VA- Dust on The Nettles - British Underground Folk Scene 1967-72 [4 CD, 2015]

  

With 63 tracks and a total running time of just under four hours, Dust On The Nettles examines the metamorphosis that British folk underwent during the late 1960s, when the influence of psychedelia and the counterculture saw the idiom being twisted into all kinds of new and exotic shapes, as the finger-in-the-ear folk clubs of yore were inexorably drawn into a brave new world of Arts Labs, free festivals and the nascent college/university circuit. Our anthology incorporates the various overlapping strands of the underground folk scene: the acid folk experimenters, the folklorists and trad song updaters, the more metaphysical element of the burgeoning singer/songwriter genre, the newly-electric folk rockers, the elemental paganism exemplified by Comus and The Wicker Man, even the early 1970s Jesus music movement that spawned the likes of the sitar-wielding Parchment. Balancing the familiar with the obscure, we feature acknowledged brand leaders like Fairport Convention, The Incredible String Band, Pentangle and Steeleye Span alongside acts who made music purely for the local communities that nurtured them: Shide & Acorn on the Isle of Wight, Folkal Point in Bristol, Music Box in Coventry, Chrissie Quayle in Cornwall. We incorporate a large number of recordings that weren't issued at the time, sample impossibly rare albums by the likes of Oberon, Dry Heart and Benjamin Delaney Lion, and feature key recordings from a number of bands who underpinned the thriving live scene of the era. Housed in a clambox featuring a lavishly illustrated and annotated 36-page booklet, the painstakingly-assembled Dust On The Nettles is surely the most comprehensive and wide-ranging anthology to appear thus far of the UK underground hippie folk movement of the late 1960s/early 1970s.

Disc 1
01. The Pentangle - LET NO MAN STEAL YOUR THYME (Transatlantic TRA 162, 1968)
02. Magnet - WILLOW’S SONG (FROM THE WICKER MAN) (rec. 1972, first issued 1998)
03. Wight - COME ALL YOU TRAVELLERS (French Festival SPX 147, 1970)
04. Spirogyra - LOVE IS A FUNNY THING (B&C CAS 1042, 1971)
05. Gary Farr - IMAGES OF PASSING CLOUDS (rec. 1968, previously unreleased)
06. Synanthesia - PEEK STRANGELY AND WORRIED EVENING (RCA Victor SF 8058, 1969)
07. Bob & Carole Pegg - GLASS OF WATER (Galliard GAL 4017, 1972)
08. Vashti Bunyan - WINTER IS BLUE (Instant INL 002, 1968)
09. Comus - WINTER IS A COLOURED BIRD (Dawn DNX 2506, 1971)
10. Chrissie Quayle - THE SEAGULLS SCREAM (Sentinel SENS 1001, 1970)
11. Clive Palmer - STORIES OF JESUS (rec. 1967, first issued 1999)
12. Steve Peregrin Took’s Shagrat - AMANDA (rec. 1969, first issued 1990)
13. Bridget St. John - CURIOUS CRYSTALS OF UNUSUAL PURITY (Dandelion 63750, 1969)
14. Mark Fry - ROSES FOR COLUMBUS (Italian ZSLT 70006. 1972)
15. Dando Shaft - TILL THE MORNING COMES (RCA Neon NE 5, 1971)
16. Mary-Anne - BLACK GIRL (Joy JOYS 162, 1970)
17. Trees - THE GARDEN OF JANE DELAWNEY (CBS 63837, 1970)
18. Principal Edwards Magic Theatre - WEIRDSONG OF BREAKING THROUGH AT LAST (Dandelion DAN 8002, 1971)
19. Oberon - MINAS TIRITH (Acorn OBE LPS 1, 1971)
20. Paper Bubble - PRISONERS, VICTIMS, STRANGERS, FRIENDS (rec. 1970, previously unreleased)

Disc 2
01. Gerald Moore - PILGRIM (rec. 1972, first issued 1999)
02. Melton Constable - RIVER LANE (rec. 1972, previously unreleased)
03. Moonkyte - WAY OUT HERMIT (Mother SMOT 1, 1071)
04. Steeleye Span - ALL THINGS ARE QUITE SILENT (RCA SF 8113, 1970)
05. Heron - UPON REFLECTION (Dawn DNLS 3010, 1970)
06. Parchment - LOVE IS COME AGAIN (Pye NSPL 18388, 1972)
07. Shelagh McDonald - STARGAZER (B&C CAS 1043, 1971)
08. Tony Caro & John - THERE ARE NO GREATER HEROES (private label, no cat. no., 1972)
09. Joan Armatrading - VISIONARY MOUNTAINS (Cube HIFLY 12, 1972)
10. Tuesday - GLOW OF THE FIRELIGHT (rec. 1972, previously unreleased)
11. Warm Gold - SEARCHING FOR LAMBS (Sentinel SENS 1011, 1972)
12. Benjamin Delaney Lion - SAMANTHA CAROL FRAGMENTS (Hollick & Taylor, no cat. no., 1969)
13. Fairport Convention - FOTHERINGAY (rec. 1969, first issued 2000)
14. Frozen Tear - YOU KNOW WHAT HAS TO BE (RA 5001, 1969)
15. Hunt Lunt & Cunningham - MEANWHILE BACK IN THE FOREST (Pye 7N 45125, 1972)
16. The Incredible String Band - FIRST GIRL I LOVED (rec. 1967, first issued 1998)
17. The Moths - HALFDAN’S DAUGHTER (Deroy LP, no cat. no., 1970)
18. Trader Horne - THE MUTANT (Dawn DNLS 3004, 1970)
19. Dry Heart - MEETING BY THE MOONLIGHT MILL (rec. 1970, previously unreleased)
20. Tyrannosaurus Rex - HIGHWAYS (MISTY MIST) (rec. 1967, first issued 1991)
21. Duncan Browne - GABILAN (Immediate IMS 018, 1968)
22. Kevin Coyne - SAND ALL YELLOW (Dandelion 2310 228, 1972)

Disc 3
01. Bill Fay - GARDEN SONG (rec. 1969, first issued 1999)
02. C.O.B. - MUSIC OF THE AGES (CBS 69010, 1971)
03. Everyone Involved - A SONG FOR THE SYSTEM (Arcturus ARC 4, 1972)
04. Country Sun - THE COLOUR IS BLUE (Dandelion 2485 021, 1972)
05. Wild Country - SILENT VILLAGE (Trafalgar TRAF1, 1970)
06. Marc Brierley - WELCOME TO THE CITADEL (CBS 63478, 1969)
07. The Occasional Word - THE EVIL VENUS TREE (Dandelion DAN 63753, 1970)
08. Anne Briggs - STANDING ON THE SHORE (CBS 64612, 1971)
09. Agincourt - KIND SIR (Merlin HF 3, 1970)
10. Mick Softly - EAGLE (CBS 64098, 1970)
11. Fresh Maggots - ROSEMARY HILL (RCA SF 8205, 1971)
12. Music Box - THE HAPPY KING (Westwood MRS 013, 1972)
13. Fuchsia - ME AND MY KITE (Pegasus PEG 8, 1971)
14. The Sun Also Rises - WIZARD SHEP (Village Thing VTS 2, 1970)
15. Folkal Point - SCARBOROUGH FAIR (Midas MR 003, 1972)
16. Marie Celeste - PRISONER (no label, no cat. no., 1971)
17. Simon Finn - PATRICE (Mushroom 100 MR 2, 1971)
18. Shide & Acorn - GIRL OF THE COSMOS (Solent SM 011, 1971)
19. Chimera - ELEGY TO A DEAD KING (rec. 1968, first issued 2004)
20. Beau - SILENCE RETURNS (Dandelion DAN 8006, 1971)
21. Mother Nature - ORANGE DAYS AND PURPLE NIGHTS (B&C CB166. 1971)

Disc 4 (Extra Bonus Disc)
01. Zior - I Was Fooling (1971)
02. Zakarrias - The Unknown Years (1971)
03. Wooden Horse - Celebration Song (Unreleased Album 1973)
04. Wil Malone - At The Silver Slipper (1970)
05. Whistler - See What The Future Brings (1971)
06. Unicorn - Cosmic Kid (1971)
07. Trevor Lucas - On The Banks of The Condamine (1966)
08. Trees - Streets Of Derry (1970)
09. Tim Hart & Maddy Prior - Serving Girls Holiday (1971)
10. Thunderclap Newman - The Reason (1970)
11. The World - Things I Could Have Said (1970)
12. The Way We Live - Squares (1971)
13. Quiet World - First Light (1970)
14. The Machine Gun Co. with Mike Cooper - The Singing Tree (1972)
15. The Humblebums - Continental Song (1970)
16. Tennent & Morrison - Death In A Distant Country (1972)
17. John Williams - London Town (1968) (w. Jimmy Page)
18. John & Beverly Martyn - Parcels (1970)