ENGLISHE MUSICKE

If you want more than a taste of the 3 most important Amazing Blondel albums, this compilation will do quite nicely. Initially, "Englishe Musicke" was the only CD available from these Elizabethan folk rock minstrels, which was how I came to acquire it. It contains most of "Evensong", almost the entirety of "Fantasia Lindum", and about half of "England", the final album in which John David Gladwin was present and the principal songwriter and vocalist. If anything, it almost overloads the twee factor, given the amount of music that can be represented on CD. I'm thinking that one was maybe not meant to hear 75 minutes of this style at once. The ancient instrumentation and olde Englishe vocals can stop registering after about 40, so just put it aside and come back to it later, so you don't miss any of its wondrousness.

The inclusion of the multi-part "Fantasia Lindum" suite is uncontestable, but I would have definitely swapped in the lovely "Seascape" from "England" in preference over the lesser material from "Fantasia". The gorgeous "Anthem" off of "Evensong" would have worked better than "Spring Season". I mean, how many seasonal songs do you need, while "Anthem" bared the group's church song roots, while being more atypical of their sound.

While the running order could be questioned - why didn't they set them up chronologically - at least most of each album is kept together. In sum, this is one of the more representative compilations available, perhaps overly representative. If you like it ok, then stop here. If you love it, then I recommend seeking out "Evensong" and "England" , even if that will leave you with a fair number of duplicates for your trip back to an idealized period.