The British folk scene of the late '60s and early '70s isn't necessarily known for breakbeats or dancefloor-filling jams. That said, eagle-eyed record detectives did manage to ferret out a small but exciting vein of records from that era that do have a little bit of swing, sometimes even a groove. There have been a few collections that display the finds from these unlikely digs and in 2022, the
Cherry Red label offshoot
Strawberry added the three-disc
Deep in the Woods: Pastoral Psychedelia & Funky Folk 1968-1975 to the list. Drawing from a cadre of artists that range from well-known in British folk circles (
Nirvana,
Bridget St. John,
Trees,
Trader Horne) to better-known unknowns (
Mellow Candle,
Keith Christmas,
Mighty Baby) and super obscure (
the Ghost,
Allen James Eastwood), the collection does an excellent job of extracting the rare song by each artist that has a little bit of propulsive action going on underneath the olde-school harmonies, flutes, and acoustic guitars. Many of the artists sound like they had at least one track in their repertoire that followed the
Traffic template: bubbling bass, hand percussion, soulful vocals, the occasional woody organ.
Hardin and York's "Natural Gas" is a fine example, as is
Open Road's "Mother Earth." On the other end of the spectrum are those who sound like they were on a traveler's visa from Middle Earth. The jingle-jangle wizard ballad "Yorric" by
Meic Stevens and the epic-length "The Death of Don Quixote" by
Principal Edwards Magic Theater fit this bill. Most of the rest of the collection is nestled safely in between, roughly where soul-jazz bass work meets lightly strummed guitars and gentle drumming anchors filmy vocals and the occasional light orchestra. It's a fairly intoxicating sound that's so wedged in the middle of stylistic guideposts that it's easy for one to lose their bearings in a pleasant, midsummer dream kind of way. Occasionally one might snap to attention at the arrival of a brilliant outlier that cuts through to make an indelible impression.
Chris Harwood makes a big splash with a deeply funky, super dramatic reading of
CSN&Y's "Wooden Ships,"
Friends pluck heartstrings with their lovely "In the Morning,''
Mike Hurst's "Place in the Country" has one of the truly tough beats here, and
Second Hand do all kinds of odd things on their theatrical "Hangin' on an Eyelid." There are plenty of other very weird songs to be found on the collection -- half the fun of listening is trying to figure out exactly what was filling each musician's head at the time. Patchouli, smoke, and ghosts, most likely. Whatever it was, it made for some bewildering, bewitching, and freaky music and
Strawberry's entry in the field proves to be very entertaining and educational. ~ Tim Sendra
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