Electric Eden (Faber Social)

Rob Young investigates how the idea of folk has been handed down and transformed by successive generations - song collectors composers Marxist revivalists folk-rockers psychedelic voyagers free festival-goers experimental pop stars and electronic innovators. In a sweeping panorama of Albions soundscape that takes in the pioneer spirit of Cecil Sharp; the pastoral classicism of Ralph Vaughan Williams and Peter Warlock; the industrial folk revival of Ewan MacColl and A. L. Lloyd; the folk-rock of Fairport Convention Sandy Denny Nick Drake Shirley Collins John Martyn and Pentangle; the bucolic psychedelia of The Incredible String Band The Beatles and Pink Floyd; the acid folk of Comus Forest Mr Fox and Trees; The Wicker Man and occult folklore; the early Glastonbury and Stonehenge festivals; and the visionary pop of Kate Bush Julian Cope and Talk Talk Electric Eden maps out a native British musical voice that reflects the complex relationships between town and country progress and nostalgia radicalism and conservatism. An attempt to isolate the "Britishness" of British music - a wild combination of pagan echoes spiritual quest imaginative time-travel pastoral innocence and electrified creativity - Electric Eden will be treasured by anyone interested in the tangled story of Britains folk music and Arcadian dreams.