Album review : THE MAGIC FOREST – More Pastoral Psychedelia and Funky Folk 1968-75

January 29th, 2025 by brianmc

Cherry Red [Release date : 31.01.25]

When you come across a music genre called “Pastoral Psychedelia and Funky Folk” you just know it emanates from 1967, and the “Summer Of Love”.

The years that followed witnessed the rise of hard rock and heavy metal… a heavier, more aggressive sound spearheaded by bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.

Meantime, elsewhere, musicians were creating an alternative, pulling on threads of folk music, psychedelic pop and funk rock, weaving them into their own distinct sound.

Magic Forest is a 3 CD anthology of such bands and sounds. A follow up to 2022’s Deep In The Woods.

The better known artists hug the headlines of course, Noel (Hendrix) Redding’s Fat Mattress opens the first CD with the collection’s title track, distancing themselves from the JH experience.

Scottish folk singer Shelagh McDonald’s biggest song, ‘Stargazer’ opens up her life and recalls the vanishing act that took us into a world of intrigue and newspaper headlines.

By accident or design, those two songs connect the old world with the new.

Keith (Teenage Opera) West, wandering minstrel Clifford T Ward (whose songs have been covered by Jack Jones, Art Garfunkel and Judy Collins) and John Williams, who adds a keen sense of melancholy to proceedings are other prominent contributors to the first CD.

Looking for more big names?
How about Tim Rose, whose electrifying cover of Tim Hardin’s ‘If I Were A Carpenter’ stands head and shoulders above the many other cover versions. It’s here on CD2.

Championed by John Peel, future BeBop Deluxe man, Bill Nelson recorded one of the first independently produced albums in the UK in 1971. You can hear his already blossoming talent on ‘House Of Sand’, taken from that album, House Of Dreams.

This second CD also has Sandy Denny (Next Time Around) and Family (My Friend The Sun). You’ll not get more pastoral psychedelic and/or funkier folk than that.

CD3 : Pentangle, Alan Hull, Comus, Snafu, Marsha Hunt, Fotheringay all add their individualised contribution. Post 1967, they helped popularise previously unfashionable genres.

There are more of course, talented people who flew just under the radar, didn’t get the PR, or the breaks or weren’t in the right place at the right time. Good stuff though. ***1/2

Review by Brian McGowan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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Power Plays w/c 24 March 2025

HARRI LARKIN Too Close To The Sun (Robot Distro)
SANDNESS Not Your Dog (Rockshots Records)
DOCTOR BLACK Drag Me Down (indie)
COHEED AND CAMBRIA Goodbye Sunshine (Virgin Music Group)
LEONI JANE KENNEDY Closer (indie)
SMALL TOWN POLITICS Red Lights (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 24 March 2025

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Singer Songwriter)

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