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Solo acoustic reccommendations please...

If I ingnore the "solo" I think it's safe to recommend Reflection by Pentangle.

Gorgeous mellow folk rock, jazzy and bluesy with a firm backbone and some superb vocals from Jacqui McShee. Great cover of "Will the Circle be Unbroken?"
 
well thank you all very very much for your help.

Ive typed every single recommendation into amazon and listened to the samples I can find. I can t pretend they are all to my liking, some of this stuff is clearly a very acquired taste,

Joel - you said left field and you werent kidding... I havent ordered anything but I will go back and listen again when I havent just listened to 50 guitar based folk tunes.

Dave Cattlin..Cant find a sample of any of your recommendations anywhere.

Anyway, Ive just spent a good few hundred quid on an amazon order containing only the stuff in this thread so thank you very much again.

chris
 
Originally posted by cjt
Joel - you said left field and you werent kidding... I havent ordered anything but I will go back and listen again when I havent just listened to 50 guitar based folk tunes.
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We aim to please :D
The Ud is dangerous: once you get it, it *has* you and nothing else will really do...
 
Ah yes Darren; the wonderful Dick Gaughan. His voice was once described as 'coal being crushed under a door'.

I have 'A Handful Of Earth' and also the superb Five Hand Reel album 'For 'A That'.

That's reminded me to dig it out again, thanks.

John.
 
John

I haven't tried the five hand stuff - what's it like?

I have most of Gaughans albums but nothing of the music he made with others. The recent albims I managed to get from Appleseed (imported from america) they were only about £6 each IIRC. Redwood Catherdral and outlaws are both return to earlier form.

One thing that confuses me is why he makes electric guitar tracks - not convincing at all and spoil otherwise excellent acoustic guitar and vocal albums.

Darren

The only one I don't have is "Sail on" we were burgled and I remembered it as being a bit rubbish so didn't replace it.
 
If I ingnore the "solo" I think it's safe to recommend Reflection by Pentangle.

Gorgeous mellow folk rock, jazzy and bluesy with a firm backbone and some superb vocals from Jacqui McShee. Great cover of "Will the Circle be Unbroken?"
Click to expand...

I’m just discovering Pentangle now – I landed a lovely UK 1st press of their 1969 album Basket Of Light for just 2 quid at a record fair yesterday. I bought it to sell on, but as is so often the case I made the ‘mistake’ of playing it… suffice to say it now has a permanent place in my record collection. Superb acoustic folk with a slight hippy / psych feel and it is a truly stunning recording. There is a whole world of this type of late 60s / early 70s folk-ish music that I know bugger all about and really need to explore.

Tony.
 
Try and get hold of Pentangle's Cruel Sister LP. Has a stunning version of "Jack Orion".

Bert Jansch's solo albums are mostly fabulous too.

-- Ian
 
I think I should have called Reflectiion soothing rather than mellow, as it's not in the least bit bland.

I gather The Incredible String Band operated in a similar sphere. Any suggestions?
 
Have to agree with some of the earlier suggestions.

Mary Margaret O’Hara, Miss America is superb.

The Kings Of Convenience are excellent, including the ‘remix’ album Versus.

For some Richard Thompson try the Nude disc of You? Me? Us? and especially the live album Celtschmerz – a fantastic record that makes you feel sick you weren’t their in person!

Evidence by Boo Hewerdine & Darden Smith is a long-standing favourite, as is Hewerdines solo album Ignorance (saw him live at the Half Moon in Putney years back, excellent night is was too. Is the Half Moon still going strong? I moved up North years ago)

If you are still feeling the water, so to speak, try Jewel’s early album Pieces Of You – much quirkier than the later, and all together less satisfying releases. I can feel some stick heading my way for this last suggestion.

Cheers,

ss
 
Bruce Springsteen - Nabraska - not mad keen on all his work but when I got this one I played it incessantly for months - still pop it on once a month on average.

Darren
 
Originally posted by Tony L
I’m just discovering Pentangle now –

There is a whole world of this type of late 60s / early 70s folk-ish music that I know bugger all about and really need to explore.

Tony.
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Correct! ;)

The Trees are a band I missed first time around, but who did some decent stuff. Their lead singist, who's name escapes, is now a radio presenter.

Incredible String Band..... I have none of their stuff and don't remember much of it either but it has a rep which means I must explore it.

When it comes to Pentangle, everyone seems to remember Burt Jansch, who's still 'at it', but whom I find a bit samey. Nobody seems to remember John Renbourn, who was, to my ears at least, a far more interesting player. He strays into mediaeval lute playing and God knows what . The eponymous 'John Renbourn' album is on my wish list, as is the collaboration he did with Doris Henderson, the latter being patchy, but still worth getting. I used to have both, but......

While we're on the subject of 'solo acoustic' Joni Mitchell's Blue almost qualifies and should be in everybody's collection.
Mull
 
Originally posted by Mullardman
Nobody seems to remember John Renbourn, who was, to my ears at least, a far more interesting player. He strays into mediaeval lute playing and God knows what . The eponymous 'John Renbourn' album is on my wish list, as is the collaboration he did with Doris Henderson, the latter being patchy, but still worth getting. I used to have both, but......
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He did some solo albums of O'Carolan's harp music in the 70s/80s. A bit new-agey for modern tastes perhaps, but worth a punt if you see one.
If I rememebr correctly, Rebourn was looked down upon by both the "ancient" music revivalists and classical guitarists because he had (has) the cheek to use metal strings. The shame of it. The Paniagua brothers use metal strings a lot (according to their old sound recordist), so perhaps it's OK now.
Anyway, a fine guitarist with superb technique and excellent taste, who was the perfect foil to Bert Jansch. "Bert and John" is a good place to start, as it was for them - it seems to have been a dry-run for the first Pentangle album.
 
last night I heard on Mike Harding's Folk and Acoustic Roots show on radio 2, his favourite live performances of the year, well worth a listen to on details here www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/r2music/folk/harding/playlist.shtml BBC R2.

In general there are many live performances that can tick the acoustic box but not always solo for instance concert for a landmine free world - details here http://www.vanguardrecords.com/Landmine/home.html, has many great performances.

Finally - Shawn Colvin - live 88 - no one has mentioned her yet and its just her and her guitar - it always ticks all my boxes
 
Suprised no-ones mention Scottish folk singer/songwriter Dougie Maclean.
http://www.dougiemaclean.com/

Good album to start with is Riof.


Richard Thompson... seen him a few times over the years, both solo & with his band.
What he does with the guitar is amazing.
 
Tom Waits
Bert Jansch (inspired many,including Dylan and Jimmy Page,a true genius)
John Martyn
Fred Neil
 
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