music from one of Britain's most distinctive and memorable female singers. Though the album is described as 'an introduction to Sandy Denny', this seems too modest; 'very best of' would not be an inappropriate title. It features around four tracks from each of her four solo albums, which were recorded between 1971and 1977, in the years after leaving the influential folk-rock group Fairport Convention. Every track is of high quality, with crystal clear remastered sound, and the collection succeeds in picking much of the best material from these solo albums.Although on some tracks the music is typical of the well-loved Island Records early ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 180
Average Rating:

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The River Sessions

CD-Charts > Music > English Folk
by: Bert Jansch

Release Date August 27, 2007
There are quite a few songs here that are a bit too "mainstream" for want of a better word and dont have that exciting sound that Jansch produces at his best.

Having said that, there are plenty of songs that do and the album is worth having for "The Blacksmith" and "Chambertin" alone.