... CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

A really groundbreaking collection – one that looks at the surprising rise of interest in spiritual ideas during the late 60s years of hippy-heavy rock music – served up here in a host of cuts by artists we never thought we'd see together in such a collection! These aren't obscure Christian rock bands or church groups – and instead, most of the music here is by bigger name groups who, during a time of peace and love, opened their ears to some of the more conventional expressions of the spirit – while still turning out music that was heavy on all the psych, prog, folk, and harder rock elements they would normally record! As always with Grapefruit, the notes are as essential as the overall track selection – a stunning mix of tracks from 57 different artists – with cuts from The Kinks, Strawbs, Incredible String Band, Amazing Blondel, Manfred Mann, Magna Carta, Hollies, Jethro Tull, Unicorn, Lindisfarne, Heron, Gordon Giltrap, Moody Blues, Fairport Convention, Matthews Southern Comfort, Nirvana, Al Stewart, Roy Wood, Bill Fay, and many others! CD

Music from Christie, Lynn Anderson, Ray Price, Sammi Smith, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Wadsworth Mansion, Brewer & Shipley, Ocean, the Bells, Matthews' Southern Comfort, Mark Lindsay & the Glass Bottles. CD

A tremendous overview of some really important years in British music – a period that sometimes gets overlooked, due to the huge explosion of psych, prog, and other styles – but one that's equally creative in its own sort of way! First off, forget the term "folk rock" – because although that's what this music might be, it's also very different than the pop folk modes that were big on the US scene in the mid 60s – as this folk rock scene instead represented a host of British musicians really retrenching, and finding their own sort of styles – sometimes borrowing bits from the ancient past of England, other times bringing forth a contemporary way of putting over a tune – at a level that might have gotten commercial and overproduced if these guys were working on the American west coast, but which instead has a nicely unadorned quality here. At a time when most American labels (and listeners) were really leaving folk music behind, these artists were able to often work free from the needs of a big commercial hit – and make genius music that's gone on to transform many minds over the decades. The set moves way past the obvious – and features a whopping 60 tracks in all, with lots of notes in the package – and even includes a few never-issued tracks as well. Includes work by Harvey Andrews, Jade, Michael Chapman, Andy Roberts, Mr Fox, Pentangle, Shirley Collins, Prelude, Heron, Mike Cooper, Paul Brett's Sage, Lifeblood, Dando Shaft, Canticle, Jeremy Harmer, Bridget St John, Al Jones, Bill Fay, Fairport Convention, The Woods Band, Matthew's Southern Comfort, The Johnstons, Beau, Richmond, Chimera, Spirogyra, and many others! CD