In 2022, the Cherry Red subsidiary label Grapefruit Records released ‘Deep In The Woods’, a 3CD collection of cult recordings from the late 60s and early 70s, which documented the trippier and occasionally proggier elements of folk rock. Featuring a host of familiar names along with some genuine obscurities, the lengthy listen played brilliantly, offering the more open minded prog fan and 70s rock buff a listen that relied on far more than easy nostalgia.
Tag Archives: 70s
THE REAL GONE ADVENT CALENDAR 2024
It’s that time of year again! …And it seems to come around faster every year.
VARIOUS ARTISTS – Ring The Bells & Sing: Progressive Sounds Of 1975
Whenever a new, yearly themed box of prog rock cuts gets released by Esoteric Records, genre fans automatically know they’re in for some great listening. Even when their ‘Underground Sounds’ and ‘Progressive Sounds’ anthologies merely recycle a world of album cuts, these affordable multi-disc sets create something that isn’t just well rounded; when approached in the right mood, they’re compilations which are incredibly absorbing. Whether approaching them from a nostalgic perspective or in the hope of discovering something new – hopefully both – these anthologies supply a huge amount of entertainment.
VARIOUS ARTISTS – Psych!: British Prog, Rock, Folk & Blues 1966-1973
The world isn’t short of great psych and prog themed anthologies. The fact is, if you’re a keen psych/freakbeat/early prog fan, you’ve probably got those Cherry Red sets bringing together a wealth of stuff from between 1967-69, the many ‘Rubble’ releases, and more besides. Why should you add another psych oriented release to your already solid collection of compilations? Simply that ‘Psych!: British Prog, Rock, Folk & Blues 1966-73’ brings together a wealth of great music in less of a scattershot manner. Its three disc, sixty four track selection celebrates the more “out there” releases from Decca Records and their Deram off-shoot, and in doing so, plays more like a journey through an ever changing landscape from a more focused perspective, showing how the label often found themselves at the forefront of one of history’s most exciting periods in music.
WARHORSE – Warhorse
Between 1967 and 1969, the original Deep Purple released a trio of excellent albums. Those records mixed elements of 60s pop with rock guitar, experimented with psychedelia, and even explored avenues of orchestral rock. The huge proto-metal work of the band’s next incarnation – makers of the classics ‘Black Night’, ‘Smoke On The Water’ and ‘Highway Star’ – has long overshadowed the earlier Purple outings, but tracks like ‘Shield’ and ‘Chasing Shadows’ provided a massive showcase for Ritchie Blackmore’s distinctive guitar work and things to come, whilst the epic ‘April’ proved this was a band with bigger ideas than most, and their ability for making other peoples’ material their own was almost as impressive.