VA — Sumer Is Icumen In: The Pagan Sound Of British And Irish Folk 1966-75 (2020) (CD-Rip)

FLAC (tracks+cue, log, scans) | 3h 55 min | Genre: Folk, Folk Rock | 1.2 GB

Like Elfland\’s shimmering tide-like border in Lord Dunsany\’s fantasy classic, a mystic world of sacrificial grain gods, green men, fertility rites, and sanctuary stones exists just beneath the surface of the contemporary British Isles. A mere century or two of modernity isn\’t enough to fully dim wild Albion\’s millennia of legends and magical lore. By the early 1960s, linchpins of England\’s second folk revival like Ewan MacColl and A.L. Lloyd had helped renew public interest in traditional song, but as the decade rolled into its second half, the emeg counterculture began to face off against folk\’s old guard, brig psychedelia, electricity, and a metaphysical curiosity into the mix. Grapefruit Records\’ excellent 2015 anthology Dust on the Nettles went a long way in exploring this cosmic folk-rock collision, and five years later, they offer up a welcome sequel in Sumer Is Icumen In: The Pagan Sound of British & Irish Folk 1966-1975. Like its predecessor, this set celebrates both the scenes\’ key players and its distant outliers, but shifts its focus to the eerier, more spiritual side of the folk-rock movement. Fans of the 1973 cult classic folk-horror film The Wicker Man, take note. While much-celebrated stalwarts (Fairport Convention, Pentangle, etc.) get their proper due, it\’s names like Oberon, Meic Stevens, and Jan Dukes de Grey that really conjure up the ancient mists. Enchanted recorders, frame drums, and dulrs mingled with surreal backwards tape effects and rumbling organ drones as folk music became more progressive through the filter of artists like Comus, Dr. Strangely Strange, and Third Ear Band. Even some of the starker-sounding traditionalists like Archie Fisher and Anne Briggs (the latter\’s previously unreleased \»Summer\’s In\» is a standout) appear here with buzzing sitars and electric backing bands. It\’s as if by tapping into the islands\’ ancient currents, these artists found a freedom of expression to both celebrate and liberate old mythologies while building new ones for future generations. The results are quite magical and still captivating a half-century later.

CD1 : Upon A Lammas Night

1.1 -Third Ear Band — Lark Rise

1.2 -Magnet — Corn Rigs

1.3 -Traffic — John Barleycorn

1.4 -Midwinter — Sanctuary Stone

1.5 -Vulcan\’s Hammer — The Keys Of Canterbury

1.6 -The Celebrated Ratliffe Stout Band — The Wood-Gathering Man

1.7 -Steeleye Span — Twa Corbies

1.8 -Folkal Point — Lovely John

1.9 -Strawbs — Canon Dale (Alternative Version)

1.10 -Kevin Coyne — White Horse

1.11 -Meic Stevens — Yorric

1.12 -The Young Tradition — Lyke Wake Dirge

1.13 -Amber — Swan In The Evening

1.14 -Synanthesia — Minerva

1.15 -The Minor Birds — The Parting Glass

1.16 -Parameter — Vi Childe

1.17 -Carolanne Pegg — The Sapphire

1.18 -Dry Heart — Cabin On The Clifftop

1.19 -Mighty Baby — Winter Passes

1.20 -Mike Oldfield — On Horseback

CD2 : Book Of Shadows

2.1 -Fairport Convention — Tam Lin

2.2 -Gallery — Let No Man Steal Your Thyme

2.3 -Tim Hart & Maddy Prior — False Knight On The Road

2.3 -Lal Waterson — The Scarecrow (Demo Version)

2.5 -Chimera — Silver Man

2.6 -Shirley Collins & The Albion Country Band — The White Hare

2.7 -Horden Raikes — Mad Tom Of Bedlam

2.8 -The Sallya — The Song Of The Healer

2.9 -Bridget St. John — Lizard-Long-Tonque-Boy (Alternative Version)

2.10 -DR. Strangely Strange — Strings In The Earth And Air

2.11 -Jan Dukes De Grey — Sorcerers

2.12 -Dave & Toni Arthur — Green Grass

2.13 -Simon Finn — Where\’s Your Master Gone?

2.14 -Oberon — Nottamun Town

2.15 -Fresh Maggots — The House Carpenter

2.16 -J.P. Sunshine — Hand In Hand

2.17 -Comus — The Bite

2.18 -The Sun Also Rises — Death

2.19 -Tea & Symphony — Winter

2.20 -Principal Edwards Magic Theatre — Autumn Lady Dancing Song

2.21 -Anne Briggs — Summer\’s In

CD3 : Hearken To The Witch\’s Rune

3.1 -Stone Angel — The Bells Of Dunwich

3.2 -Pentangle — Cruel Sister

3.3 -Incredible String Band — Witches Hat

3.4 -Archie Fisher — Reynerdine

3.5 -Mellow Candle — The Poet And The Witch

3.6 -Curved Air — Elfin Boy

3.7 -Sweeney\’s Men — Pretty Polly

3.8 -Parke — Three Ravens

3.9 -Green Man — Salisbury Plain

3.10 -Spriguns Of Tolgus — Flodden Field

3.11 -The MacDonald Folk Group — Geordie

3.12 -Michael Raven (2) & Joan Mills — The Queen Of The Night

3.13 -George Deacon & Marion Ross — Holsworthy Peter\’s Fair

3.14 -Staverton Bridge — Captain Wedderburn\’s Courtship

3.15 -Shirley Kent — Butterfly On The Shore

3.16 -Marc Bolan — Eastern Spell

3.17 -Heather, Adrian & John — The Lark In The Morning

3.18 -The Coterie — Scarborough Fair

3.19 -Mr. Fox — Mendle

Bonus Track : Not Listed on Box

3.20 -Choir Unnamed — Sumer Is A-Cumin In