Linda Thompson

For long-time Island fans the most fun way to celebrate this hugelytrumpeted anniversary would be reissuing the two budget-price samplers which introduced so many cash-strapped kids to the label in 1969. The wide range of musical strains presented was packed with avenues to explore, but You Can All Join In’s Side Two, Track One was Fairport Convention’s hauntingly anthemic Meet On The Ledge, heralding the label’s oncoming “quiet revolution” combining folk and electric rock forms, examined here over three CDs.

A college friend of Nick Drake, Robert Kirby’s first commissioned works as an arranger were his unique, autumnal orchestrations for Drake’s “Five Leaves Left”. The sound was English and melancholic, closer to Vaughan Williams than Phil Spector. He was soon in demand and by the end of the 70s had worked with the cream of the British folk rock world. This is the first collection of Kirby’s very special sound.

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.

The latest instalment of Grapefruit’s popular year-by-year overview of the British rock/pop scenes of the 70s. Featuring big hits, intriguing misses and key album tracks from 1974 as well as a clutch of alternative versions and unissued-at-the-time gems. Although 1974 was dominated by the country’s crippling economic woes, the British rock and pop scene continued to flourish. The more creative element of the glam rock spectrum inspired a host of new bands, with Cockney Rebel, Be-Bop Deluxe and Sparks coming through to establish themselves alongside genre heavyweights Roxy Music, T. Rex and Slade. London’s pub rock circuit saw stalwarts Brinsley Schwarz joined by early Ian Dury outfit Kilburn & The High Roads, Ace (who scored a hit single with the timeless ‘How Long’) and Dr. Feelgood, whose aggressive attitude and slashing, guitar-based brand of tough R&B influenced a whole new generation of musicians.

Linda Eder's third album demonstrated her growth as a singer; for the first time on one of her records, you could listen through whole songs without being reminded of Barbra Streisand. She remained largely dependent for her material on composer Frank Wildhorn, but at least on this occasion, for the most part, Wildhorn worked on a consistent set of songs with the same lyricist, Jack Murphy; they came up with a varied collection not dominated by generic romantic ballads, though there were a few, especially toward the end. (There were also Wildhorn songs from his musicals Jekyll and Hyde, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and The Civil War.)