VA - Dust on the Nettles: A Journey Through the British Underground Folk Scene 1967-72 (2015)

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.

Our anthology incorporates the various overlapping strands of the underground folk scene: the acid folk experimenters, the folklorists and trad song updaters, the more metaphysical element of the burgeoning singer/songwriter genre, the newlyelectric folk rockers, the elemental paganism exemplified by Comus and The Wicker Man, even the early 1970s Jesus music movement that spawned the likes of the sitar-wielding Parchment.

Balancing the familiar with the obscure, we feature acknowledged brand leaders like Fairport Convention, The Incredible String Band, Pentangle and Steeleye Span alongside acts who made music purely for the local communities that nurtured them: Shide & Acorn on the Isle of Wight, Folkal Point in Bristol, Music Box in Coventry, Chrissie Quayle in Cornwall.

TRACKLIST

CD1
1. LET NO MAN STEAL YOUR THYME – The Pentangle
2. WILLOW’S SONG (FROM THE WICKER MAN) - Magnet
3. COME ALL YOU TRAVELLERS - Wight
4. LOVE IS A FUNNY THING - Spirogyra
5. IMAGES OF PASSING CLOUDS – Gary Farr
6. PEEK STRANGELY AND WORRIED EVENING - Synanthesia
7. GLASS OF WATER – Bob & Carole Pegg
8. WINTER IS BLUE – Vashti Bunyan
9. WINTER IS A COLOURED BIRD - Comus
10. THE SEAGULLS SCREAM – Chrissie Quayle
11. STORIES OF JESUS – Clive Palmer
12. AMANDA - Steve Peregrin Took’s Shagrat
13. CURIOUS CRYSTALS OF UNUSUAL PURITY - Bridget St. John
14. ROSES FOR COLUMBUS – Mark Fry
15. TILL THE MORNING COMES – Dando Shaft
16. BLACK GIRL – Mary-Anne
17. THE GARDEN OF JANE DELAWNEY - Trees
18. WEIRDSONG OF BREAKING THROUGH AT LAST - Principal Edwards Magic Theatre
19. MINAS TIRITH – Oberon
20. PRISONERS, VICTIMS, STRANGERS, FRIENDS – Paper Bubble

CD2
1. PILGRIM – Gerald Moore
2. RIVER LANE – Melton Constable
3. WAY OUT HERMIT - Moonkyte
4. ALL THINGS ARE QUITE SILENT – Steeleye Span
5. UPON REFLECTION - Heron
6. LOVE IS COME AGAIN - Parchment
7. STARGAZER – Shelagh McDonald
8. THERE ARE NO GREATER HEROES - Tony Caro & John
9. VISIONARY MOUNTAINS – Joan Armatrading
10. GLOW OF THE FIRELIGHT - Tuesday
11. SEARCHING FOR LAMBS – Warm Gold
12. SAMANTHA CAROL FRAGMENTS - Benjamin Delaney Lion
13. FOTHERINGAY – Fairport Convention
14. YOU KNOW WHAT HAS TO BE – Frozen Tear
15. MEANWHILE BACK IN THE FOREST - Hunt Lunt & Cunningham
16. FIRST GIRL I LOVED - The Incredible String Band
17. HALFDAN’S DAUGHTER – The Moths
18. THE MUTANT – Trader Horne
19. MEETING BY THE MOONLIGHT MILL – Dry Heart
20. HIGHWAYS (MISTY MIST) - Tyrannosaurus Rex
21. GABILAN – Duncan Browne
22. SAND ALL YELLOW – Kevin Coyne

CD3
1. GARDEN SONG – Bill Fay
2. MUSIC OF THE AGES - C.O.B.
3. A SONG FOR THE SYSTEM – Everyone Involved
4. THE COLOUR IS BLUE – Country Sun
5. SILENT VILLAGE – Wild Country
6. WELCOME TO THE CITADEL – Marc Brierley
7. THE EVIL VENUS TREE - The Occasional Word
8. STANDING ON THE SHORE – Anne Briggs
9. KIND SIR - Agincourt
10. EAGLE – Mick Softly
11. ROSEMARY HILL – Fresh Maggots
12. THE HAPPY KING – Music Box
13. ME AND MY KITE - Fuchsia
14. WIZARD SHEP - The Sun Also Rises
15. SCARBOROUGH FAIR – Folkal Point
16. PRISONER – Marie Celeste
17. PATRICE – Simon Finn
18. GIRL OF THE COSMOS – Shide & Acorn
19. ELEGY TO A DEAD KING - Chimera
20. SILENCE RETURNS - Beau
21. ORANGE DAYS AND PURPLE NIGHTS – Mother Nature