This is a compilation album comprising 3 CDs produced and annotated by Tom Vickers. Let me say straight away that this is one of the very best compilations I have ever come across. Once again I am reminded why I like folk music so much, what the genre is, and what it has to offer. I have to confess that when I first opened the packet containing the album I was a little apprehensive about what to expect. I thought I'd just pop it on to play, expecting to just quickly skip through the tracks, just to get an idea of what it contained. How wrong I was! Two hours twenty five minutes later I was still sitting by my stereo captivated by the collection.

The clever part about this album is the build of the tracks: let me explain. There are 3 CDs: Disc 1 is subtitled Roots of Folk, Disc 2 is subtitled Singers & Songwriters, and Disc 3 subtitled Folk Blues. I suppose if you are like me and of an age fortunate enough to have grown up in the late 50s / 60s folk revival period, you will have heard all these songs before, but not necessarily by the artists on this collection -- mainly because they are all American. Here you will find the songs as sung, in many instances, by the writers themselves, performed with a warmth and sincerity sometimes missing from more familiar covers. Although some of the overall performances may not be as good as that of the performer who covered the song and made it famous, such is life.

Roots of Folk starts off with Paul Robeson singing 'Joe Hill' and culminates 15 songs later with Doc Watson singing 'Tom Dooley'. On the way the listener is treated to songs by The Weavers, Cisco Houston, Joan Baez, Jimmie Driftwood, Maybelle Carter, and Elizabeth Cotton to name but a few! All of the tracks are collated from the archives of Vanguard Records, and there are also some tracks that were never released. The most notable from this disc is Doc Watson & Clarence Ashley singing 'Amazing Grace'. One of the nicer touches is the fact that most were recorded live in front of an audience, giving them that extra spark of excitement that only come in a concert setting. But that was the way things were done in those days -- all too often these days professional singers will take weeks or months to perfect a recording and will often use guest musicians to get the desired effect.

Singers & Songwriters has 15 songs, most of the recordings from the 60s and 70s. Buffy Sainte-Marie is first away with her song 'The Universal Soldier' followed by songs from Eric Anderson, The Rooftop Singers, The Kingston Trio, Joan Baez with Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Jerry Jeff Walker, Tom Paxton, Ian & Sylvia, Country Joe & The Fish, and many more. Another gem on this disc, never released before, comes at the fifth track with Donavan & Joan Baez singing 'Catch the Wind' in a superb live performance.

Folk Blues has another 15 songs dedicated to this particular branch of folk music. Mississippi John Hurt starts off with his song 'Candy Man'. Along with many of the other performers on this disc, the song is sung solo with only guitar accompaniment, and it is good to hear the songs performed this way. I found it interesting to compare them with the full band arrangements made by the likes of the Rolling Stones and The Animals, for they took a lot of material from these originals, and it easy to see where they their picked up their influences. Here you will find John Hammond singing 'Seventh Son', Lightin' Hopkins with 'Baby Please Don't Go', Jesse Fuller with 'San Francisco Bay Blues', The Chambers Brothers with 'See See Rider', and Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee singing 'Drink Muddy Water'. The penultimate song on the disc has Pete Seeger along with Willie Dixon & Lafayette Leake singing 'Midnight Special' followed by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band with 'Blues with a Feeling'. Many of these artists, along with the likes of Son House, Odetta and Skip James have been rediscovered by folk and blues archivists after living for many years in near obscurity, and their music is well worth a listen.

If you are old enough many of these songs will help you relive a moment in time when folk music was more homespun, regional, and heartfelt -- and to some degree new and exiting. Perhaps your old vinyl copies are worn out. Or maybe you are younger, and on the threshold of your own musical journey in folk music. A singer perhaps? You may be able to put your own interpretation on these songs. Either way this album contains a treasure chest of songs well worth revisiting. The album also comes with a nice inset booklet with some information on the songs. Sadly, it does not give the exact year of the recordings, which would have been nice. But it is certainly an album that every one should have -- a piece of history worth keeping.

[Peter Massey]