Jessie Baylin, ‘Strawberry Wind’

New West Records, 2018.

I’m as guilty as anyone of letting Strawberry Wind slip under the radar! It should have been in my albums of the year, without a doubt. I was playing it through the other day and it’s an absolute gem of a record. Full of hooks and great melodies. Tracks like ‘In The Summertime’ and ‘Dream Catcher. invoke a woozy classic Sixties pop mixed with easy/bacharach style. The general vibe is of childlike wonderment at the world and if you appreciate Carole King, The Carpenters, sunshine pop you’ll absolutely love this!

 

Here we celebrate some cult underground gems and some plain old classics, which for some inexplicable reason are still around…

The Sallyangie, ‘Children Of The Sun’

A must have for any fans of British acid folk from the halycon days of the late Sixties. Recorded by brother and sister Sally and Mike Oldfield, this LP has some stunning melodies and guitar playing. Sally Oldfield’s vocals are beautifully sung in a ‘she could only be from England’ style and the guitar playing from brother Mike, indespersed with some lovey flute garnishes, are as exceptonal as you’d expect!

Not available on CD at the moment, so even more reason to snap this one up on glorious gatefold vinyl.

We have a UK original gatefold laminted sleeve on the Transatlantic label, 1969 issue. The sleeve is in excellent condition with just some light creases and foxing. The record plays great and only has a very minor bit of background noise on the quieter moments. Dreamy!

Here’s a taster of the record!

Steve Tilston, ‘An Acoustic Confusion’

Some lovely period artwork draws you into this album straight away. Looks great and itdoesn’tdissapoint. The songs are acoustic and melodic in a wistful folky style. Steve’s vocals are not a million miles away from Nick Drake and Al Stewart, particularly the latter. Any fans of those two should be keen as mustard to pick this one up.

We have a UK original pressing from 1971 on the Village Thing label. The sleeve and record are in near mint condition. A fab copy!

Here we have “I Really Wanted You”, one of the tracks from the LP:

 

Giles Farnaby’s Dream Band, ‘Giles Farnaby’s Dream Band’

You can’t fail to be intriged by the stunning artwork and by the cult Argo label- anything on Argo is at worst incredibly interesting! This is very much in the Trad/medieval folk rock genre. A really unusual sound. It was put together by a combination of music ensembles: St George’s Canzona (a Derby-based folk band), The Druids and Trevor Crozier’s Broken Consort. Add some seasoned Jazz players to the mix and what could go wrong!

I’ve never seen it for sale or sold this album in my thirty-odd years of buying and selling, so it’s a real rarity.

We have a UK original from 1973 on the Argo label. Sleeve in excellent condition as is the vinyl. Dreamy!

 

Here’s “Past Time With Good Company”, for a taste of Giles Farnaby’s Dream Band!