CD-Charts Position 11
Average Rating:

.

The Girl Who Couldn't Fly

CD-Charts > Music > English Folk
by: Kate Rusby

Release Date November 05, 2007
Kate Rusby is a treat and possibly the most unsung performer in the UK. I own hundreds of CDs and very few of them continue to move me like "The Girl Who Couldn't Fly". From the teasing, light-hearted rhyme of `Mary Blaize' to the haunting simplicity of `Fare Thee Well', this album is a treat for the ears and a journey for the emotions. 'No Names' is the ultimate highlight for me, specifically because of Roddy Woomble's fantastic contribution. The vast space between Kate and Roddy's tones serves only to add to the bittersweet parting message that the song contains. This is a wonderful album that deserves much wider critical aclaim than it has received so far.

CD-Charts Position 12
Average Rating:

.

Strawbs

CD-Charts > Music > English Folk
by: Strawbs

Release Date August 04, 2008
I bought the vinyl reissue earlier this year and was amazed by the quality of the compositions and performance. The arrangements are top notch, going from sparse folk to full on pop-psychedelia (sometimes in the same song!). Dave Cousins' singing seems to really suit the songs which have a peculiar Englishness about them, perhaps more so than the later songs which The Strawbs are famous for. What i really admire about the album is that every track is different from the next. The strongest songs are "The Man Who called Himself Jesus", "Or Am I Dreaming", "Tell Me What You See In Me" and the epic 'The Battle', although every track is a winner. Fans of late sixties quirky Psychedelia/ Folk/ Pop will adore this album!!

CD-Charts Position 13
Average Rating:

.

Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys

CD-Charts > Music > English Folk
by: Various Artists

Release Date August 25, 2006
I can understand some folk purists wanting to hate this before they've even heard it, and it could have ended up as a complete dogs breakfast. Yes if they'd given the whole undertaking to Bellowhead it might have been a classic, but on the whole it's not turned out too bad, and there's something to be said for the eclectic nature of the thing.

I'll have nothing said against Baby Gramps, he's a fine guitarist and that's no affectation, he really does sound like Popeye's drunken brother. Surprisingly of the "Big Names" Sting makes the best fist of his effort. I say surprising because he strikes me as the most unlikeable of people. Unsurprisingly Bono misses the point completely, and confirms that he is now completely and utterly ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 14
Average Rating:

.

Five Leaves Left

CD-Charts > Music > English Folk
by: Nick Drake

Release Date June 26, 2000
nicks style of playing was remarkable.... muscular rhythms, lush and discordant harmony stirred by nimble finger picking... the kind of musical possibilities that nick explored by changing the tuning of his guitar strings.... the result is a music that takes my mind off to places. his singing voice was comforting and entirely of his own. i get the sense that Nick would send his thoughts into flight everytime he'd hold his gaze on a view of english countryside... and nicks is the only music i've heard that really evokes images of english landscape, the mist, the green, the sombreness......
for the affect his musics had on me and my own music, i feel him as being one of the greatest songwriters i've heard..... despite only three albums, to think ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 15
Average Rating:

.

One World

CD-Charts > Music > English Folk
by: John Martyn

Release Date April 18, 1990

Best tracks: "Dancing", "One World", "Small Hours", "Dealer"

Don't get me wrong, Solid Air is a decent, fine album; but John Martyn's best? It doesn't come close to One World, which is a total masterpiece and simultaneously the gifted singer-songwriter's most satisfying journey into experimentation and his most accessible too. Rock, folk, dub and ambient all combine to create a luscious, quietly funky, atmospheric and dreamy work which sounds astonishing turned up loud. The lavish, inviting textures of the opening "Dealer" set the scene perfectly; layers of riffs, funky bass and synthesiser gel seamlessly, creating something that's fleet of foot, airborne and stunningly amorphous. Miraculously, the title track is even better; a deeply ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 16
Average Rating:

.

A Larum

CD-Charts > Music > English Folk
by: Johnny Flynn

Release Date May 26, 2008
It is time for the nature of music reviews - at least for popular music - to change. There's no need any longer to read a review to help you decide if you want to buy an album. All of these tracks can be heard on various places online - either in part or in full, often in different arrangements, sometimes in video - and the lyrics too are freely available. So you can listen, and read, before you decide whether to buy. The traditional reviewer role of helping you decide whether or not this music will be for you, is redundant. It's time for 'reviewers' of popular music to become critics and commentators, to promote discussion rather than offer guidance. With that in mind, here's Johnny...

Very much part of the current British Folk scene, albeit ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 17
Average Rating:

.

Bless The Weather

CD-Charts > Music > English Folk
by: John Martyn

Release Date November 14, 2005
This is one of the best nouveau folk albums of all time. Still fresh and meaningful in today's cynical times, with a range of beautiful songs, simply crafted with total integrity. This really is a must have album for anyone interested in quality songwriting, singing and musical craftsmanship.
It still inspires, enlightens and fills my heart everytime i hear it.

CD-Charts Position 18
Average Rating:

.

Bert & John

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

Release Date February 26, 2008
Why does Amazon attribute this to Bert Jansch? If ever you were looking for an inspired collaboration of two equal partners, then surely this delivers the goods. More than forty years on and it still gives me shivers. I have several versions of 'Goodbye Pork Pie Hat' and this version stands with the best of them. 'Stepping Stones' continues to make me wince with delight, though I must have heard it a hundred times. And 'After the Dance' always leaves me wanting more. John Renbourn came up, less than two years later, with 'Sir John Alot Of Merrie Englandes Musyk Thyng And Ye Grene Knyghte', surely one of the most cringemaking titles ever contrived but also a seminal and utterly brilliant album which I still rank amongst my top ten of all time. Virtually simultaneously, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 19
Average Rating:

.

The North Star Grassman And The Ravens (Remastered)

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

Release Date May 02, 2005
Even the much-maligned (by me) 'bonus tracks' on 'TNSGATR' are good. Unforced. Segueing with the album proper so you don't see the join. With no hint of that desperate lets-cram-any-old-garbage on, and watch the fans cream themselves at the very notion of 'previously unreleased'- there's usually a good reason why things are `unreleased....'
The album itself perfection. Soulful, powerful, lyrical, in fact everything you could want from a music, regardless of your preferences or bias. This level of haunting beauty has `broad' appeal.
Denny sings like a Guinnessed-up chorister. Her voice, (inspiration to every-one from Stevie Nicks to the criminally under-rated Gay Woods {!}) is sharp and worldly. You can sense her vibrancy as a person from the wacky but intense 'Brit ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 20
Average Rating:

.

Inside Out

CD-Charts > Music > English Folk
by: John Martyn

Release Date November 14, 2005
Released within eight months of Solid Air, you can tell JM was on a roll...and indeed if you liked Solid Air, you will love Inside Out too, as it ploughs a similar jazzy/folky/psychedelic furrow to it's predecessor...and (hurray!) Danny Thompson does the honours again on stand up bass.

It will always amaze me that Martyn has always been slightly marginalised in the music stakes. Many of his songs are timeless pieces that could and should be covered by lots of people, but the reality is quite different. Maybe it's because he stamped his personality so strongly on them...who knows, but Fine Lines, Glory of Love, Ain't No Saint, Make No Mistake have got classic written right through them. This is another great, great album from the man. Some may argue it's not quite as flawless ... Read More: