Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain’s visionary music
Electric Eden is a new compilation album which features songs chosen by author and journalist Rob Young. The two disc set is designed to serve as a companion to Young’s highly acclaimed book Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain’s Visionary Music which was published by Faber & Faber in 2010.
The album really charts the way folk music has developed and changed. Rob young comments ’This compilation is designed to follow the flow from acoustic to electric folk in the late 60s and early 70s, a magical time in British music. I’ve tried to include a mixture of rarities, unheard versions, familiar names and unjustly neglected heroes and heroines. I’m particularly proud of including a rare original version of ’A Sailor’s Life’ by Fairport Convention, literally the first time a rock drum kit was ever used on a traditional folk song. History in the making!’
It’s been split into two parts – the first disc is entitled ”Acoustic eden” and as you’d expect is more traditional acoustic folk music. The second disc is ”Electric Albion” and the music is as you’d expect more driven by electric guitars and modern instruments. This splitting of the material works well.
There’s a huge range of artists featured here including Nick Drake, David Bowie, Fiarport Convention, Steeleye Span, Traffic, John Martyn, Archie Fisher, Meic Stevens, Bill Fay, Comus, Mick Softley, and many more. Musically the album is also very diverse – Rob Young has picked a great selection of songs that all have a good reason for inclusion.
The booklet with the CD is excellent giving plenty of information about the songs selected as well as pictures of the various album sleeves.
This is an excellent compilation for fans of folk music which combines a great selection of music with a written historical narrative showing the evolution of falk music.
”Electric Eden” is out now via Universal music.
CD1 – ACOUSTIC EDEN
1. Peter Bellamy – ‘Oak, Ash and Thorn’
2. Traffic – ‘John Barleycorn Must Die’
3. Bert Jansch – ‘The Waggoner’s Lad’
4. Fairport Convention – ‘Stranger to Himself’
5. Archie Fisher – ‘Reynardine’
6. Bread, Love and Dreams – ‘Brother John’
7. Bill Fay – ‘Garden Song’
8. Water Into Wine Band – ‘Stranger in the World’
9. Tudor Lodge – ‘Willow Tree’
10. Comus – ‘Diana’
11. Meic Stevens – ‘Yorric’
12. Magic Carpet – ‘The Dream’
13. Sweeney’s Men – ‘The Pipe on the Hob’
14. Tim Hart & Maddy Prior – ‘False Knight on the Road’
15. Dr Strangely Strange – ‘Dark-Haired Lady’
16. Albion Country Band – ‘I Was a Young Man’
17. COB – ‘Music of the Ages’
18. Roger Nicholson – ‘The Carman’s Whistle’
19. Bridget St John – ‘Fly High’
20. John Martyn – ‘She Moves Through the Fair’
CD 2 – ELECTRIC ALBION
1. Richard Thompson – ‘Roll over Vaughn Williams’
2. Steeleye Span – ‘The Lark in the Morning’
3. Unicorn – ‘Country Road’
4. Fairport Convention – ‘A Sailor’s Life’
5. Trees – ‘Glasgerion’
6. Fotheringay – ‘Gypsy Davey’
7. David Bowie – ‘Black Country Rock’
8. John Martyn – ‘Glistening Glyndebourne’
9. Mike Cooper – ‘Paper and Smoke’
10. Shelagh McDonald – ‘Mirage’
11. Spirogyra – ‘Disraeli’s Problem’
12. Mick Softley – ‘Time Machine’
13. Shirley Collins & The Albion Country Band – ‘Murder of Maria Marten’
14. Pentangle – ‘Jack Orion’
15. Incredible String Band – ‘Painted Chariot’
16. Nick Drake – ‘Voices’
