A walk through prog folk

Ewan McColl and brother-in-law Pete Seeger conservative (be they both left wing politically) /old school ideas of what folk should be, and seen as the leaders of the genre until (as Boyd implies) the minor revolution at the 1964 Newport Jazz & Folk festival.

Not mentioned: John Fahey (often said to be a major influence on the American acoustic guitar scene),Al Stewart, John Sebastian, Country Joe & The Fish, Crosby Stills & Nash - Suite Judy Blue Eyes still astonishes me for the quality of playing , singing and the folk rock taking on board a symphonic structure.  Tom Paxton, the importance of Transatlantic Records (especially for Renbourn, Jansch US, exile Stefan Grossman), and Elektra Records Magna Carta.

Fairport convention becoming a relevant force when Joe Boyd brought the powerful voice, as well a move and shifter, in the force of Sandy Denny - believing strongly in the tradition laid down by Cecil Sharp but pushing for the amplification and electrical instruments. The sometime parallels drawn between early Fairport and early Jefferson Airplane. In deed, the former original vocalist of Fairport,  Judy Dyble actually demoing early KC tunes.

a second salvo of prog folk related album that you probably not see anytime soon in the Archives although these albums are much worth the proghead's attention

Tim Buckley - Happy/Sad and Lorca

Started out as a folk troubadour, to progressively slip into a folk fusion-jazz, with an amazing creativity and staying relatively free of commercial restraint from his label. Many Buckley specialist will prefer Starsailor or Goodbye And Hello as the two albums to listen to in priority, but for progheads, these two albums are clearly more of an interest, especially because of the incredibly fusion of jazz and folk all mixed under Tim’s amazing vocal prowess, Larry Beckett’s texts and the charming formation including CC Carter’s congas and Lee Underwood’s electric guitars. As mentioned in the top of this post, these two albums have not many in common with my first selection and barely fit the definition of prog folk, but the fusion elements of jazz into Buckley’s strong folky roots is quite impressive and a must for progheads to hear: strange feelin’ and Gypsy Woman being the best track on Happy Sad while the even more densely experimental (dare I say obtusely experimental?) Lorca album boasts its superb title track and Driftin’. A real experience

 

John Martyn – Outside In and Solid Air

Just as Buckley above (and we could say these two were each other’s answer’s on each side of the Atlantic) Martyn was also a pure folkie exploring folk rock and then drifting in ac more progressive fusion of jazz, blues while keeping a folk background. Another “Pete Frame Rock Family Tree” coincidence is that stand-up bass giant, the ex-Pentangle Danny Thompson played on most of Martyn’s classic records, but also gigged with Buckley while he was touring the old world. And Thompson’s playing is an integral part of these two album’s extraordinarily successful sounds. Laced with Martyn’s unique echoplex guitar techniques, and his just-as-amazing voices doing some of the finest scats (Buckley excelled in those too), Thompson’ bass playing is awesome , making both albums the top of Martyn’s career. Many very intimate moments, and the folk troubadour roots are never far away. Flabbergasting at times and a pure extasy the rest of the time.

 

Van Morrison – Astral Weeks

After leaving Them, Van The Man started doing more soul-influenced tracks (Brown-Eyed Girls) but he struck gold with his debut album (debatable since another solo soul record had been recorded the year before) where Van mixes his soulf influences with his Irish roots to give an outstanding result: Astral Weeks. Almost 40 years later, Van Morrisson has never been able to come as close to perfection as this album (the 71 St Dominic’s Preview is a distant second to this chef d’oeuvre), and for that matter of fact, no one comes as close to such a soulful voice than he does here. Again an album that should not be taken as a pure folk album, one must really listen to Van’s most melancholic voice on Sweet Madam George or the impressive brass arrangements on Young Lovers Do. Most tracks are fairly long and quickly settle in a spellbinding groove, while incredible vocal outbreaks and inventive musicianship make this 68 album completely groundbreaking. A pure delight and a must hear for every progheads. Garanteed goosebumps.

 

 

 

Tir Na Nog – A Tear And A Smile

This Irish duo’s (later a trio) second album is a logical development of the debut with their folk-troubadour, but here, they go for a rockier sound, obviously aiming at a wider audience by breaking free of clichés, but this record (and the next one Strong in The Sun) is never groundbreaking but stays very pleasant folk rock with enough rock attitude to make it at least prog-related. Outstanding tracks include the superb So Freely, Lady Ocean, Something Happened and the blistering When I come down. Just to give you the rockier tracks

 

 

 

 

happy listenings