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... LP, Vinyl record album

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

Nice 2LP set that brings together some of his most striking sessions of the early 60s recorded for Emarcy. This set includes pieces composed and arranged by Lalo Schifrin played by a large ensemble led by Benny Carter – with Dizzy as the main soloist, and work by players that include James Moody, Phil Woods, Emil Richards, Francisco Aguabella, and Schifrin himself. Tracks are long, and have complicated introductions – then easily give way to the sort of flowing grooves that Schifrin was penning often at the time. Titles include "The Conquerors", "The Chains", "The Swords", "The Empire", and "The Legend Of Atlantis". The set also features Diz playing tracks from Tom McIntosh, one of the scene's brightest arrangers at the time, and a talent who was looming large, thanks to support from folks like Diz and James Moody. Moody's in the group – blowing tenor with a quintet that includes Kenny Barron on piano, Chris White on bass, and Rudy Collins on drums – and his tone is incredible, with a darkness that he'd rarely had before, and the whole group has a mixture of modern tones and soulful grooves that's beyond compare! Titles include "November Afternoon", "The Cup Bearers", "The Day After". Also included are songs from the soundtrack for the lost Shirley Clarke verite drama The Cool World. Mal Waldron wrote the material for the score, and Diz plays the music with a moody emotionality that you don't often hear in his other 60's work. The recording was made by his great group that included Kenny Barron and James Moody, and the titles include "The Pushers", "Duke's Fantasy", "Coney Island", and "Street Music". LP, Vinyl record album

A very unusual set from Prestige records – rural southern blues, recorded by Alan Lomax with help from Shirley Collins – featuring tracks from Fred McDowell, John Dudley, Matti Gardner, Miles Pratcher, Ed Young, Viola James, Leroy Gary, and Leroy Miller! LP, Vinyl record album

A stunning tribute to the great Alan Lomax – the legendary musicologist, historian, and recording engineer who captured so many wonderful American sounds in the 20th Century! Lomax's work has been crucial to both the Library Of Congress and Smithsonian/Folkways Records – yet there's also a fair bit that has never seen the light of day before – amazing recordings that make up a surprisingly large part of this box set – which compiles work in many different styles recorded by Alan in the field – blues, folk, gospel, and global modes, plus compelling regional genres – all presented here in a special 6LP set. The box features 55 never-issued tracks, and lots more great ones too – with music by Shirley Collins, Fiddlin Joe Martin, Compagna Sacco, Calvin Frazier, Sonny Boy Williamson, Jelly Roll Morton, Ernest Williams, Neal Morris, Skip James, Son House, Elmer Barton, Brendan Behan, George Sea Island Singers, Big Bill Broonzy, Elizabeth Austin, Jean Ritchie, Bascomb Lamar Lunsford, Bessie Jones, Duke Of Iron, Charles Barnett, and many others. The box features a nice booklet of notes, too – and some rare photos from the archive! LP, Vinyl record album

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