late 60’s-70’s ProgFolk. Anybody?

What say you?

Can i talk anyone into listing your "Top 10" picks? I'll wait to answer with mine.

edit: ...and if this has been covered before, post a link!

 

Edited by libertygrails

comus - first utterance

^^ the best

Not prog but THE BEST folk rock album:-
Morris On

Sean Trane wrote: in no particular order and only taking albums listed in the Archives (but avoiding Tull and Gryphon) Jan Dukes De Grey - both albums Comus - First Utterances Tea And Symphony - Asylum For The Musically Insane Los Jaivas - Obre Parra Violetta - Andean folk influenced The Trees - both albums Holderlin's Traum Spyrogyra - St Radiguns and Bells, Boots and Shambles The Pentangle - Basket Of Light Ripaille - La Vieille Que L' On Brula Malicorne - any of the first four       Others artistes non listed in our archives Tim Buckley - Happy/sad John Martyn - Solid Air and Outside In

 

I don't understand why you don't like the Strawbs, I really don't get it. I can understand why someone won't like "Hero and Heroine" and later albums - it was a different band with different music, only Dave Cousins was left of the previous lineup, but how can anyone who like folk music, especially you, not like the 71-73 period?

I know a guy with a lot of knowledge in music, his taste is similar to yours, he recommended me of Comus and Gnidrolog (great bands!), and he likes most of the late 60's-early 70's folk groups mentioned earlier. His favourite group, not only in folk, is the Strawbs, by far.

I think you need to hear their albums again, especially "From the witchwood" and "Grave new world", although I very pessimistic about the chance that you might change your mind. It really hurts me to see a man with such knowledge and influence on othert people in this site like you giving Strawbs albums 2 stars.

 

Sean Trane wrote: Read up on my review of Dragonfly album. But I must admit that those Strawbs reviews must be rewritten, they still date of thetime when reviewing was not my forte. I'll probably rent again the albums to re-write them reviews but I am quite sure the Strawbs are completely over-rated and I think that after Wakeman left, The Strawbs stopped being prog folk

I don't agree with you, Wakeman's contribution to the band wasn't that big, and the guy who replaced him, Blue Weaver, maybe wasn't a keyboard wizard, but he really helped the band to improve their sound. I haven't heard such enjoyable mellotron work like in "Grave new world". And the Strawbs were, IMO, a folk-rock group until the "Hero and Heroine" album.

Anyone interested in prog folk simply HAS to have the 2 Horslips albums The Tain and The Book of Invasions (another 2 albums slated by Hugues Chantraine, so they must be worth a listen!). Two of my top 10 albums and both 6* albums - totally off the scale of brilliance. Happy to Meet Sorry to Part is also excellent.

Horslips were more Celtic Prog Rock than folk, but the presence of pipes, concertina, fiddle and mandolin makes them appeal to any folkie.

Tony Fisher wrote: Now the (unusual) agreement: they did stop being prog folk but not after Wakeman left - but only after Grave New World when folkie Tony Hooper was replaced by rocker Dave Lambert. They were still excellent, though.

Mmmm... the trancision from folk rock to rock wasn't that clear nor sudden. The folk elements gave way to the rock and prog rock elements very slowly. But still in BATS, H&H and Ghosts you can see easyly the folk elemments, not justs in the instruments, but also in the themes and the overall feel.

Bursting at the Seams, which had rocker Lambert replacing Hooper had a big orchestral epic and the Lay Down pop rock single, but most of the songs are folk: the 'pub hit' Part of the Union, the medieval Tears/Pavan, the bajo solo in Flying...

Hero and Heroine has folk written all over it thematically. The 'change of seasons' topic (with previously appeared in Grave New World is the stronger. It also has the banjo driven title track (although it is really a sped up piano (!)). While Bursting... featured the folk element still above the prog rock one, Hero... reverses the relation.

 

Just listened to Audience for the first time in a very long time, and would suggest their inclusion here.

Al Stewart's CBS/Columbia Records releases - i.e. a number of albums released well before Year Of The Cat.

Ian Matthews Southern Comfort, Fairport Convention. Any UK-based fans should be tuning into Folk Britannia  & Folk On Four on BBC 4 during Friday nights for more guidance.

Joni Mitchell who shifted from the poetic folk in jazz rock folk from the early 70's: Miles Of Aisles (with LA Express, so Shaun Guerin's dad on drums???), Hissing Of The Summer Lawns, Herija, Shadows & Light, etc. 

Check out John Fahey's America folk recordings from the early 60's and hear, especially in his various Requiems, long complex progressive-like compositions/arrangements.

Tim Hardin in concert (e.g. see the extended Woodstock footage) often took those classic snapshots of tunes heard on his studio albums, last 2 minutes, into extended formats.

Differents sides of Folk:

Pure folk, lightly prog:
-Fairport convention/Unhalf bricking

Psyche von folk:
-Holderlin/Traum

one of my favourite prog genres!

jethro tull- thick as a brick

high tide-high tide

comus- first utterance

roy harper- stormcock (the actual proggyness of it is debatable but i think it is)

jethro tull- aqualung

high tide- sea shanties

jethro tull- stand up

er... more jethro tull