Lost folk tapes

[Globaltruth]

Courtesy of froots magazine, here's an archive of lost or forgotten folk music from 1965-1985.

http://www.lostfolktapes.com/

Only seem to be about a dozen artists on there, and I haven't found any hidden gems yet,I have found some men shouting loudly in that rather odd voice that seemed compulsory for singing folk music back then.

but you never know, someone may like it.

[Lateralthinking1]

I like it. Not necessarily the category "some men shouting loudly in that rather odd voice that seemed compulsory for singing folk music back then" but as a historical document. The musical period 1967-1972 is one of endless fascination for me because it was when I first started listening to music. Being very young then, there has always been that "what was it all really like compared with the way that I heard it?". I don't know if anyone else has that in regard to their first listening years? Over the decades, more is added to the knowledge so that in the end it is a case of knowing more than most would have done at the time. I find that very satisfying not from a know-all point of view - I'm still learning - but from enjoying all the sounds along the way.

I feel much the same about the era 1977-1985 although there is far less to add to it. Also enjoy finding the odd lost gem from 1986-1992 but by that time I was musically quite compulsive so that can be a needle in a haystack. Still awake? 1973-1976 is that rather dodgy era where you really have to go into it with a very open mind. Sometimes it is possible and sometime not. 1960-1966 is always interesting for providing background but that to me is purely historical reference, having been born in 1962. Even the years 1962-1966 are musical history to me. I have always dipped into the 1950s and am now finding that I listen increasingly to stuff from earlier in the century. The history of music rather than simply the history of my music.

Now then, where was I? The folky stuff from 1967-1972 in the very broadest sense probably represents most closely of all the music then how I comprehend the character of that era. That is why it is always great to hear. Anything from 1985-1992 tends to chime with some of my interests from that era - a lot of folk crossover gigs - so it helps to hear the things I missed. Post 1992, the whole business is more academic and less emotional. More a case of separating the wheat from all the chaff. As for 1977-1985, well, that is very interesting because it shows there was some of it even then. That group you have on that link from 1978 - I am not sure if they had lost track of time and trend or were very brave souls but they were certainly ploughing their own furrow.

I see that John Peel liked them. The same question could be asked of him, I guess. Were they on that cusp of his transition to the Buzzcocks, the Undertones and the Fall? The great thing is that we will never know. Oh, the sublime lifelong mystery of it all.