Folk Rock

Four Decades of Folk Rock is an expansive box set, allowing one disc and over an hour of music for each decade. For those who would argue that folk-rock was primarily a 1960s phenomenon in the United States and a '60s and '70s phenomenon in Britain, the box counters that the musical strains of folk-rock have informed everyone from R.E.M. to the Bangles to David Gray. It's unlikely, though, that anyone but record shop nerds and music historians will be very interested in the debate. For everyone else, the set will be measured by the quality of the music itself, and on that account, Four Decades delivers a remarkable set list.

Three CD set containing four-hours of US folk-rock from the 1960s. The most thorough compilation that has ever been assembled of a major movement that transformed popular music, including hits, rarities, and deep cuts from a huge spectrum of artists. Featuring rare tracks by Johnny Winter, David Blue and Jesse Lee Kincaid make their CD debut; includes seldom-reissued original 45 versions of songs by Phil Ochs and Tom Rush. Plus early and little known covers of songs by Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne and Clarence White and landmark hits by The Byrds, Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, the Youngbloods, Judy Collins, Dion, Linda Ronstadt, the Lovin' Spoonful and others.

After the UK folk explosion of the early sixties, artists like The Incredible String Band, Pentagle, Cob, Fairport Convention and Strangely Strange led the genre into an experimental phase embracing psychedelia.
The Erewhon CD series has fortunately released the majority of the rarest releases of that era, albums that were often privately issued and now command hundreds of pounds amongst collectors.
These collections include some of the best tracks by those artists together with previously unavailable songs by the Trees, Tir Na Nog, Mellow Candle and Horison amongst others.
Opening with a sublime hippie masterpiece by Shide and Acorn, this volume journeys through the classic electric folk of Loudest Whisper, Midwinter and Gallery. Not to forget Baroque moments form Tir Na Nog and Mellow Candle, the potent musicianship of Caedmon and the lost psychedelic genius of parameter. More can be found on volume two and forthcoming releases.

It's now half-a-century since British folk rock became A Thing, with the early practitioners breaking new ground and inspiring an entire scene that peaked in the late Sixties/early Seventies. Earnest young post-Dylan singer/songwriters moved away from the intimacy of the folk clubs in favour of the nascent college/university circuit. Counter-cultural iconoclasts The Incredible String Band became a seismic influence on a whole raft of bands now categorised as acid-folk, Pentangle's use of acoustic instrumentation within a nominally rock framework attracted many emulators (though arguably no real equals), while Fairport Convention graduated from their initial American West Coast-indebted sound to explore their own country's musical heritage, thus establishing the concept of indigenous English folk rock (a baton that would be picked up by the likes of Ashley Hutchings' post-Fairport venture Steeleye Span and many others).

After the UK folk explosion of the early sixties, artists like The Incredible String Band, Pentagle, Cob, Fairport Convention and Strangely Strange led the genre into an experimental phase embracing psychedelia.
The Erewhon CD series has fortunately released the majority of the rarest releases of that era, albums that were often privately issued and now command hundreds of pounds amongst collectors.
These collections include some of the best tracks by those artists together with previously unavailable songs by the Trees, Tir Na Nog, Mellow Candle and Horison amongst others.
Opening with a sublime hippie masterpiece by Shide and Acorn, this volume journeys through the classic electric folk of Loudest Whisper, Midwinter and Gallery. Not to forget Baroque moments form Tir Na Nog and Mellow Candle, the potent musicianship of Caedmon and the lost psychedelic genius of parameter. More can be found on volume two and forthcoming releases.

-Never heard before CD compilation, dedicated to the charismatic musician and author who revolutionized folk and rock music like no other in the '60s and became the worldwide figurehead of a cultural upheaval in youth culture: Bob Dylan. -Compiled with expertise and passion by French producer Philippe Le Bras for Bear Family Records®, this anthology features original recordings, mostly from the mid-1960s. -Dylan-inspired artists such as Dion, Lou Reed, Bobby Darin, Leon Russell, David Crosby, Boz Scaggs, Bob Seger, Johnny Winter, David Blue and many others try to catch up with their mentor and colleague and produce songs in the idiom he pioneered. -Not a single Dylan song on this album, and yet the master can be heard throughout! -Foreword by the late John Sinclair, essays by Iggy Pop and Elliott Murphy, extensive liner notes and numerous rare illustrations and memorabilia in the 48-page booklet. Bob Dylan made his mark on US pop culture in the 1960s with his performances, his songwriting and lyrics like no other contemporary. An icon of folk and rock music, he influenced a generation of fellow artists who were either unable or unwilling to escape his charisma. French music producer Philippe Le Bras spent years developing the concept of a compilation on which Dylan's influence is obvious at every second, although not a single cover version of his songs can be found.