VA - Meet On The Ledge, An Island Records Folk Rock Anthology [2009] (3 x CD's)

ISLAND RECORDS FOLK ROCK

VA - Meet On The Ledge, An Island Records Folk Rock Anthology [2009] (3 x CD's)

Lavish 2009 three CD box set celebrates the golden age of Folk music at the Island label and charts the journey from Folk into Folk-Rock featuring the very best from Sandy Denny, Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, John Martyn, Traffic and many others. Compiled by, and with sleeve notes by, the redoubtable David Suff, Fledg'ling Records supremo. 44 tracks. Universal.

Subtitled "An Island Records Folk-Rock Anthology", this UK-released May 2009 mini box set offers 44 tracks across 3 CDs and compliments its Reggae equivalent "War Ina Babylon" (see separate review). Both have been released to celebrate 50 years of Chris Blackwell's Island Records label (1959-2009) and having lived with "Ledge" a few days now, it's both brilliant and infuriating in equal measure (with the good far outweighing the bad it should be said).  First up is the complaint that there's too many familiar tracks and therefore doesn't warrant buying - you'd be wrong. The 2009 remastering by Denis Blackham (of Skye Mastering, Scotland) on the tracks you already own is truly fantastic - I felt every track sounded like an upgrade - and the obscure tunes you don't own are well chosen and worth your attention - many seeing CD light of day for the first time.  The sound quality needs some explaining. Take track 2 on Disc 2, "On The Road To Find Out" by Cat Stevens - it's a superlative lesser heard gem tucked away on Side 2 of his "Tea For The Tillerman" LP from 1970. Most fans will probably have the 2000 remaster of the album, but this version is a 2009 remaster, and the sound quality is Stunning - absolutely gorgeous. The instruments just leap out of the speakers with wonderful clarity. The same applies to "Living In The Past" by Jethro Tull on Disc 1 - I adore this tune and have various remasters of it - but this is without doubt the best-sounding version I've ever heard... I've enjoyed hearing this box so much - and I suspect it will send many folk and rock music fans scurrying back into second-hand record shops trying to hunt down original Island palm-tree label LPs - those things we adored so much - all those years ago. (Amazon)

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Track lists

CD 1

01 John Martyn - Cocaine 2:56

02 Fairport Convention - She Moved Through the Fair 4:14

03 Traffic - Withering Tree 2:56

04 John Martyn - Seven Black Roses 4:03

05 Fairport Convention - A Sailor's Life 11:11

06 John & Beverley Martin - The Ocean 3:41

07 Dr Strangely Strange - Strangely Strange But Oddly Normal 4:30

08 Jethro Tull - Living in the Past 3:22

09 Fairport Convention - Matty Groves 8:10

10 Traffic - John Barleycorn (Must Die) 6:24

11 Fotheringay - Banks of the Nile 8:05

12 Nick Drake - One of These Things First 4:51

13 Fairport Convention - Sir Patrick Spens   Live 3:26

CD 2

01 Fairport Convention - Dirty Linen 4:14

02 Cat Stevens - On the Road to Find Out 5:10

03 Sandy Denny - Late November 4:28

04 Mike Heron - Flowers of the Forest 5:44

05 Amazing Blondel - Spring Season 3:42

06 Bronco - Time Slips Away 6:09

07 Claire Hamill & Michael Coles - The Man Who Cannot See Tomorrow's Sunshine 2:43

08 Amazing Blondel - The Siege of Yaddlethorpe 2:32

09 Incredible String Band - Dear Old Battlefield 3:03

10 Robin Williamson - Dark Eyed Lady 4:02

11 Richard Thompson - Poor Ditching Boy 3:01

12 Morris On - The Nutting Girl 4:39

13 Sandy Denny - Bushes and Briars 3:52

14 Incredible String Band - Black Jack David 2:42

15 Sutherland Brothers - Sailing 2:37

16 John Martyn - Over the Hill 2:53

17 Nick Drake - Things Behind the Sun 3:54

18 Ashley Hutchings & John Kirkpatrick - Haste to the Wedding 6:31

CD 3

01 Albion Country Band - Hanged I Shall Be 6:23

02 John Martyn - Eibhli Ghail Chiuin Ni Chearbha 3:08

03 Richard & Linda Thompson - Withered and Died 3:27

04 John Martyn - Spencer the Rover 4:11

05 Bryn Haworth - Darlin' Cory 3:29

06 Richard & Linda Thompson - The Sun Never Shines on the Poor 3:42

07 Ronnie Lane & Slim Chance - Stone 4:08

08 Richard & Linda Thompson - Dimming of the Day , Dargai 7:18

09 Ashley Hutchings - Upton-Upon-Severn Stick Dance 3:14

10 Richard Thompson - Calvary Cross  (Live) 13:27

11 Sandy Denny - I'm a Dreamer 4:48

12 John Martyn - May You Never (Live) 3:59

13 Fairport Convention - Meet on the Ledge 4:10

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