VARIOUS (MARK PRITCHARD)

'FEEL THE SPIRIT'

OPTIMUM SOUNDS

CD

(AUGUST 2006)

Folk music may be the current music of iPod choice for the bearded masses, however, as with all great music styles, there was much that went before the current sounds associated with it.

Mark Pritchard - the man behind Harmonic 33, Troubleman, and member of Global Communication along with Tom Middleton - has taken the time to pull together some of the better known examples from a time when folk was getting loved up and experimenting with rock, jazz and funk.

Witness Sunforest's "Magician In The Mountain" for a perfect example. Elsewhere, Christine Harwood's amazing "Wooden Ships" is perfection in itself, pure shivers down the spine production and vocals, whilst Daddy Longlegs, Hard Meat and even Donovan continue to represent the best of British.

From across the Atlantic, Spleen's wonderfully trippy "Along Came Sam", and delicate vocalists like Linda Perhacs and Kathy Smith offered their own uniquely coloured visions of the universe, whilst the recently re-discovered/covered The Free Design combined easy listening with psychedelic harmonies.