Folk /
Swaddling Songs
Classic, highly regarded and sought after acid folk / progressive rock album. Now 24-bit remastered from the original master tapes. New fully restored artwork. Extensive booklet with new essay. Featuring girl singers Clodagh Simonds and Alison Williams, Mellow Candle never achieved commercial success they deserved spawning a legendary psychedelic folk-rock album akin to Fairport Convention or Fotheringay. Touring to support Thin Lizzy (Simonds played on Lizzy's album Shades of a Blue Orphanage) …
Pass The Distance
Repressed. The official legit re-issue of this incredibly rare dark acid folk masterpiece, originally released in England on the legendary Mushroom label in 1970, has been remastered from the original two-track tapes. Four extra tracks, including the never-released seven-inch single of which only a solitary acetate remains, are also included on this 54-minute CD. The 20-page booklet, with full-color cover reproduction of the original artwork, contains all the lyrics to the album, photographs of …
Parallelograms
Classic folk soul masterpiece reissued on CD for the first time! This is an amazingly beautiful 1970 album of fragile, ethereal, melodic and soulful acid folk which has attained cult status as a soulful folk classic! Gentle acoustic guitar and sweet, drifting vocals combine with subtle electronics to create music of rare depth and beauty! Features eight bonus tracks and detailed liner notes from Linda Perhacs herself! Essential! Highly recommended!
Marsupilami
Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce the release of Marsupilami's debut album from 1970. This unique masterpiece is a much sought-after collector's item originally released on the Transatlantic label. Initially a folk-based group, the band evolved into one of the most adventurous, if unsung, progressive bands of the early 1970s, producing two stunningly original albums. Featuring a line-up of brothers Fred and Leary Hasson (lead vocals and harmonica and keyboards respectively), Dave Laver…
Heart Food
Now available in miniature replica gatefold LP style sleeve. On Sill's 2nd album, rather than using an outside arranger for the strings (as she did on her previous album), she did all of the work herself. Her lack of formal training and the immense amount of orchestral overdubs certainly would have made such an outing a hardship for anyone. But the results are outstanding with echoes of Bach supporting the stellar early 70s Laurel Canyon singer/songwriter melodies. The supporting cast of top L.A…
Kissing The Contemporary Bliss
For over 30 years troubadour walier DAN IRETON has called upon the spirit of 78 shellac blues n' psychedelic Stooges n' Velvets to fuel his guttural, pure soul ethos of the song. Hints at the classic forms of Dylan's Blood On The Tracks, Buckley's Starsailor & the celestial fug of Sun Ra' third-eye vision to create an approach untraveled yet increasingly influential. Kicks up the most outward bound & staggering approaches to Gus Cannon's "Walk Right In" & Robert Johnson's "Stones In My Passway" …
Blues Run The Game
This is a piece of folk history that slipped through the cracks. Buffalonian Frank traveled to London in the mid-'60s and recorded this album with the help of his still unknown pal Paul Simon. After its release, Frank became the toast of the town, though his music never hit the States. His poetic, Dylan-influenced lyrics, complex fingerpicking, and artsong-like structures influenced everyone from Bert Jansch to Nick Drake. Except for a young Al Stewart's recorded debut playing second guitar on "…
Jackson C. Frank
The folksinger's folksinger, Jackson C. Frank was regarded as a giant by his contemporaries, but somehow missed out on the stardom which awaited many of his admirers. Paul Simon produced this classic 1965 album (it came out originally on Columbia), which introduced the world to Frank's best-known song, 'Blues Run The Game'. The teenage Al Stewart also played guitar on this album.
I Belong To This Band: 85 Years of Sacred Harp Recordings
This current collection of Sacred Harp singing is the first to offer a full range of recordings by traditional Sacred Harp singers from 1922 to the present, and is a companion to the Sacred Harp documentary by Awake, My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp, the first feature documentary about Sacred Harp singing. This CD is unique in a number of respects. It contains several prewar and mid-century recordings never before released on CD, some of which have never been released at all. Sacred H…
Wijdan: The Mystery of Gnawa Trance Music
The Gnawa people have been shrouded in mystery since they were exiled from the Malian empire and brought as slaves to Morocco in the 16th century. In the last two decades, the power of their trance music has come into the spotlight thanks to Western musicians. Led Zeppelin, Archie Shepp, among others, have been fascinated by the mystical dimension of the music and its role in the rise of the blues. In this captivating documentary, filmmakers Bella Le Nestour and John Allen paint an intimate port…
Und
Time to unearth another Kraut obscurity, sought-after by collectors worldwide since his inclusion on the legendary NWW list. Franz De Byl's second album, released by Thorofon in 1971, was actually his debut as a solo performer, an eccentric collection of freaky acoustic folk songs with bluesy elements and an extra satirical, political twist (not unlike Floh De Cologne). Weird sounds and compulsive chanting from this master of the acoustic guitar, one of the most curious characters to ever emerge…
Anne Briggs
Reissue of the first Anne Briggs album, originally issued on Topic. The first full-length album from the legendary folk singer, originally released in 1971. Anne Briggs was a huge influence on the entire British folk-rock movement, especially other female singers such as Sandy Denny, Jacqui McShee, and Maddy Prior. Anne Briggs is a strong collection of traditional folk songs and original material and one of the most important releases of the British folk revival. Despite the fact that Briggs had…
The Time Has Come
New version of this acclaimed album, previously reissued in sporadically available fashion by the laughable CBS/Columbia remnant empire. New liner notes by Andy Beta; most homes would appreciate an upgrade pf this all-time lip-melter and here it is. One of the most important figures of the British folk revival of the 1960s, Anne Briggs was a huge influence on such luminaries as Sandy Denny, Maddy Prior and Linda Thompson. This is her second full-length, originally released in 1971. Unlike previo…
Green Rocky Road: The Loop Tapes, Pine Street Recordings
Never-released 1963 home recordings packaged in a CD gatefold Japanese mini-LP jacket. Discovered on the same reel-to-reel tapes that housed the Cotton Eyed Joe release. Remastered at Abbey Road Studios by Peter Mew. With 8-page booklet with beautiful, newly-unearthed photos of Karen Dalton from 1962-1963. Liner notes by Dick Weissman. The release of Green Rocky Road fills in the lacunae in the rightly romanticized mythos of the late folk music legend Karen Dalton and goes a long way in clarifyi…
Cotton Eyed Joe
Subtitled: The Loop Tapes -- Live In Boulder 1962. Great package of this previously never-heard material. 2CD gatefold jacket -- 21 tracks -- 85 minutes of never released 1962 live reel-to-reel ultra-rare historic recordings since Karen Dalton only released two LPs. This 2CD set proves Karen Dalton's influence on her famous friends and peers (Bob Dylan, Fred Neil, Tim Buckley, Tim Hardin). Unusual CD packaging -- gatefold jackets (similar to '60s heavy cardboard LP jackets w/ inner CD sleeves). …
Scott 3
Scott 3, originally released in 1969, marked a big change in Walker's approach to albums as, for the first time, the record is dominated by his original compositions. In fact, the only other songwriter that makes it onto the album is Walker's idol, Belgium's legendary singer/songwriter Jacques Brel. Scott 3 again features string heavy production courtesy of Wally Scott, though it occasionally moves out of pop ballad territory into a more cinematic feel influenced by Ennio Morricone, among others…
Scott 2
Originally released in 1968, Scott 2 made it all the way to number one on the UK pop charts, perhaps the strangest number one hit in pop history. Continuing with his orchestral obsession, Scott 2 features over-the-top string and horn arrangements, occasionally veering into dangerously schmaltzy territory. This production style is in drastic contrast to the lyrical content, songs of despair, prostitution, homosexuality, and brutal honesty, indicting the same glamorous and glitzy lifestyle that hi…
Scott
One of the most enigmatic figures in pop music history Scott Walker (nee Scott Engel) first saw massive success in England with his band The Walker Brothers in 1965. Not really brothers, nor were they British, the trio left Hollywood seeking fame in England, and they found it there for a time with their particular brand of orchestrated pop. Following the group's demise in 1967, Walker set out to pursue solo stardom in perhaps the most peculiar way possible, with over-the-top baroque pop songs ow…
A Day Without Disaster
A Day Without Disaster is the newest chapter in the musical adventures of Nick Castro & The Young Elders. The group has spent the last year recording and touring the world while honing their skills both in the studio and on stage. This EP, on Italian label A Silent Place, is a glimpse into the ever-evolving minds of NC & The Young Elders, which are dwelling somewhere between the romantic male/female duets of Richard & Linda Thompson and the exotic worldly arrangements of the Incredible String Ba…
Autumn Testament
Comprised of Brad Rose (The North Sea) and Keith Wood (Hush Arbors), The Golden Oaks features road show magicians springing forth candles from wooded sanctuaries. Composed via the postal system, Autumn Testament is a hymn to the season of red, gold, and orange. A canopyn of leaves shelters the proceedings from the fog that threatens to obscure these sounds. This is a glorious combination of organic grace, blessed by the forests of past centuries and those still in their infant stages. The trees …