LIEGE & LIEF

Lieg and Lief is a great album of English folk music with rock instrumentation. Sandy Denny is without doubt a brilliant vocalist and along with Dave Swarbick, the violinist (or fiddler) really gives this album its life.

'Come All Ye' is a great rallying call for musicians and music-lovers everywhere to join in the experience of this album. 'Reynardine' is slow, and solemn, with its own subtle beauty. 'Matty Groves' is a brilliant traditional folk song. It tells a tale of murder treachery in a true English folk fashion, before going into a bit of a rock jam. 'Farewell, Farewell' and 'The Desserter' are two average tracks off the album. Then there is an instrumental 'Medley' (not an instumedley DT fans!). This really shows how skilled the band are, and how they have a great chemistry together. 'Tam Lin' is a great folk song, with odd lyrics. 'Crazy Man Michael' is the closer and another good song. Also worth noting is on the CD version there are two bonus tracks, one of which ('Quiet Joys of Brotherhood') is an amazing trippy psych-out.

For this very good album, I would give 3.5 stars, but since I am in a generous mood I will round up to 4.

P.S. Anyone who loves the folkier side of things should check out an album called 'Am I Born to Die' by two American musicians called Maon Brown and Chipper Thompson. The album is not rock or prog, but straight Apelachian folk. Most of the songs originated inAmerica, but a few come from Scotland and England and one is an original composition. All of it is high quality.