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The second half of a two part set covering the complete works of Grayson & Whitter – plus 7 tracks tracks from Robinette & Moore. CD

Leonard Cohen's first live album, featuring material captured in London, Brussels, Paris and Berlin in 1972, plus a couple of recordings from 1970 – including Cohen's legendary appearance at Isle Of Wight! Live Songs never really got its due respect in its day, but it's pretty much an essential document of Cohen's transition from poet turned recording artist into a poet turned guitar wielding troubadour – and excellent stuff even without the slow building cultural relevance. Essential Cohen! Titles include "Passing Thru", "Bird On The Wire", "Nancy", "Improvisation", "Story Of Isaac", "Please Don't Pass Me By", "Tonight Will Be Fine", "Queen Victoria" and more. (Rock, Folk/Country) LP, Vinyl record album

A tremendous document of work by Jake Thackray – one of the most unique talents on the British music scene of the 60s, but an artist who's sadly been un-remembered over the years! At first glance, Jake's definitely a folkie, but he's also one with a strong influence from French singer/songwriters like Jacques Brel or George Brassens – and takes key inspiration from them in the depth and darkness of his work. Like both Brel and Brassens, Thackray's got a style that's almost out of time – one that's ageless at some points, but with a very contemporary way of viewing the world – personal, pointed, and penned with an incredible sense of wit. In an era when most folkies were attacking the political or pushing into the fantastic, Jake spent careful time looking at human foibles and the complexities of interpersonal relationships – always from a distance, but close enough to note the odd humor in even the most banal situations. This wonderful set brings together 4 of Thackray's albums for EMI – Bantam Cock, Last Will & Testament, Jake's Progress, and On Again On Again – all of which feature Jake's slightly jazz-inflected vocals alongside acoustic guitar and very spare, but well-chosen additional instrumentation. Package also features a full disc of unreleased material – including different versions of other tunes on the albums. 97 tracks in all, and a wonderful musical discovery throughout! Titles include "The Cactus", "Country Bus", "Brother Gorilla", "The Girl In The Window", "Ulysses", "Scallywag", "Salvation Army Girl", "On The Shelf", "Go Little Swale", "Isabel Makes Love On National Monuments", "Joseph", "Famous People", "The Gravedigger", and "Leopold Alcocks". (Rock, Folk/Country) CD

A really fantastic little package – one that's put together in collaboration between Island and Transatlantic Records, to document the hippest Brit folk and folk rock of the late 60s and early 70s. Features gems by Fairport Convention, Roy Harper, John Martyn, Pentangle, Ralph McTell, Martin Carthy, John Renbourn, Bert Jansch, Davey Graham, Jackson C Frank, Marc Brierley, Gryphon, Hedgehog Pie, Young Tradition, Shirley Collins, Mr Fox, Lindisfarne, Jack The Lad, and many others! LP, Vinyl record album

An amazing portrait of America between the wars – served up over dozens of vintage 78rpm recordings – all based around themes of daily life mentioned in the title! The collection is an incredible historical document – pulled mostly from the collection of Louisville 78 collector Don Wahle, and remastered and re-presented beautifully by the folks at Tompkins Square – who not only sort the songs into key categories, but also provide a wealth of notes and images to further illuminate the tunes! There's a number of tracks on here that have never been reissued before, mixed with others that are still plenty darn rare – and the package features 42 tracks that include "Climbing The Golden Stairs" by Happy Four, "Oh Declare His Glory" by McDonald Quartette, "Fourth Of July At The County Fair" by Bill Chitwood, "Tennessee Coon Hunt" by Whit Gaydon, "Hide Away" by Oscar Ford, "Poor Man Rich Man" by David McCarn, "Driving Saw Logs On The Plover" by Pierre La Dieu, and "Flat Wheel Train Blues (parts 1 & 2)" by Red Gay & Jack Wellman. CD

A really great document of a unique musical moment – one that happened overseas, but which started a wave of protest that's continued to this day! In the late 50s, London was a hotbed of nuclear protest – one of the first cities to express a strong resistance to the arms race that was building up at a global level – in a movement that not only drew political forces, but artists and musicians as well! This well-done set looks at some of the latter – a mix of folk and jazz singers and musicians who joined together to protest atomic weapons – some with songs that outwardly anti-nuclear, some a bit more subtle – brought together here in a massive 54 track collection! The range of material varies, and maybe the most surprising are some of the trad jazz artists who we might not have expected to be working next to more political folkies – in a lineup that features material from Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger, Fred & Betty Dallas, Margaret McKeown, Kenny Ball, Humphrey Lyttleton, Sheila Hancock, Sydney Carter, Chris Barber, George Melly, Kenny Ball, and The Alberts. CD

Way more than just another box set by a well-established act – as this collection moves way past their hits, and pulls together a huge amount of unreleased material that really testifies to the long-running genius of one of the most unique British groups to emerge in the late 60s! The set does feature key album highlights, but also includes 55 previously-unissued tracks, and lots of rare material too – as well as a fair bit of live recordings that really show the role that improvisation played in the group's performance – that odd current of jazz that could sometimes show up and color the way that the group presented its influences from more ancient forms of music. The group also shifted members with ease, and really moved their sound around over the years – in a way that many fans would say was only a continued refinement of their aims. The huge set documents this change, and also includes the unreleased Manor album – and comes in a special box with 48-page book, and a total of 121 tracks on 7 CDs, nearly half of which (55 tracks) are previously unreleased. CD

Probably the best package of Hank's work we've ever seen! The set collects 42 of Hank's tracks from the late 40s and early 50s on 2 CDs, along with a thick book of biographical notes and photos. Pretty much all of the essential tunes are here, including "I Saw The Light", "Cold, Cold Heart", "Hey, Good Lookin'", ""Your Cheatin' Heart", ""There's A Tear In My Beer", "Lost Highway", "Lovesick Blues", and the rest. As with so many other repackaged sets, the biggest excuse to justify spending even more money on old Hank are the rarities – which include several tracks he recorded early on as Luke The Drifter – including "Ramblin' Man", "I Dreamed About Mama", and "Please Make Up Your Mind". You also get several rare versions, included a couple of live captures from the Opry. We're eating our hat here, but we just can't deny that Mercury managed to churn out another essential Hank set! CD

A mid-career gem from Tammy Wynette – and a set that's very different than some of the more biting material of her early days! Tammy here is singing of life's trials and challenges, from a perspective that was documented famously in her own semi-public life – and served up here with some delightfully easygoing production from Chips Moman, who also co-wrote some of the best songs on the record too. Despite her polished look on the cover, Wynette brings some very down to earth energy to the songs – a set list that includes "He's Rolling Over & Over", "Cowboy's Don't Shoot Straight", "Crying In The Rain", "Easy Street", "Goodnight Cowboy Goodnight", "You Brought Me Back", "I Don't Think I See Me In Your Eyes Anymore", and "The Best There Is". CD features five bonus tracks – including "There Goes That Old Steel Guitar", "The Wonders You Perform", "The Only Time I'm Really Me", "A Candle In The Wind", and "You Make Me Want To Be A Mother". CD

You might not know Les Cousins, but back in the city it was a very important club on the London scene – a crossroads of blues, folk, and other styles – with an influence that was every bit important in England as the Greenwich Village clubs were in the US! This massive 3CD set does a great job of documenting the sounds that passed through its stage – not via live recordings, but over a well-chosen array of cuts that demonstrate just how hip British work of the time could be – folk-plus material, of the sort you'd hear on the best albums on Island Records or Transatlantic, all very much of the generation of Nick Drake and Fairport Convention! The 3CD set does a really great job of showing the wide range of acts from this moment – including many we haven't had on other reissues in recent years – in a great box that features 72 tracks, and very detailed notes on the material. Includes work from The Levee Brothers, Roy Harper, Dr Strangely Strange, Strawbs, Owen Hand, Dave Evans, Anne Briggs, Tom Yates, Duffy Power, Ron Geesin, Jackson C Frank, Martin Carthy, Dando Shaft, Shelagh McDonald, Al Jones, Sweeney's Men, Sam Mitchell, Tir Na Nog, Beverly, Michael Chapman, and many others. (Rock, Folk/Country) CD

18 track compilation and a full length documentary on DVD. CD

The LP that followed up Barry's classic pop folk track "Eve Of Destruction". The track still sends a shiver up our spines – probably more because we've seen it used in a million documentaries, than because of any actual power in the song. Still, it's a darn groovy track, and the LP has a number of other nice ones written by P.F. Sloan, including "Mr. Man On The Street (act 1)", "What's Exactly the Matter With Me", and "The Sins Of A Family". (Rock, Folk/Country) LP, Vinyl record album

A record issued in the 70s, but one that documents the legacy of 60s folk in which Peter Isaacson was a part – working as a singer and guitarist in the Village scene at the time, where he honed his skills on songs by Bob Dylan, Tim Hardin, and other contemporaries! The album was recorded back home in Kansas, after Isaacson had given up on New York – and that kind of gives it a "60s hangover" sort of vibe – as Peter makes his way through a host of familiar tunes, but with surprisingly dark currents that come across in ways that are very different than the originals – even though the readings just feature acoustic guitar and vocals. The set's a lost gem from the very underground years of American indie labels – and titles include "Long Way Back Home", "Affair On 8th Avenue", "I Shall Be Released", "Ribbon Of Darkness", "I Threw It All Away", "Lalena", and "Both Sides Now". LP, Vinyl record album