25 folk songs

Nick Drake ...River Man from that list ,    but I also voted for several others.....Harper, Simon and Garfunkel, 

Now if Northern Sky by Nick Drake was on the list, then that would have been my selection. So went for the S&G classic SoS; even though I think America, also by S&G, probably even pips SoS.

Out of these: Me And My Woman.

^^^ David, that Saat is one of my favourites too. Been a long time since I last listened to it. I spent a year familarising myself with music in PA before joining with this account (I had had an earlier registered account), and I used the mp3 tracks we had then (at first downloadable, then streamable as I recall) to discover so much music, and Saat was one of the first that really resonated with me,, and so I got the album. It was one of my early discoveries through PA, along with Heldon, Forest (I'm very surprised "Graveyard" has no votes -- love at first listen for me) Tim Blake, Carpe Diem, Third Ear Band, Tangerine Dream's first (I did have Phaedra already in my collection) and various others that immediately resonated at the time.

^^ Steve, feel free to mention any favourites off of these (i.e, not in my list). I'm very happy when people find something to like on my lists and mention their actual favourites (I like to hear about those, and it helps to connect with those who share similar tastes - I've discovered so much great to me music because I found others who I connected with musically, which has proved one of my greatest joys at this site).

^ The only album of Nick Drake I actually have in my collection is Five Leaves Left. My two favourite songs of his are "River Man" and "Fruit Tree", which says something about my psychology, both of which I found so emotionally resonant. Robert Wyatt's Rock Bottom elicits a rather similar reaction. That said, I have heard lots of his other music, including "Northern Lights." It didn't connect with me, seemed rather ordinary to me, if you know what I mean. But many consider it to be extraordinary. Both "River Man" and "Fruit Tree", on the other hand, moved me profoundly and resonated with me so deeply from first listen. Either of those could have been my choice. "Cello Song" would be my third favourite. Nick Drake certainly was able to do melancholy -- such a tragic loss from someone who on the surface of it had so much going for him. I do hope to gain a deeper appreciation for more of Nick Drake's albums and music.

I actually discovered Nick Drake very late, maybe six years ago (not sure how he escaped my radar for so long, especially since there are quite a few folkies at this site and I've been very active here). I was Googling for music similar to Comus' "The Herald", and an article/ web page came up comparing Nick Drake's "River Man" to it -- it was adoration at first listen. I liked to pair "River Man" and "Fruit Tree" up with David Bowie's "Life on Mars?" and "Starman", for some reason.

By the way, when I came up with my original list, but failed to save which was silly cause it took me a long time to put together, I had over 75 songs listed -- I do such things when I have insomnia which is most always (I stuck with one song per artist as is common with me). I was going to do thee polls, but that felt excessive and potentially spammy at the time. I did this again from scratch. Even 25 songs rather than albums or artists might seem very silly, because how many will recognise and remember many of the exact songs even if they would recognise the artists and the album names? I did include some big names that I know some here would have liked, like Jethro Tull, and despite LAM-SGC and us apparently being "worlds apart", Bert Jansch was one of the early ones I included and listed , and then I would have got my "Trouble" by Cat Stevens in -- I really love that, partially because I so love Harold and Maude, and the Neil Young, that I fugured some would miss (I ran out of space aphabetically), and it would have been "nice" (meaning pleasant rather than precise) to put together a modern one. And hen I got to include arious of my favourite relative obscurities such as These Trails -- I went with the, I think gorgeousness of "El Rey Pescador" over the psychedelic weirdness of " Psyche I / Share Your Water", which is what oringally got me to get the album.

I would say that Drake's "River Man", Vashti Bunyan's "Winter is Blue", "Willow's Song" and Perry Leopold's "the Journey" (I adore the Christian Lucifer album, and that may well be my absolute favourite album in Prog Folk) are some of those that strike the biggest chord with me on the list, but obviously, it being my list, I really like them all.

Along with the Forest, I'm rather surprised to see "Willow's Song" with no votes, perhaps it's because I didn't add "from The Wicker Man OST" to it in the poll even though I did in the list in my OP. Maybe I should have included "Gently Johnny", which these days I prefer still.

Edited by Logan - March 24 2020 at 10:05

dr wu23 wrote: Nick Drake ...River Man from that list ,    but I also voted for several others.....Harper, Simon and Garfunkel,  Mr Fox, Pentangle, CSNY....