F*lk is hip (again)

[Neil Foxlee]

'"The unconscious music of the folk has all the marks of fine art: that it is wholly free from the taint of manufacture, the canker of artificiality; that it is transparently pure and truthful, simple and direct in its utterance." So wrote Cecil Sharp in English Folk-Song: Some Conclusions, published in 1907.'

Which obviously ties in to the previous discussion of 'authenticity'.

Read on here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/jul/31/folk-music-of-people-young

[AndyM]

Rob Young must have a very good agent, as every mag/website/newspaper I've encountered lately seems to have a review of this new book and/or a spin-off article by him which uses the book's themes to generate another piece. Nonetheless, it's a book I greatly look forward to reading and is earmarked as holiday reading for our hol next month.

[Paul Inglis]

Kate Bush is folk music, according to this article. There's a prog site out there that thinks she's a bit prog:

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2107

So is prog some kind of folk music then? It's certainly regarded as a terrible transgression in some rock circles...

[AndyM]

Kate Bush is folk music, according to this article. There's a prog site out there that thinks she's a bit prog:

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2107

So is prog some kind of folk music then? It's certainly regarded as a terrible transgression in some rock circles...

There's certainly a fairly substantial list of prog/folk connection points, and the connection often pivots on some interpretation or other of Englishness. You could see a lot of the Canterbury-derived end of prog having folk elements (the Unthanks recentlu covering Robert Wyatt bring this to the fore), then you could look at bands like Comus and Trees. Some of Pentangle isn't a million miles away from prog. And yes, Kate Bush could also figure hereabouts.

The stauncher ends of both genres would be evidence for rebuttal, of course, but there are less policed zones of cross-fertilisation. Having flicked through Electric Eden. even Jon Anderson gets a mention, but I might to draw the line there.

[Rob Hall]

Comus? You've heard of Comus? Jeez, I was at college with an ex-member of Comus, and I can't recall ever hearing anyone else mention their name.

On a related note: a friend of mine, on rediscovering Pentangle's "Jack Orion", said "Oh my god, I'd forgotten that it was the 'In A Gadda Da Vida' of folk".

[AndyM]

Comus have had a surge in retrospective interest recently - lots of the (excuse me) freak-folk celebrants have been hailing them as neglected pioneers. that enviable category!

Pentangle/Iron Butterfly ? Intriguing......

(if one believes Wikipedia, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida is the 31st best selling album of all time. Scary....)

[allears]

Comus have had a surge in retrospective interest recently - lots of the (excuse me) freak-folk celebrants have been hailing them as neglected pioneers. that enviable category!

Yes, AndyM, with the increased availability of the internet, Comus seem to be building up a cult following greater than they ever enjoyed in their precarious heyday. It was via the internet that I came across First Utterance, a wonderful, unique album only marred, in my opinion, by lead-singer Roger Wooton`s vocals.

On the topic of overlooked British folk bands, I wonder if anyone remembers these guys, who, like Comus, produced an excellent debut album but somehow failed to follow through :-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asPMY5LJ8rM

[AndyM]

Heard of them, never actually heard a track before. They seem to have escaped the attention of those who have compiled recent compilations of that era & genre. And I like it !

[Adam Blake]

Mwa ha ha ha ha!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzuc-S2EiZk

[Adam Blake]

And it's all this lot's fault.
I don't think we've ever dared have the ISB conversation on SOTW!

The opening salvo from their best album, "The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter" (1968)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKSe3kTSAiQ

I'll lay my ISB cards on the table. You can't really sit on the fence with the Incredibles. Either they are utterly infuriating or you can't help but like them. I think time has not been very kind to them but that doesn't mean they were wrong - at least in their innovatory period of "The Layers Of The Onion", "Hangman's", "Wee Tam and The Big Huge" and bits of "Changing Horses". The level of invention is quite astonishing sometimes. They make the most unlikely combinations of acoustic instruments and the most eccentric arrangements work together through sheer will power and force of imagination. But they are damned and undone by self-conscious tweeness. Tweeness is not cute, and they act as though it is. That said, I never saw them live, and they were apparently very impressive in concert. I saw Robin Williamson perform many times, though, and always enjoyed it. He is first and foremost a superb musician.

[allears]

Heard of them, never actually heard a track before. They seem to have escaped the attention of those who have compiled recent compilations of that era & genre. And I like it !

Hey ! I`m glad you like them. Their self-titled album is well worth having; nothing as dark as Comus or innovative as ISB, just a collection of consistently good songs with lots of mandolin playing.

I'll lay my ISB cards on the table. You can't really sit on the fence with the Incredibles. Either they are utterly infuriating or you can't help but like them. I think time has not been very kind to them but that doesn't mean they were wrong - at least in their innovatory period of "The Layers Of The Onion", "Hangman's", "Wee Tam and The Big Huge" and bits of "Changing Horses". The level of invention is quite astonishing sometimes. They make the most unlikely combinations of acoustic instruments and the most eccentric arrangements work together through sheer will power and force of imagination. But they are damned and undone by self-conscious tweeness. Tweeness is not cute, and they act as though it is. That said, I never saw them live, and they were apparently very impressive in concert. I saw Robin Williamson perform many times, though, and always enjoyed it. He is first and foremost a superb musician.

That`s a neat description of what it is that`s always put me off ISB. I tried to enjoy "Be Glad For The Song Has No Ending ", but somehow it failed to deliver for me.


And how about Gryphon, who seem to lurch between medieval pastiche and prog rock. I don`t know much about them. Anyone have a verdict or recommendation about their albums ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69wZpcPt ... re=related

[AndyM]

Gryphon always struck me as music for people who dress up and recreate Civil War battles (though technically their music refers back to an earlier century).

As for the ISB, I fear I would side with the twee-phobics. They always sounded like Donovan with the fun removed.

[Jamie Renton]

They always sounded like Donovan with the fun removed.

Having witnessed Donovan's performance at last year's BBC Folk Awards, I'd question whether there was any fun to remove in the first place. Unless your idea of fun is a hall full of folkies getting annoyed by an old bloke who can't sing or play the guitar very well (actually that was quite fun now I think about it)

[Adam Blake]

As for the ISB, I fear I would side with the twee-phobics. They always sounded like Donovan with the fun removed.

No, there was more going on with the ISB than that. Donovan never wrote a lyric as good as "Nightfall" for example, though that was an absolute highpoint. But nowadays I could scarcely expect anyone to sit through the likes of "The Hedgehog's Song" or "Big Ted" without throwing up.

[gary booth]

Gryphon played at our school. I just want to stress I didn't book them or enjoy them. I wanted Marvin Gaye.