Search - Various Artists :: English Folk Anthology

Thirty Years Of Music From the Topic Records Vaults

Steve Vrana | Aurora, NE | 04/19/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This past week--while my wife and daughter were shopping--I spent a couple hours browsing through one of my favorite record stores, not looking for anything in particular. While checking out the folk section I came across this 2-CD collection. I recognized several artists--Richard Thompson, Maddy Prior, Martin Carthy and a few others--and decided to take a chance. Sometimes my impulse purchases are disappointments, but this is a very engaging collection if you enjoy celtic/British folk music.This is more than two hours and twenty minutes of music from the Topic Records vaults from as far back as 1967's "Brigg Fair" by Shirley Collins to 1999's "The Happy Salmon" by Tarras. Some of the songs are instrumental (John Kirkpatrick's "Brighton Camp/March Past"), while others are acapella (The Watersons' "The Good Old Way"). A few artists are featured twice--only Eliza Carthy (Martin Carthy's daughter) appears three times, and her "Adieu Adieu" is one of the album's many highlights. In all you get more than two dozen artists. If (like me) you're new to the Topic Records roster of artists, this is an amazing introduction--and the price is very reasonable. My only complaint is that the accompanying booklet is very brief. It includes no artist biographical information, but it does include the album each song was taken from. [It's worth noting that Richard Thompson's "Time To Ring Some Changes" is a studio recording from the 1990 collection "Hard Cash Fledgling" and not the 1984 live version from "Small Town Romance."] A very enjoyable album. RECOMMENDED"

Classic English Folk music that spans Centuries

M. E. Clark | Fredericksburg, VA | 08/27/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Overall a very nice set covering a wide variety of the English Folk Artists that have been prominant over the past couple of decades. Not always the best possible track by the artist but a great compendium of the most famous as well as performers that have not had as much of the limelight in British Folk music. Several of the musicians are featured in several different groups that they have performed with. I've listened most of these performers three decades ago and they are still out there making music. You can tell it's a labor of love."