Dando Shaft

Starting as a five-piece folk-band, Dando Shaft initiated a completely unique mixture of acoustic folk with driving rhythms and impeccable inventive musicianship. The lyrics are largely concerned with the relationship between man and nature. They marvel in complicated structures and textures and are able to weave very intricate patterns, especially between mandolin (played in a highly original manner), guitar and violin. Very characteristic is also the combination of hand-beaten percussion and double-bass. After a change of label they acquired the services of a female singer, Polly Bolton, who had a pure and very expressive voice.

High quality all acoustic folk is what we find on Dando Shaft's 1971 release. The complicated rhythmic fabrics - woven together by intricate guitar, mandolin and violin, and joined by the expressive vocals of Polly Bolton - create unique progressive folk atmospheres that are definitely some of the best of the period. This reissue also features four bonus tracks, including the original demo for 'Spring Clog Dance', 'Lullabyl', 'Thruxton' & 'Sun Clog Dance'.

3CD compilation focussing on the mid-60s haunt of the emergent folk and blues scene in London. Featuring a host of big names who visited the venue many of whom went on to national success. Les Cousins was a folk and blues club in the basement of a restaurant in Greek Street, in London’s Soho, which became a home and the epicentre for the folk revival of the mid-1960s, a venue where musicians met and learnt from each other. As such, it was influential in the careers of so many pioneers – Al Stewart, Davey Graham, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Sandy Denny, John Martyn, Alexis Korner, Strawbs, Roy Harper, Paul Simon and many others.

VA - Dust On The Nettles: A Journey Through The British Underground Folk Scene (1967-72) {3CD Grapefruit CRSEGBOX030 rel 2015}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.22 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 554 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 27 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1967-72, 2015 Grapefruit Records / Cherry Red Record | CRSEGBOX030
Folk Rock / Pregressive Folk / Psychedelia / Pop Fok / Electric Folk / British Folk

With 63 tracks and a total running time of just under four hours, Dust On The Nettles examines the metamorphosis that British folk underwent during the late 1960s, when the influence of psychedelia and the counterculture saw the idiom being twisted into all kinds of new and exotic shapes, as the finger-in-the-ear folk clubs of yore were inexorably drawn into a brave new world of Arts Labs, free festivals and the nascent college/university circuit.