THE GARDEN OF JANE DELAWNEY

My interest towards this lovely band arose, as it was recommended to me by the record shop owner whilst buying him a copy of Tudor Lodge's album. It took nearly ten years for me to hunt their records, but now I must say that his recommendation was very good, as this band and their two records are surely of the finest quality in genre of psychedelic folk music. "Nothing Special" opens the record, and it is a quite conventional peaceful folk rock song. The next track "Silkie" brings forth their most pleasant element, the psychedelic arrangements of the traditional Anglo-Saxon folk tunes. The influences from Fairport Convention's "A Sailor's Life" are clear, but this doesn't bother at least me. The title song "The Garden of Jane Delawney" holds an ultimate beautifulness in it. Medieval oriented guitar chords back up the fragile voice of Celia Humphris, and as her voices caress the listeners ears from two channels, the grown men will start to cry. This song was also re-recorded at the 1980's by an indie group All About Eve. "Glasgerion", which is here surprisingly titled as "Jack Orion" (different titles in versions from different countries?), is a fast and joyful Celtic sounding song. I wasn't first very sure if I like it, but the tensions grows slowly through the composition, and after some digesting I have started to like it very much. I'm sure that it at least this track doesn't leave anybody cold. "She Moved Through The Fair" is another bow towards the direction of the Fairport Convention, who also performed this traditional tune on their "What We Did on Our Holidays" album. The rest of the tracks are also really pleasant, the closing number "Snails Lament" has also male vocals, and is also a more conventional folk rock in its style. As a conclusion, this is truly an album of finest quality, though their next record "On The Shore" is still a bit better in my opinion.