SUMER IS ICUMEN IN ( Various CD )

Sumer Is Icumen In: The Pagan Sound of British & Irish Folk 1966-1975 – Various Artists, 3CD

Tracklist

    CD1 :

Upon A Lammas Night
1.1 –Third Ear Band - Lark Rise
1.2 –Magnet -  Corn Rigs
1.3 –Traffic - John Barleycorn
1.4 –Midwinter -  Sanctuary Stone
1.5 –Vulcan's Hammer - The Keys Of Canterbury
1.6 –The Celebrated Ratliffe Stout Band - The Wood-Gathering Man
1.7 –Steeleye Span - Twa Corbies
1.8 –Folkal Point - Lovely John
1.9 –Strawbs - Canon Dale (Alternative Version)
1.10 –Kevin Coyne - White Horse
1.11 –Meic Stevens - Yorric
1.12 –The Young Tradition -Lyke Wake Dirge
1.13 –Amber - Swan In The Evening
1.14 –Synanthesia- Minerva
1.15 –The Minor Birds - The Parting Glass
1.16 –Parameter - Virgin Childe
1.17 –Carolanne Pegg-  The Sapphire
1.18 –Dry Heart - Cabin On The Clifftop
1.19 –Mighty Baby - Winter Passes
1.20 –Mike Oldfield - On Horseback

CD2 :

Book Of Shadows
2.1 –Fairport Convention - Tam Lin
2.2 –Gallery - Let No Man Steal Your Thyme
2.3 –Tim Hart & Maddy Prior - False Knight On The Road
2.3 –Lal Waterson - The Scarecrow (Demo Version)
2.5 –Chimera - Silver Man
2.6 –Shirley Collins & The Albion Country Band - The White Hare
2.7 –Horden Raikes - Mad Tom Of Bedlam
2.8 –The Sallyangie - The Song Of The Healer
2.9 –Bridget St. John - Lizard-Long-Tonque-Boy (Alternative Version)
2.10 –DR. Strangely Strange - Strings In The Earth And Air
2.11 –Jan Dukes De Grey - Sorcerers
2.12 –Dave & Toni Arthur - Green Grass
2.13 –Simon Finn - Where's Your Master Gone?
2.14 –Oberon - Nottamun Town
2.15 –Fresh Maggots - The House Carpenter
2.16 –J.P. Sunshine - Hand In Hand
2.17 –Comus - The Bite
2.18 –The Sun Also - Rises Death
2.19 –Tea & Symphony - Winter
2.20 –Principal Edwards Magic Theatre - Autumn Lady Dancing Song
2.21 –Anne Briggs - Summer's In

CD3 :

Hearken To The Witch's Rune
3.1 –Stone Angel - The Bells Of Dunwich
3.2 –Pentangle - Cruel Sister
3.3 –Incredible String Band - Witches Hat
3.4 –Archie Fisher - Reynerdine
3.5 –Mellow Candle - The Poet And The Witch
3.6 –Curved Air - Elfin Boy
3.7 –Sweeney's Men - Pretty Polly
3.8 –Parke - Three Ravens
3.9 –Green Man - Salisbury Plain
3.10 –Spriguns Of Tolgus - Flodden Field
3.11 –The MacDonald Folk Group - Geordie
3.12 –Michael Raven  & Joan Mills  -The Queen Of The Night
3.13 –George Deacon & Marion Ross - Holsworthy Peter's Fair
3.14 –Staverton Bridge -  Captain Wedderburn's Courtship
3.15 –Shirley Kent - Butterfly On The Shore
3.16 –Marc Bolan - Eastern Spell
3.17 –Heather, Adrian & John - The Lark In The Morning
3.18 –The Coterie Scarborough Fair
3.19 –Mr. Fox - Mendle
Bonus Track : Not Listed on Box
3.20 –Choir Unnamed Sumer Is A-Cumin In

Released in 2015, Grapefruit's 3-CD multi-artist British underground folk compilation Dust On The Nettles was widely praised, with a five-star review in The Times hailing it as "a delight from beginning to end".

A long-overdue follow up to that set, Sumer Is Icumen In tightens the mesh by focusing on the point when traditional folksong and the burgeoning late Sixties counterculture collided, largely courtesy of seminal acts like the Incredible String Band, Fairport Convention and Pentangle.

As Steeleye Span's Martin Carthy commented at the time, the scene had a strong pagan feel, dark and elemental, and progressive folk bands like Dr. Strangely Strange, Comus and Third Ear Band (who performed with the druids in dawn solstice ceremonies at Glastonbury Tor) were active at the same time as folklorists like Mr. Fox pair Bob & Carole Pegg and fellow husband-and-wife team Dave & Toni Arthur, whose commitment to the cause saw them dancing naked at a coven led by 'King of the Witches', the notorious Alex Sanders.

Showcasing all of the above names as well as a supporting cast that ranges from Mike Oldfield and Marc Bolan to unsigned bands who recorded demos in a barn, Sumer Is Icumen In features four hours of Albion hymns ancient and modern, including three previously unreleased cuts. "Housed in a stylish clamshell box, it includes a 40-page booklet with track-by-track annotation, numerous band quotes and some very rare photos.

The result is a secret glade in a darkly pagan woodland that's peppered with invocations of corn gods, wicker men, bright Phoebus and other non-Christian deities; magickal tales of daemons, sorcerers, false knights and faerie queens; the medieval England myths, legends and traditions of the May Queen, John Barleycorn and the Green Man; paeans to the natural world and the rhythm of the passing seasons; fables of sanctuary stones, scarecrows and buried villages alongside dread stories of purgatory, sacrifice, rape, bestiality and murder.