VARIOUS ARTISTS – The Magic Forest: More Pastoral Psychedelia & Funky Folk 1968-1975

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.

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VARIOUS ARTISTS – Strangers In The Room: A Journey Through The British Folk-Rock Scene 1967-73

A product of the late 60s freedoms and musical experimentation, British folk-rock gave the world a few classic albums in its formative years. Fairport Convention’s ‘What We Did On Our Holidays’ and ‘Leige & Leif’, both released in 1969, arguably took the musical fusion from being of cult status and into the more mainstream. Now considered indispensable by fans everywhere, these are albums without which Led Zeppelin’s third album might not exist in quite the same way…or even at all. Often taking a more trad direction in their early years, Steeleye Span captured the fingered-ear of folkies with 1970’s ‘Please To See The King’, whilst Lindisfarne also gained a great deal of commercial success with a slightly more raucous take on a rapidly growing genre, even if that success has been somewhat overlooked in the passing of time.

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