Various Artists – GARDEN OF DELIGHTS (SANCTUARY)
June 5th, 2006 by rui
An interesting set of tunes this … a selection chosen by Pete Lawrence and AJ, and in my view a CD that all folkheads should own .
Many of the tunes come from pioneering label Transatlantic , those of you familiar with Pentangle , Gryphon etc will know the label of course , for those of you that don’t then dive in I recommend it! There are a wealth of mediocre Folk compilations out there at the moment where you can largely predict who is going to be on the CD before you even pick it out of the rack , not so with this. A well chosen and highly personal collection , nice to see Dave Swarbricks’ version of “It Suits Me Well” on here , a tune that this writer hasn’t heard for a number of years.
Tunes from Dransfield (Robin & Barry) , The Johnstons, Davy Graham, & Trader Horne would not sound at all out of place coming across a sound system at Eastnor this year, and ” Journey ” by Duncan Browne (the album’s opener), is indeed an earworm as the sleevenotes suggest – I can’t get it out of my head.
For those of you new to all this folk stuff then this an excellent introduction, while the seasoned folkheads will enjoy the likes of Gryphon and an acoustic rendition of “In the Land Of Grey And Pink ” by Caravan which I reckon must be as rare as hens teeth .
Pete and AJ , good on ya !
Nygel Knight and Day (Folk2Future)
‘Garden of Delights’ compiled by Pete Lawrence and AJ is out now on Sanctuary.
