“By the turn of the ‘60s, the white heat of revolution was giving way to something altogether more backward facing – be it the resurgence of interest in the blues across the Atlantic, or even the Beatles’ swift retreat from the great sonic march forward at home, the future was becoming something of the past as the swinging decade petered out, casualties abounded. One of the most intriguing developments at this point would be the metamorphosis of British folk at the hands of a young British audience keen to understand the folk tradition only to subvert it. With sixty-three tracks spanning four hours across three discs, Grapefruit Records’ ‘Dust on the Nettles’ is a document of this metamorphosis, often termed ‘acid folk’. Thorough without being exhaustive, it’s testament to the eclecticism within folk at the fag-end of the 60s that the compilation proves such a varied listen – be it the paganism of the Wicker Man soundtrack or the terrifying wig-out of Beau (whose joyous ‘Silence Returns’ is the penultimate track on the compilation), the full gamut of where folk went between 1967 and 1972 is explored here. With their intoxicating, jazz-tinged interpretation on traditional folk, it’s wholly fitting that Pentangle’s highly sophisticated understanding of just where folk could go begins this compilation, though in reality it was the Incredible String Band that fired the starting pistol on the movement that makes up this compilation. … The arrival of the Incredible String Band changed this; by 1968 their albums were in the top 5, and an emerging network of arts labs, university scenes and free festivals were rapidly ripping up folk convention and adding a dynamism that thrilled young radicals disillusioned with the perceived materialism of mainstream pop and rock. Many of the obscurities sourced by curator David Wells for ‘Dust on the Nettles’ are staggering in their quality – listen to a track like the Traffic-esque ‘Pilgrim’ by Gerald Moore and marvel that not only was the song not a hit, it was not even released at the time. … These are but a few of the excellent nuggets that make this compilation quite so engrossing, sat side by side with real curio’s such as the previously unreleased ‘Seagull’s Scream’ by 17 year old Cornish singer Chrissie Quayle (a plaintive strum made truly haunting by overdubbed seagull calls). There are, of course, familiar names amongst the obscurities – Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention at their Sandy Denny high water mark, the nascent Tyrannosaurus Rex – as well as unlikely versions of standards including a wailing ‘Black Girl’ and a majestically innocent airing of ‘Scarborough Fair’ (500 copies of this version were pressed, and up to half of those destroyed in a flood). ”
Louder Than War
Discogs (Video)
YouTube: Dust On The Nettles (A Journey Through The British Underground Folk Scene 1967-1972) 59 videos
Bill Davis
Tags
- 1968 DNC
- Agent Orange
- Alan Watts
- Allen Ginsberg
- Angela Davis
- ARVN
- Berlin Wall
- Bill Ayers
- Bill Graham
- Black Power
- Bob Dylan
- Books
- Burroughs
- Cambodia
- Che
- Chicago Eight
- Chicano
- CIA
- Civil Rights Mov.
- Computing
- CORE
- Counterculture
- Cronkite
- Cuban Revolution
- Czech
- Dick Gregory
- Documentary
- Draft board
- Ed Sanders
- Eldridge Cleaver
- Environmental
- Feminist
- Freedom Summer
- Free Speech Mov.
- Gonzo journalism
- Grateful Dead
- Haight-Ashbury
- Hanoi
- Happenings
- Harlem
- Henry Kissinger
- Hippie
- Ho Chi Minh
- Ho Chi Minh Trail
- Huey P. Newton
- Hunter S. Thompson
- Italy
- Jack Kerouac
- James Baldwin
- Jazz
- Jerry Rubin
- Jesse Jackson
- John Kennedy
- Ken Kesey
- LA Boom
- Laos
- LSD
- Lyn. Johnson
- Malcolm X
- Marijuana
- Merry Pranksters
- Mexico
- Michael Herr
- MLKJr.
- Movie
- Music
- My Lai
- Napalm
- Newspaper
- Nixon
- Noam Chomsky
- No Nukes
- NVA
- Pacifist
- Paris
- Philip Berrigan
- Phil Ochs
- Poetry
- Poverty
- Project Mercury
- R. McNamara
- Race Riots
- Religion
- Rob. Kennedy
- Rolling Stones
- Saigon
- SCLC
- SDS
- SNCC
- Sports
- Street theater
- Tet 1968
- The Beatles
- The Fugs
- Timothy Leary
- Tom Hayden
- TV
- Viet Cong
- Vietnam War
- Weather Underground
-
Recent Posts
- Paul Krassner
- The Crying of Lot 49 – Thomas Pynchon (1966)
- Shame – Ingmar Bergman (1968)
- “You Are Sometimes in the Trance of What Is Beyond You”: Upheaval, Incantation and Ed Dorn in the Summer of 1968
- Ken Kesey Kisses No Ass
- Every Picture Tells a Story – Rod Stewart (1971)
- How Postwar Italian Cinema Created La Dolce Vita and Then the Paparazzi
- Locus Solus (journal)
- At the Existentialist Café – Sarah Bakewell
- Patsy Cline
Categories
- 1968 DNC
- Agent Orange
- Alan Watts
- Allen Ginsberg
- Angela Davis
- ARVN
- Beach Boys
- Berlin Wall
- Bill Ayers
- Bill Graham
- Bill Moyers
- Black Power
- Bob Dylan
- Bobby Seale
- Books
- Burroughs
- Cambodia
- Che
- Chicago Eight
- Chicano
- CIA
- Civil Rights Mov.
- Computing
- CORE
- Counterculture
- Cronkite
- Cuban Revolution
- Czech
- Dick Gregory
- Documentary
- Draft board
- Ed Sanders
- Eldridge Cleaver
- Environmental
- Feminist
- Free Speech Mov.
- Freedom Summer
- Gonzo journalism
- Grateful Dead
- Haight-Ashbury
- Hanoi
- Happenings
- Harlem
- Henry Kissinger
- Hippie
- Ho Chi Minh
- Ho Chi Minh Trail
- Huey P. Newton
- Hunter S. Thompson
- Italy
- Jack Kerouac
- James Baldwin
- Jazz
- Jerry Rubin
- Jesse Jackson
- John Kennedy
- Ken Kesey
- LA Boom
- Laos
- LSD
- Lyn. Johnson
- Malcolm X
- Mao
- Marijuana
- Merry Pranksters
- Mexico
- Michael Herr
- MLKJr.
- Movie
- Music
- My Lai
- Napalm
- Newspaper
- Nixon
- No Nukes
- Noam Chomsky
- NVA
- Pacifist
- Paris
- Paris Peace Accords
- Paul Goodman
- Peace talks
- Phil Ochs
- Philip Berrigan
- Poetry
- Poverty
- Project Mercury
- R. McNamara
- Race Riots
- Religion
- Richard Brautigan
- Rob. Kennedy
- Rolling Stones
- Saigon
- SCLC
- SDS
- SNCC
- Sports
- Street theater
- Tet 1968
- The Beatles
- The Fugs
- Timothy Leary
- Tom Hayden
- TV
- Uncategorized
- United Nations
- Ursula K. Le Guin
- Viet Cong
- Vietnam War
- Weather Underground
Archives
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- Follow 1960s: Days of Rage on WordPress.com
Categories
Allen Ginsberg Black Power Books Burroughs CIA Civil Rights Mov. Counterculture Cuban Revolution Documentary Draft board Feminist Happenings Henry Kissinger Hippie Jazz John Kennedy LSD Lyn. Johnson Marijuana MLKJr. Movie Music Newspaper Nixon Pacifist Paris Poetry R. McNamara Religion Rob. Kennedy SDS Street theater The Beatles Viet Cong Vietnam WarGravatar