Cherry Red [Release date 29.08.25]

The transition of folk music into chart-aimed rock and pop accelerated through the sixties, especially in the USA.

This 4 CD set is cleverly constructed to show that evolution, disc by disc.

So, on Disc 1, the great and the good hang on tightly to their folk music flags, flying them high above songs from the genre’s original class acts. Like ‘500 Miles’ (The Brothers Four), ‘John Riley’ (The Limeliters), ‘Where Have All The Flowers Gone’ (The Kingston Trio).

The CD closes out with two seminal folk songs, Tom Paxton’s ‘Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound’, and Pete Seeger’s ‘The Bells Of Rhymney’ (a song steeped in the history of a Welsh mining disaster, later covered by The Byrds).

Moving to Disc 2, we see and hear the genres mixing freely. Paul Simon And Garfunkel took off with ‘Sound Of Silence’ (which was recorded as a folk styled song… the label added bass and drums without the duo’s knowledge); ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’, Dylan’s original is here, and also Judy Henske’s ‘High Flying Bird’… in the words of Allmusic’s Richie Unterberger, “if ever a song pointed the way to folk rock it’s this one”.

Add Judy Collins, Fred Neil, Barry McGuire and PF Sloan (one the singer the other the writer of ‘Eve Of Destruction’) to the mix, and we’re creaming off some real high calibre Folk rock rock here.

Disc 3 is jampacked with charting material. The Mamas And The Papas, ‘Creeque Alley’; The Lovin’ Spoonful ‘Rain On The Roof’; Phil Ochs ‘There But For Fortune’… a song covered by Joan Baez, who had a huge hit worldwide. Tim Hardin ‘Reason To Believe’ (famously covered by Rod Stewart, whose single release initially had Maggie May as the B side), and neatly, Bobby Darin’s hit ‘If I Were a Carpenter’ (written by Tim Hardin).

Disc 4 is liberally sprinkled with artists you wouldn’t necessarily identify with Folk music. Like Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton, with a duetted cover of Tom Paxton’s “The Last Thing On My Mind”; Like American blues artist, Taj Mahal and his version of his much covered song, ‘Corrina’. Like Linda Ronstadt doing a great reading of Tim Buckley’s ‘Wings’.

The label, as it does, squeezes in a few more quality folk recordings before closing out: Dylan’s favourite artist, Townes Van Zandt’s fine Bluegrass version of his own song, ‘Tecumseh Valley’, is, to quote a cliché, worth the admission price.
Arlo Guthrie, Tom Rush and the Dillards are here too.

Add a few more mainstream artists/songs, across the 4 discs, just to keep it interesting: Jackie DeShannon, ‘When You Walk Into The Room’; Tim Rose ‘Hey Joe’; Boz Scaggs ‘Baby let Me Follow You Down’; Cher ‘See See Rider’ and Richie Havens
‘Morning Morning’.

4 Discs, 100 tracks. To quote another cliché, there’s something for everyone here. ****

Review by Brian McGowan

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