V.A.
The All New Electric Muse -The Story Of Folk Into Rock (2008)
Label:   
Length:  3:52:19
    Track Listing:
      Disc 1:
      1.  
      		 Lonnie Donegan - Rock Island Line    2:29
      2.  
      		 Davy Graham - She Moved Through The Fair    3:13
      3.  
      		 Ian Campbell Folk Group - Across The Hills    1:53
      4.  
      		 Shirley Collins and Davy Graham - Pretty Saro    4:17
      5.  
      		 Bert Jansch - Angi    3:10
      6.  
      		 Davy Graham - Better Git It In Your Soul    2:28
      7.  
      		 Bert Jansch - Needle Of Death    3:18
      8.  
      		 Donovan - Colours    2:45
      9.  
      		 Three City Four - History Lesson    2:55
      10.  
      		 Martin Carthy - Scarborough Fair    3:27
      11.  
      		 John Renbourn - Waltz    1:59
      12.  
      		 The Young Tradition - Lyke-Wake Dirge    2:45
      13.  
      		 Jackson C. Frank - Blues Run The Game    3:32
      14.  
      		 The Dubliners - The Mason's Apron    3:39
      15.  
      		 The Incredible String Band - First Girl I Loved    4:58
      16.  
      		 Sandy Denny - You Never Wanted Me    3:22
      17.  
      		 Sweeny's Men - Rattlin' Roarin' Willy    2:25
      18.  
      		 John Martyn - Seven Black Roses    4:02
      19.  
      		 Fairport Convention - Autopsy    4:22
      20.  
      		 Pentangle - Let No Man Steal Your Thyme    2:45
      21.  
      		 Ralph Mctell - Michael In The Garden    4:25
      22.  
      		 Nick Drake - Time Has Told Me    4:25
      23.  
      		 Dr. Strangely Strange - Dark Haired Lady    2:59
      Disc 2:
      1.  
      		 The Humblebums - Please Sing A Song For Us    2:47
      2.  
      		 John and Beverley Martyn - John The Baptist    3:12
      3.  
      		 Fairport Convention - Crazy Man Michael    4:38
      4.  
      		 Fairport Convention - Sir Patrick Spens    3:31
      5.  
      		 Traffic - John Barleycorn (Must Die)    6:23
      6.  
      		 Fotheringay - Banks Of The Nile    8:05
      7.  
      		 Mike Heron - Feast Of Stephen    4:38
      8.  
      		 Mr. Fox - The Gay Goshawk    3:17
      9.  
      		 Steeleye Span - The Blackleg Miner    2:45
      10.  
      		 Pentangle - Sally Go Round The Roses    3:36
      11.  
      		 Shirley Collins and The Albion Country Band - The Murder Of Maria Marten    7:25
      12.  
      		 Steeleye Span - Lovely On The Water    5:18
      13.  
      		 Marin Carthy - Famous Flower Of Serving Men    9:21
      14.  
      		 Pentangle - Rain And Snow    3:49
      15.  
      		 Richard Thompson - Nobody's Wedding    3:14
      16.  
      		 Finbar And Eddie Furey - Her Father Didn't Like Me Anyway    3:45
      17.  
      		 Amazing Blondel - The Siege Of Yaddlethorpe    2:35
      Disc 3:
      1.  
      		 Ashley Hutchings and hums - Staines Morris    3:14
      2.  
      		 The Incredible String Band - Black Jack David    2:43
      3.  
      		 Tim Hart And Maddy Prior - Dancing At Whitsun    3:37
      4.  
      		 Robin Williamson - Strings In The Earth And Air    3:09
      5.  
      		 Sandy Denny - Blackwaterside    4:12
      6.  
      		 Shelagh Mcdonald - Dowie Dens Of Yarrow    6:52
      7.  
      		 John James, Pete Berryman - Sky In My Pie    2:36
      8.  
      		 John Martyn - Eibhli Ghail Chiuin Ni Chearbhail    3:08
      9.  
      		 Albion Country Band - New St George - La Rotta    4:15
      10.  
      		 Ashley Hutchings and Chums - Bonny Breastknot - Double Lead Through    2:39
      11.  
      		 Bryn Haworth - Grappenhall Rag    2:58
      12.  
      		 Gryphon - Kemp's Jig    3:09
      13.  
      		 Mick Maloney - An Gaoth Andheas    3:47
      14.  
      		 Andrew Cronshaw - The Cuckoo - The Blacksmith    3:39
      15.  
      		 Richard and Linda Thompson - Mole In A Hole    3:23
      16.  
      		 Traffic - When The Eagle Flies    4:22
      17.  
      		 Fairport Convention - Stranger To Himself    2:52
      18.  
      		 Dransfield - It's Dark In Here    4:11
      19.  
      		 John Renbourn Group - A Maid In Bedlam    3:57
      20.  
      		 Dave Swarbrick - Wat Ye Wha - Redheaded Girl - Ril Gan Ainm    4:49
      21.  
      		 John Renbourn And Friends - Circle Dance    4:25
    Additional info: | top
      BBC Review
      "This is still a must-have collection!"

      Sid Smith 2008-11-28

      In recent times boutique labels such as Harvest, Deram, Vertigo, and the more esoteric offerings from Island and Polydor have all enjoyed a revival of interest thanks to a series of well-produced 3 CD sets. Ideal for the newcomer, they all offer a cross-section of hits, misses, curiosities and forgotten treasure from a time when labels were as open-minded and adventurous as the music that was hitting the desk of the A&R department.

      Such collections have focussed mainly upon the morphing of pop and psychedelia into underground and heavy rock, touching upon folk music only in passing. We now have an appreciation of a (roughly) similar period when folk and acoustic-based artists danced, dallied and quite possibly tarried a while with its electric cousins.

      Along with the imprints previously mentioned, Transatlantic Records were just as eclectic in what they signed. Alongside comedy, jazz and rock they held a large portion of the folk boom of the early 60s on their books. By combining Transatlantic's roster with that of Island and Decca, many of the key names pushing boundaries and setting standards of exploration and discovery that makes Doctor Livingstone seem like an armchair traveller are ably represented.

      Yet this is not only a collection of hot-shot guitarists (step forward Davy Graham, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn and John Martyn – all present and correct), the usual suspects when it comes to the folk-rock frame-up (Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span and Traffic), or tragic troubadours such as Sandy Denny or Nick Drake.

      There's a welcome straying off the well-worn paths to take in a range of acts whose diversity challenges any notion that folk or even folk-rock is just one standardized brand. Thus we get the unruffled purity of Shirley Collins' vocal coupled to the Albion Country Band's tricksy, uneven meters, Bryn Haworth's dazzling Grappenhall Rag (with King Crimson's Gordon Haskell on bass) and shining harmonies rising triumphantly from It's Dark In Here by Dransfield.

      Also worthy of closer investigation is Shelagh McDonald whose Dowie Dens Of Yarrow is graced with undulating drums and radiant Hammond organ. McDonald's own story is worthy of a song itself. Recording only two albums in the 1970s, she walked out on a promising career after one bad acid trip too many. Unlike other more famous acid casualties of her generation, hers is a happy ending, turning up recently and writing material again.

      If your interest has been piqued by previous box sets such as Strangely Strange But Oddly Normal and A Breath Of Fresh Air, this will reward your attention. On a cautionary note though, contractual difficulties prevent the inclusion of Roy Harper's early 70s visionary synthesis of the genre (a vital part of the folk-rock journey) or the groundbreaking work of Lal and Mike Waterson, June Tabor et al. Nor can it be as comprehensive as Castle Communication's 6 CD New Electric Muse (issued in 1996 and itself based upon 1976’s four-album Electric Muse). Such unavoidable omissions aside though, this is still a must-have collection.


      =================================


      Review by Dave Thompson - AMG

      The original Electric Muse was released in 1975, a four-LP box set that professed (and, for the most part succeeded) to tell the story of (primarily) English folk music as it was electrified during the '60s and early '70s. A magnificent undertaking, packed with every significant name in the genre's development, it nevertheless sold poorly and slipped out of print after just a few years, to become a Holy Grail of sorts among an ever-growing army of folk-rock aficionados. Two decades later, The New Electric Muse arrived to plug that breach and continue that story into the '90s, this time spread over three full CDs. It was not a full recounting of the original package -- the vinyl's opening medley lost its Fairport connection, while the whole of side one's investigation of the movement's acoustic routes was likewise absent, to be replaced with a crop of new (and, for the most part, more representative) recordings -- Dave Swarbrick, the Copper Family, Shirley Collins & Davy Graham, etc. Thereafter, however, the running order echoed the vinyl with pleasing accuracy, as it traveled from the Ian Campbell Folk Group and the Dubliners to John Martyn and the great Steve Ashley, via Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention, Lindisfarne, Pentangle, Traffic, and more. And, on those occasions where a track from the original package was omitted (due to licensing difficulties for the most part), the substitutes are invariably more than adequate replacements. We lose the Chieftains, for instance, but gain Sweeney's Men; we lose Al Stewart but gain Fotheringay. The era encompassed on the original Electric Muse consumes the first two CDs; disc three then picks up the story and carries it up to date via 19 additional tracks, revisiting a few familiar friends (Swarbrick, Richard Thompson, Bert Jansch), but also ushering in a crop of later talents: Energy Orchard, Four Men & a Dog, Eliza Carthy. All are well-chosen; all slip effortlessly into the original framework. The New Electric Muse is by no means a replacement for your original vinyl copy. You really should own them both.



      1 Rock Island Line - The Lonnie Donnegan Skiffle Group
      2 She Moved Through the Fair - Davy Graham
      3 Across the Hills - Ian Campbell Folk Group
      4 Pretty Saro - Shirley Collins & Davy Graham
      5 Angie - Bert Jansch
      6 Better Git in Your Soul - Davy Graham
      7 Needle of Death - Bert Jansch
      8 Colours - Donovan
      9 History Lesson - Three City Four
      10 Scarborough Fair - Martin Carthy
      11 Waltz - John Renbourn
      12 Lyke-Wake Dirge - The Young Tradition
      13 Blues Run the Game - Jackson C. Frank
      14 The Mason's Apron - Dubliners
      15 First Girl I Loved - Incredible String Band
      16 You Never Wanted Me - Sandy Denny
      17 Rattlin' Roarin' Willie - Sweeney's Men
      18 Seven Black Roses - John Martyn
      19 Autopsy - Fairport Convention
      20 Let No Man Steal Your Thyme - Pentangle
      21 Michael in the Garden - Ralph McTell
      22 Time Has Told Me - Nick Drake
      23 Dark Haired Lady - Doctor Strangely Strange
      24 Please Sing a Song for Us - The Humblebums
      25 John the Baptist - John and Beverly Martyn
      26 Crazy Man Michael - Fairport Convention
      27 Sir Patrick Spens - Fairport Convention
      28 John Barleycorn (Must Die) - Traffic
      29 Banks of the Nile - Fotheringay
      30 Feast of Stephen - Mike Heron
      31 The Gay Goshawk - Mister Fox
      32 The Blackleg Miner - Steeleye Span
      33 Sally Go Round the Roses - Pentangle
      34 The Murder of Maria Marten - Shirley Collins and the Albion Band
      35 Lovely on the Water - Steeleye Span
      36 Famous Flower of Serving Men - Martin Carthy
      37 Rain and Snow - Pentangle
      38 Nobody's Wedding - Richard Thompson
      39 Her Father Didn't Like Me Anyway - Finbar and Eddie Furey
      40 The Siege of Yaddlethorpe - Amazing Blondel
      41 Staines Morris - Ashley Hutchings and Chums
      42 Black Jack David - Incredible String Band
      43 Dancing at Whitsun - Tim Hart, Maddy Prior
      44 Strings in the Earth and Air - Robin Williamson
      45 Blackwaterside - Sandy Denny
      46 Dowie Dens of Yarrow - Shelagh McDonald
      47 Sky in My Pie - Pete Berryman, John James
      48 Eibhli Ghail Chiuin Ni Chearbhail - John Martyn
      49 The New St. George/La Rotta - Albion Country Band
      50 Bonny Breastknot/Double Lead Through - Ashley Hutchings and Chums
      51 Grappenhall Rag - Bryn Haworth
      52 Kemp's Jig - Gryphon
      53 An Gaoth Andheas - Mick Moloney
      54 The Cuckoo/The Blacksmith - Andrew Cronshaw
      55 Mole in a Hole - Richard & Linda Thompson
      56 When the Eagle Flies - Traffic
      57 Stranger to Himself - Fairport Convention
      58 It's Dark in Here - Dransfield
      59 A Maid in Bedlam - John Renbourn Group
      60 Wat Ye Wha I Met the Streen/The Ribbons of the Red Head Girl - Dave Swarbrick
      61 Circle Dance - John Renbourn
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