ON THE SHORE

In 1970 TREES released their 2nd album with "On The Shore" blending strong elements of Prog, Psychedelia and Folk. Led by the strong and beautiful voice of Celia Humphris (sounds like a mix of Annie Haslam and Sandy Denny), "On The Shore" delivers a wild contrast of soft 70's classical Avante Garde folk rock. What is truely addictive here is their juxtaposed sounds, blending piano with guitar (acoustic and electric). The longer songs are simply "to die for" with the extended psychedelic jams and fuzzy electric guitar droned solos. For those who love a great album cover you will be delighted here with Storm Thorgeson's psychy camera work (best known for designing PINK FLOYD's "Dark Side Of The Moon"). Without a question "On The Shore" is a fabulous and highly eclectic piece of Psychy 70's Folk which definitely has my ear.

As good if not even better than their debut masterpiece. Read the other reviews , because as usual , James describes the music better than I could. It is notable that this band dared a bit more electrical music than most of their counterparts. However as they started pretty late into the folk-rock movement , they never managed to get the attention they deseved as the focal point was on bands well established . Comus and Spyrogyra also paid that price. I guess there was so many place at the top of the pyramid......

Also investigate the Pentangle.

Yes i know....yet another 5 star review from me!!! Now, one of my colleagues,have - lately told us/ indeed mentioned in this very site,that we (reviewers an all) should not go to extremes, using the five star rating!! I know...im really ..ahem....over doing it!! In terms of giving 5 stars!! But...hey, i own most of these wonderfull records!! So...wouldnt you agree....i would be a fool not to rate them high!! Now, back to reality!! TREES : " On the shore". Formed in 1969, Trees, were the fabulous clone of Fairport Convention...as indeed they had a female vocalist,twin guitarists,bass player & a drummer. But the comparison stopped there as TREES were so much more...the electric guitars of Barry Clarke and David Costa...proved to be extremely potent....up front and hard on......listen to the wonderfull "Soldiers theme". In all you could say that: Trees....are a hard copy of Fairport Convention!! As their musical language are folk....but ..HEY these Guys (and a girl) are so much better. Now i know that you probably havent heard of TREES!?? But ,now´s the time to get familiar with the folkrock of the seventies!! The beautiful voice of Celia Humphris...the fabulous guitars of Clarke & Costa and the ever thundering bass of Boshell giving the drums of Brown!! This is probably the BEST sounding folk/rock record in all time! I love Fairport/Fotheringay/ Steeleye/Trader Horne...but this is by far... The most wonderfull....beautifull...folk rock related record ever done !! Five stars?? Far from it!!! But i cant give it more than that!!! Folk rock at its best? OH YES.......GET IT !!! THIS IS AS GOOD AS IT GETS!!!! The Five Star Ranger!!

Sorry, folks; on the surface, this band sounds like a Fairport wannabe, and UNDER the surface they are a poor man's Fairport. Hovering between mediocre and pretty good musicianship (except for the drummer, who's just plain bad), with bland arrangements and a singer who sounds like Sandy Denny after one of her renowned benders, there's just no reason to bother with this album. The other one's still derivative, but a little better.

The traditional oriented "Soldiers Three" opens this extraordinary wonderful psychedelic folk album, and it's vocal arrangements for several voices and medieval like guitar interludes gives a strong first impression. "Murdoch" has a strong tempo driven by acoustic guitar, and an enchanting verse with overdubbed double vocals. "Polly on the shore" is one of the essential tracks here, a long psychedelic voyage with beautiful features. "Adams Toon" is a short medieval like guitar piece introducing "Sally Free & Easy", which creates a fine tension with piano driven opening, and powerful verse from the whole band. "Fool" is also a great song, this being more conventional folk rock with traditional oriented melodies and lyrics. "Geordie" resembles the early Fairport Convention minor ballads from its melody, which is truly beautiful, and the weeping electric guitar accompanies Celia's voice. The rest of the tracks are quite average as compositions, but still fine performances. The re-mastered sound on the CD is very clear, and there's an informative booklet within, so if you like psych oriented folk, I recommend checking this album out. The original vinyl version of this record should be quite hard to find and very expensive, luckily there are some reissues moving around of it too.

Comparing it to first album,"On the shore" is much more mature album and one of the best I have heard so far in this sub-genre.Instrumentation,especially on trad.songs,is absolutely amazing and Celia's voice is more forceful and cleaner.Extended guitar solos don't seem aimless anymore and the whole thing is just pure delight to listen.I'm no expert for prog-folk,or folk music in general,but this album is just so different from any other album in this genre,no comparison can be found with other bands of the era.With exclusion of some of Jethro Tull albums,this is,IMHO,crowning achievment of British prog folk,a masterpiece every prog afficionado should have in their collection.

Clearly influenced by Fairport Convenrtion. But, if Fairport invented folkrock, then Trees invented folk-progressive rock. I first heard this LP many years ago (in 1970), as a teenager, on my transiistor radio under the pillow! Kid Jenson, of Radio Luxemberg, used to play it a lot and I knew straight away it was an essential LP to own. It's brilliant, especially Streets of Derry with its outstanding guitars and drumming.

A five piece Psyche / Folk band.This is a great album that i'm so glad I took a chance on. I really like the fact they have two lead guitarists, I really enjoyed listening to them both playing a different, yet complementary melody at the same time, just beautiful ! And another thing that is very appealing to me is that the guitar often sounds like Conny Veit's style and tone from POPOL VUH. There are both female and male vocals, although Celia does most of the singing, and she has a very nice tone to her vocals.

Dual vocals on the opening track "Soldies Three" really works well. Highlights for me are "Polly On The Shore", "Murdoch" and "Fool" all of which have that Viet-like guitar front and center. "Sally Free And Easy" may be the best song. Again the guitar melodies are to die for. I found as I was making notes as I listened to this record, that I kept writing down time after time "amazing guitar melodies", and this is true of "Fool" and "Streets Of Derry" both beautiful songs."While The Iron Is Hot" is another favourite, the instrumental section is the most energetic on the album, great tune ! Lastly is the song "Little Sadie" which has a country feel to it, but it's fun, catchy and they pull it off perfectly. Nice bass too.

A real gem from 1970. Love the guitar.

Trees are a rather weak band. They borrow heavily from other folk rock bands, most obviously The Fairport Convention and sound very second rate. Yes, this album is not devoid of good songs and arrangements. For instance Fool is a good song and the bass playing is strong throughout. However the singer appears to be trying to emulate Sandy Denny alot and suffers for it as her voice simply isn't as strong. Furthermore the guitar is stodgy and some of the jamming parts are very boring. Some of the guitar work on Murdoch is also very similar to the masterpiece Tam Lin.

All in all this band does a reasonable job at imitating some of the folk greats. It is in no way a folk-prog masterpiece. For one thing there is no prog to be found here (there is very little to be found in The Fairport or Steeleye Span either) and for another it is a pale imitation.

The beautiful, charming and fragile voice of Celia Humphris, the strongest point on this record, can easily be compared to Jane Relf (Renaissance), Judy Dyble (Fairport Convention) and even Annie Haslam. The music itself, very folkier and quite rock/hard rock, is definitely influenced by Fairport Convention. I find the songs more catchy than on their other album. There is a slight psychedelic dimension, but not too pronounced. The tracks are not very progressive, so that this record stands between the folk prog and the prog related styles. The rare keyboards are quite timid, mainly consisting in very good piano arrangements on a few tracks. This music is definitely acoustic guitars driven. There is a song with very good harp and orchestral arrangements. Some of the electric guitar solos are not very interesting, because they are not very catchy.

Rating: 3.5 stars

I tried very hard to get into this but just could not. I do appreciate acid-folk which makes it strange that I don't like this much. I recognize that there is some quality here but sometimes even a good band can't make an emotional connection with you. I just found a good deal of this record to be bland and not compelling listening. There are a couple tracks that are nice but that's as generous as I can be I'm afraid.

In my opinion, Vashti Bunyan's "Just Another Diamond Day" covers similar terrain in a more convincing and colorful manner, although she's definitely more folk than rock. Reading around the Web this band is quite highly thought of, and many people really love their music. So I accept that this may just be a personal taste issue for me and if you are intrigued by the album based on the praise here and elsewhere, go for it!

The album cover is great and the re-issued cd features a very nice band bio.

8.8/10 Great

Trees follow up to their outstanding first album is in many ways a continuation of the great sound, albeit lacking a bit in a few departments. The music on here is not drastically different in any ways, but it is feels much more traditional than did their first album. Tracks from the first album such as "The Garden...", "Nothing Special" and "Snails Lament" all stood out for their uniqueness and folk progishness...but on "On The Shore" we find alot of traditional sounding songs, kind of like what you find on "Leige and Leif" from Fairport Convention. That is not to say the music is bad, it is all fantastic again, but there is nothing on here that struck me as the first album had. So, it is great, but it does not live up to the first. "Polly on the Shore" and "Sally Free and Easy" are by far my favorites on here, and hold a little more true to the more original song writing that I loved on the first album. Everything else is surely great stuff, with the continued if not even better sounding vocals, and an even tighter sounding band at that. Try the first album if you haven't already, and if you love it, check this out right away!

Trees was an also ran of Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span, and even Spirogyra, and for good reason. Their interpretations of traditional material were dreary, drowning their spirit in a saturated solution of droning improvisation. The beautiful voice of Celia Humphris has no emotional range whatsoever, and as such, any comparisons to contemporary greats are superficial.

Having said all of this, the group seems to do best with original material like "Murdoch" and "Fool", where they inject a Gothic atmosphere into albeit trad-inspired melodies and where the improvisation has a more suitably jammy character. This is where they go beyond what the better known bands were doing at the time while retaining the all important interest factor. Unfortunately, for every achievement in this regard, there is a droning "Streets of Derry" or "Sally Free and Easy. For a more concise and entrancing version of the latter, listen to Alan Stivell on "Reflets". "While the Iron is Hot" is another Boshell-penned composition that is better than most on the album, other than a horribly misplaced heavy guitar solo in the middle.

While Trees took some chances and are to be commended for that, they also lost too much in the translation and suffered from arrangements that were not reined in when necessary, a virtually total lack of melodic instinct, as well as the aforementioned vocal weaknesses. This places them firmly in the third rung of UK folk rock bands, stranded on the shore of mediocrity.

I can only give this two stars. I admit that I do get some enjoyment out of listening to it, indeed it is a cute little album. However, the long guitar solos lack focus and are very unremarkable. None of the musicians here have a distinctive style, they are decent instrumentalists but they lack that certain something that great bands must have. The songs are not bad, but the majority of them were not written by the band.

This album is only for serious fans/collectors of prog folk albums.

I just bought this album, i'd only heard one song off it but i was convinced it would be amazing due to it's cover. When i played the whole album i was a little disapointed, the are only a three good songs for me: "Slly Free and Easy", "Polly On The Shore" and "Fool". All the other songs get pretty boring for me, and the singer's voice pisses me off, i've never really liked folk music but i bought the album thinking it was gonna be a lot more prog sounding. And i probably wouldnt have bought it if it wasn't for the album cover, i'm just in love with it, it's my favourite album cover, it's sorta spooky but set in such a nice garden, anyway not the best music.

Much of the music on this album is uninspired standard folk-rock in the vein of Fairport Convention. I unfailingly get bored each time I listen to this album. Gone are the psychedelic touches, beautiful singing, inspired instrumental sections, great guitar parts and great songs of 'The Garden of Jane Delawney'. It is also less progressive. The album begins with "Soldiers Three" which is under 2 minutes and a standard but done well. "Murdoch" is by far the best song on here, and it is an original! It has a memorable melody, and sounds inspired and energetic. The traditional "Polly on the Shore" is also a good song, albeit a bit languid. "Adam's Toon" is a short acoustic guitar-led instrumental with bass and drums. "Sally Free and Easy" is fairly uneventful and drags on too long, sounding similar to "She Moved Thro' The Fair" on the previous album but less memorable. Next is "Fool" which is a decent song, more energetic but still not sounding inspired and having a chorus that rhymes the same sounds: Oswald the smith has not returned, to see which way the world has turned, and gets a bit repetitive along with the melody. "Geordie" is an unbearably slow song that has little of interest to offer. "While The Iron is Hot" is a nice folk ballad with a curious fast electric guitar solo in the middle that seems very out of place. "Little Sadie" is more very straightforward folk-rock sounding a little insipid. The last song "Streets of Derry" is one of the better songs on the album.

A great disappointment for me after hearing their fantastic debut "The Garden of Jane Delawney", and not one I really enjoy much, though there are some moderately enjoyable spots.

"One The Shore", the second and last album released by Trees in 1970 (the same year as their debut) is much different musically. The compositions are more (only two covers) and much more mature and progressive. The band leaves time for their songs to develop and has already established a more atmospheric, narrative style. The bass guitar is present much more, and the whole album is more electric, without any decrease of the prog (or the folk) element. The voice of Celia Humphris is once more safely leading the band to high levels of performance. The cover photograph taken in Golders Hill Park in North London is one my favourite prog-folk covers.

Favourite tracks: "Murdoch", "Sally Free And Easy", "Fool".

10/15P. Though not as professional and well-rehearsed as their colleagues from Fairport Convention, Trees presented an album in 1970 which is absolutely above the average. There are about 20 minutes of 5-star folk rock listening here, many guitar solos which are unusually captivating and some further moments of perfect band interplay. Points are deducted for some inaccuracies in timing and one or two songs which you might also skip.

Trees are a band which actually only a few die-hard folk rock fans know, and they mostly do because of the unexpectedly much-covered song The Garden of Jane Delawney or due to bassist Bias Boshell's work with The Moody Blues and Barclay James Harvest. The few discussions about the band that do occur in the web, however, empty quite frequently in the awareness that this band is a particularly uninspired Fairport Convention clone with much too long instrumental sections - and that the two albums of this band are pretty similar in quality, the debut album being a wee bit more successful than the second one.

After having given both albums some spins in manifold situations, including checking the music out one afternoon while gazing at the sea from the coastline of the British county Dorset, I came to the conclusion that none of these points really suit my own perception of this album. It's hard for me to profess that this album is of a consistently superlative quality (hence the rating), but there are plenty of breathtaking moments which are utterly atmospheric, in an utterly British way.

Many bands from the, as I put it, 'back rows' of electric folk (Steeleye Span etc. being the 'front row') don't really get the essence of folk music and end up strumming around on a guitar and singing about maidens and pheasants and other occurances which are far away from their actual experiences, hence making their music unauthentic and pathetic. This problem mars a lot of the so-called 'acid folk' releases, albums which mix stoned-out jams with some shallow and badly-sung lyrics with pseudo-medieval topics. I personally think that this band's debut album The Garden of Jane Delawney falls, at least partly, into this category. Apart from the sometimes shrill vocals by Celia Humphris the band wasn't really able to pull together, the muffled drums being unable to carry three estranged lead guitars through the songs.

Unexpectedly, this album makes a huge difference. The drummer finally pulls his socks up and sets a stable rhythmic base, the lead guitar plays in a more restrained way - and with the help of a better production and the choice of slower songs this album turned out perfectly well. Of course, Trees aren't innovators like the Albion Country Band or Fairport Convention, but especially in folk music I don't care too much about innovation as long as the interpretations are able to cast a certain spell on me. Pieces like Polly On The Shore and Geordie only look like Fairport Convention on the surface - especially regarding the female vocals, the multiple electric guitars and the chunky bass guitar. But the overdriven guitar notes swell in and out in a nearly Steve Hackett-like manner on top of some pretty heavy power chords while the bass guitar rambles around the hectic drum fills. All that is distinctly more psychedelic than the gritty and more rootsy sound of Liege and Lief, especially in Polly On The Shore, my favorite piece on this record, which floats in its own sonic world with the distant fading guitars, some particularly heavenly - but at the very same time harsh - vocals by Celia Humphris, the wonderful acoustic breakdown around the 2/3 mark of the song and the climactic electric guitar solo in the last two minutes. These are definitely 6 minutes of folk rock of the finest kind.

Those who appreciated this song may also enjoy the fairly similar interpretation of Geordie which provides many languorous chills with the fantastic interplay of the swelling lead guitar and the sharp counterpoints of the rhythm guitar. This recording predates Deep Purple's Fools by a year, but the guitar technique in the solo is quite similar. After listening to the fairly messy instrumental parts of the debut album I find Unwin Brown's brief unaccompanied drum breaks quite rewarding, especially the one before the gorgeous restrained guitar solo around 2:25. And in this context one should also mention the tasteful choice of traditional folk songs, all of which have never gotten a rock band outfit before and most of which the band has seemingly learned from recordings of Carthy & Swarbrick.

Streets of Derry, making good use of the pretty unknown Fender 12-string electric guitar, is for sure the most professionally arranged song in which a consequent splitting of guitar duties makes the whole band extremely tight and interesting to listen to. The very first stanza is even stripped from all electric guitars and features only drums, a melodically independent bass line and drums plus Celia Humphris' voice. During the course of nearly 8 minutes there are always new ideas, different guitar solos by different guitarists and everything is covered in that bittersweet harmony which draws through the whole album. Sally, Free and Easy is the piece which actually brought me to this band as I was looking for a folk rock version of that Cyril Tawney song. Profiting from Bias Boshell's well-performed classicistic piano work and some competently rapid acoustic guitar picking the band manage to catch my interest for the complete 10 minutes - more so than their previous She Moves Through The Fair rework, although it's clearly music which allows you to let your mind wander for a little while. I quite like it that the band, starting with the quiet vocal parts and letting the whole piece grow into a louder instrumental part, ends the piece in a similarly peaceful vein to the beginning.

The two shortest numbers on the album are the traditional Soldiers Three and the cheekily entitled Adam De La Halle adaptation Adam's Toon. Both of them are, regarding their short length, unexpectedly effective. The former, serving as the opener of the record, features wonderfully grim harmony vocals by nearly the complete band, very much in contrast to a peaceful instrumental version of the verse placed in the second half of the song. Adam's Toon is entirely instrumental, played with guitar and percussion instruments, echoing the minimalism of the Middle Ages when this tune was composed.

Although I'm usually a bit sceptical when songwriters of our times write songs in the vein of the old folk songs, the three original compositions Bias Boshell provided for this album turn out to be quite decent; actually, the original compositions were those which, in my opinion, also saved the group's debut album from complete irrelevance. Murdoch, a ballad depicting a Tolkienesque mountainside quite akin to how one imagines Mordor, succeeds in captivating an uncomfortably dark, cold and ghostly atmosphere which one also knows from British literature. The multi-tracked vocals of Celia Humphris in the last part are indeed remarkable, but don't ever listen to this album in the car, particularly when you aren't the only one sitting in this car. Somehow the composition with the many many words put on one chord reminds me a bit of Ian Anderson's acoustic songs, mainly the ones in the end of the Ch'teau d'Isaster tapes. While The Iron Is Hot, a historically founded protest song written by Boshell from the perspective of the working class, proves that Bias Boshell wouldn't be a good lead singer, but in combination with Celia Humphris and some other band member singing backing vocals his voice is perfectly okay. With the slightly Kirby-like (q.v. Nick Drake) restrained string arrangement in the background and a fairly crude rock band part in the middle it shows in which direction folk rock may be taken as well. Fool is a nice listen, especially because of a blazing guitar solo, but ultimately not really memorable, apart from the hushed guitar lick which appears after nearly every line which is sung. Overall there are too many Celia Humphris overdubs and too few real harmony vocals.

Little Sadie, a brief piece of American folk, however is a complete let-down which cannot be saved by some half-decent instrumental parts between the stanzas. Celia Humphris cannot keep the timing of the song, the whole arrangement is a mess and the melody gets on my nerves terribly. Think Rocky Raccoon by the Beatles or Benny the Bouncer by ELP, but performed in an amateurish way.

Since I only own the original album without the bonus CD I cannot say if buying the expanded edition would be recommendable. Apart from a BBC track and a demo you only find remixes of the original album among the bonus tracks. The remixes reportedly add additional backing vocals, lack some reverb and

The album itself is absolutely recommendable to folk rock lovers, in particular because of there are plenty of excellent haunting moments gathered on the record (Soldier's Three, Polly On The Shore, Streets of Derry, Geordie). These ethereal renderings of pretty unknown folk songs easily touch the 5-star mark. I give the complete album merely 3 stars overall because the other songs, ranging somewhere between 'bad' and 'very decent', cannot really keep up with the rest.

Trees - On the Shore (1970)

I like my folkrock music, it fills the room with its pleasant atmospheres and I love the slightly magical feel. Furthermore, it is the only music genre I listen to in which female vocals work really well for me. Now most of us will have heard of Steeleye Span, Pentangle and Fairport Convention. Trees' second album 'On the Shore' can easily compete with the best works of beforenamed bands.

English folkrock group Trees has two guitar players that fill the space brilliantly, great interplay and unsterstanding of roles. The vocals of Celia Humphris struck me as the best folk vocals I can think of. The warmth of a mother, the magic of an angel and the power that destincts folkrock from acoustic folk. The band has a drummer and a bass player and a slightly reverb folkrock sound, which I like. On all tracks we can hear some great melodic compositions and on the longer tracks Trees scores with atmospheric interplay. Some tracks like 'Soldier Three', 'Murdoch' and 'Fool' are very catchy in a good way. I wouldn't call Trees a very progressive band, but there's a lot of very tastefull musicianship, arranging and some nice atmospheric passages. The production is really good, captures the spirit of its time.

Conclusion. If you like folkrock this is the ideal obscurity. Four stars, but I almost fellt tempted to give five because I just like to listen to this kind of music often.

Of the various acts on the British electric folk scene in the 1970s, Trees seem to have embraced the electric rock side of their sound more stridently than the likes of Fairport Convention or Steeleye Span ever did. Showing a boldness in stark contrast to the quieter, softer approach taken by many of their contemporaries, this second album presents a perfect blend of traditional folk and psychedelic-tinged rock with long virtuoso guitar solos that I can absolutely get lost in, courtesy of Barry Clarke. Plus, keyboardist-vocalist Celia Humphris has an absolutely incredible, unmatched voice in electric folk. Top notch stuff, highly recommended for anyone who digs the direction British folk rock took in the 1970s.

TREES were a short-lived English Folk band who first emerged from the forest in 1969. They recorded two albums together: "The Garden of Jane Delawney" (1969) and "On the Shore" (1970). Neither album achieved commercial success and they were derided by the ignorant music press at the time as being a sound-alike Fairport Convention band. However, Trees particular brand of Folk music was a fairly unconventional blend of psychedelic and progressive Folk in a whole forest of English Folk bands. Their two original LP albums have grown from acorns to become much sought-after mighty oaks amongst record collectors. The 2007 CD re-issue of "On the Shore" included a bonus CD, consisting mostly of remixes of the original ten songs on the album.

We're setting off at a marching pace with "Soldiers Three", which sounds like a traditional Folky drinking song for listening to whilst downing a pint and scoffing a ploughman's lunch down at the local tavern before we go merrily on our way. Just don't let the ploughman catch you eating his lunch. The next song "Murdoch" is nothing to do with the media mogul and newspaper tycoon. No, this song is all about Murdoch's Mountain (wherever that is), which sounds remarkably similar to the Fairport Convention classic, "Tam Lin", particularly in the descending chord sequence. Lead vocalist Celia Humphris sings in a higher register than Sandy Denny of Fairport though, sounding more like Jacquie McShee of Pentangle on this charming Folk album. Maybe this sound-alike song is part of the reason why some Fotheringport Confusion was caused amongst the jaded British music press, who unfairly labelled Trees as a poor man's Fairport Convention. "On the Shore" is so far turning out to be a jolly good Folk album in its own right. We're heading across the Irish Sea to the Emerald Isle next for "Streets of Derry". It's a traditional Folk song with a slow marching rhythm, but don't let that put you off, because there are some scintillating acid- tinged psychedelic guitar vibes in the instrumental bridge section in this seven-minute Psych-Folk excursion to the streets of Derry (also known as Londonderry). The next song "Sally Free and Easy" is a 10-minute-long cover of the classic Pentangle song and it's a real highlight of the album. The hauntingly-beautiful vocals of Celia Humphris are enough to send a shiver up the spine and bring you out in goosebumps in this ghostly spine-tingling refrain.

The opening to Side Two is all about a "Fool" by the name of Oswald the Smith, whoever he might be. It's a 5-minute-long Psych-Folk acid trip. bathed in glowing psychedelic guitar colours, where Celia's normally high-pitched vocals drop a whole octave. This is where Trees get to display their very unconventional psychedelic Folk feathers and prove they're not just another carbon copy of Fairport Convention. It'd be no fool's errand to go out and buy this album. There's a brief acoustic guitar interlude now for "Adam's Tune" which leads us nicely into "Geordie", a traditional Folk song given the very untraditional Trees treatment of jangling psychedelic guitars combined with Celia's magnificently soaring vocals. There's no happy ending for the "Geordie" of the title though, because it's a dark and sinister tale of a man being hung for a crime he didn't commit, so it's too late to launch an appeal for clemency. It's time to strike "While the Iron is Hot" for our next Trees song, which opens deceptively as a traditional Folky number, but branches out into some wild Psychedelic Rock excursions. It's all Stetsons and cowboy boots next, because it's time now for a traditional country and western sing-along with "Little Sadie", a song which conjures up an image of a lively square-dance at a country hoe-down, so take your partner by the hand, and dance to the music of the band. Yee-hah! There's a return to some more traditional Folk music for our final song: "Polly on the Shore". This is one of the more conventional Folk songs on the album which most resembles the music of Fairport Convention, although being compared with the best English Folk-Rock band of all time can never be a bad thing.

Trees have branched out and explored the colourful psychedelic realms of Acid Folk with this unconventional second album. They're often compared to Fairport Convention, which is no bad thing, but Trees have carved their own particular niche in the vast forest of Folk bands, so you may wish to dip your toes into the rippling musical waves to be heard "On the Shore" before the tide comes in. You won't be disappointed. There's a whole wood-shed full of great songs to be heard on this album.