Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Jack O'Diamonds - Lonnie Donegan
2. 3/4 AD - Davy Graham & Alexis Korner
3. MacPherson's Rant - The Galliards
4. Twa Corbies - Ray & Archie Fisher
5. Tramps And Hawkers - Bob Davenport
6. The Rocky Road To Dublin - The Dubliners
7. Song Of The Iron Road - Ewan MacColl
8. She Moves Through The Air - Anne Briggs
9. The Times They Are A Changin' - The Ian Campbell Folk Group
10. Across The Hills - The Three City Four
11. Joy Of My Heart - The Fisher Family
12. Anji - Bert Jansch
13. Reynardine - Shirley Collins & Davy Graham
14. Geordie - Julie Felix
15. Dido Bendigo - The Watersons
16. The Two Magicians - AL Lloyd
17. The Moving On Song - The Exiles
18. Sovay - Martin Carthy
19. First Girl I Loved - The Incredible String Band
20. Lyke Wake Dirge - The Young Tradition
21. Transfusion - John Renbourn
22. You Never Wanted Me - Sandy Denny
23. The Cuckoo's Nest - Dave Swarbrick
24. The House Carpenter - Sweeney's Men
25. Spiral Staircase - Ralph McTell

Disc 2:

1. Let No Man Steal Your Thyme - Pentangle
2. Bonnie Boy - Shirley Collins
3. The Rout Of The Blues - Robin & Barry Dransfield
4. Bright Phoebus - Lal & Mike Waterson
5. Sorry The Day I Was Married - Tim Hart & Maddy Prior
6. Scan's Polkas - Oak
7. Rattlin' Roarin' Willie/The Friar's Britches - Dick Gaughan
8. The Crafty Maid's Policy - Frankie Armstrong
9. Don't You Weep For Me - Nic Jones
10. The Rose Of Britain's Idle/Glorishears - John Kirkpatrick & Sue Harris
11. Hard Times Of Old England - Etchingham Steam Band
12. The Kesh Jig/Give Us A Drink Of Water/The Flower Of The Flock/Famous Ballymore - The Bothy Band
13. The Ant & The Grasshopper - Leon Rosselson & Roy Bailey
14. The Methody Parson - Roy Harris
15. John O'Dreams - Bill Caddick
16. The Rose Of Allandale - Bandoggs
17. The Shepherd Of The Downs - Peter Bellamy
18. Brighton Camp/The March Past - John Kirkpatrick & Chums
19. Harper's Frolick/Bonny Kate - New Victory Band
20. Once In A While - Steve Ashley

Disc 3:

1. Miss Drummond Of Perth/Fiddler's Joy/Traditional Reel/The Shetland Fiddler - Battlefield Band
2. Farewell Welfare - Rory McLeod
3. Erin-Go-Bragh - Dick Gaughan
4. Rockin' In Rhythm - Richard Thompson
5. Stephen Baldwin's Schottisches Nos 1 & 2/The Kennet Jig - Old Swan Band
6. In Trim/Mount Hooley/Leamington Bank - Alistair Anderson
7. Lay This Body Down - June Tabor
8. The First Cut Is The Deepest - Martin Simpson
9. Handsome Johnny - The English Country Blues Band
10. If - Vin Garbutt
11. The Maid & The Palmer - Brass Monkey
12. The Monkey/Boys Of The Mill - Blowzabella Shave
13. A B Hornpipe / Mrs Bolowski's - Kathryn Tickell
14. Another Train - Pete Morton
15. Coal Not Dole - Swan Arcade
16. Blood And Gold/Mohacs - Silly Sisters
17. Wasps In The Woodpile - Andrew Cronshaw
18. Patrick Street/The Carraroe Jig - Patrick Street
19. A Bhean Udai Thall - Altan
20. Fraoch A Ronaigh - Mouth Music

Disc 4:

1. The Grey Funnel Line - Emmylou Harris, Dolores Keane & Mary Black
2. A Call For The North Country - Jez Lowe & The Bad Pennies
3. Reconciliation - Ron Kavana
4. Pharoah - The House Band
5. Out Come The Freaks - Chris Wood
6. Moving The Goalposts - Billy Bragg
7. When First I Came To Caledonia - Waterson:Carthy
8. Beeswing - Richard Thompson
9. Molly & Johnny - Dervish
10. Venus In Tweeds - Shooglenifty
11. The Graf Spey/The Boys Of Balisodare - Martin Hayes
12. Jerusalem Revisited - Coope, Boyes & Simpson
13. How Can I Leave - Lal Waterson & Oliver Knight
14. A Place Called England - June Tabor
15. Reel Du Pendu - Nancy Kerr & James Fagan
16. Twankydillo - Maddy Prior
17. Llatai - Fernhill
18. The Cobbler's Daughter - Kate Rusby
19. From Where I Lie / Sheepcounting - John Tams
20. 10,000 Miles - Eliza Carthy

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #296137 in Music
• Released on: 2002-04-29
• Number of discs: 4
• Format: Box set

Album Description
85 of the finest recordings tracing the acoustic folk-based music of the British Isles from 1960-2000. From Lonnie Donegan to Eliza Carthy. 4 Standard jewel cases housed in a box (approx. 12 x 6 x 1). 2002.

Amazon.com
These four CDs cover British folk revivals from the 1960s through the 1990s, with guitarist Martin Carthy, singer Maddy Prior, and multithreat Richard Thompson acting as the glue holding the box together. Indeed, nearly everyone who ever passed through Fairport Convention is represented here, though Fairport itself isn't. The '60s disc--when the scene burst with a sense of innocence and discovery not unlike the folk landscape in America at the time--is easily the most compelling, embracing the guitar experimentalism of Davy Graham and Alexis Korner ("3/4 AD"), the energetic Pogues template the Dubliners ("The Rocky Road to Dublin"), and the earnest pop-folk of the Ian Campbell Folk Group (a version of "The Times They Are a-Changin'," released three weeks before Dylan's own). Things get progressively less interesting after that. This set is probably of little interest to anyone except die-hard folkies, but they'll find it indispensable. If nothing else, these Brits are closer to the source than the American traditionalists whose songs and styles are based on those from the Isles. --John Morthland

Customer Reviews

good times of old England
These days there's a lot of interest in American folk music, both in the authentic stuff (Ralph Stanley, Dock Boggs, Charley Patton, et al.) and in the revival, itself undergoing something of a revival. All to the good, and may it continue. Meantime, it's wise to remember that much of our own folk music came from the British Isles and that the United Kingdom has had its own very interesting revival going on over the past half-century.

As the title suggests, the Acoustic Folk Box doesn't cover quite all of it. By definition seminal plugged-in bands such as Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span aren't here, but that's okay. Their recordings are readily available, and besides, many of the musicians who played in those outfits (e.g., Sandy Denny, Dave Swarbrick, Maddy Prior) are here by themselves or in other groups. Anyway, that detail aside, you could hardly ask for a better introduction to the British revival. Even those who have followed it as closely as one can from this side of the water will find a whole lot that's unfamiliar here, for example the long-forgotten Julie Felix's fine reading of the antique "Geordie" or Pete Morton's anthemic original "Another Train." Good as they are, these aren't the best. Fact of the matter, the adjective "best" is hard to apply here, inasmuch as the competition is ridiculously intense. Not every piece is great, of course -- the political songs, of which there are happily a minimum, tend to be more didactic than musical -- but there is so much good stuff here that you could listen to it for years, finding something new on each hearing.

I'm not even sure I can list all my favorites, or even if I've figured out yet what they are. I will say, though, that Robin and Barry Dransfield's "The Rout of the Blues" reminds me of how criminally underrecorded these North Country traditionalists were. Also missing in action, and missed sorely, are Nic Jones and Anne Briggs -- though surely the latter could be better represented than by the warhorse "She Moves Through the Fair." On the other hand, the version of Robin Williamson's "First Girl I Loved" is different from the one on the Incredible String Band's 5000 Spirits, and even more beautifully rendered. A few other highlights at random: the Etchingham Steam Band's "Hard Times of Old England"; Bill Caddick's "John O'Dreams"; the Young Tradition's "Lyke Wake Dirge"; Oak's "Scan's Polkas"; New Victory Band's "Harper's Frolick/Bonny Kate"; June Tabor's "Lay This Body Down." And more. And still more. In short: essential.