VA - Meet on the Ledge: An Island Records Folk-Rock Anthology [3CD Box Set] (2009)

For long-time Island fans the most fun way to celebrate this hugelytrumpeted anniversary would be reissuing the two budget-price samplers which introduced so many cash-strapped kids to the label in 1969. The wide range of musical strains presented was packed with avenues to explore, but You Can All Join In’s Side Two, Track One was Fairport Convention’s hauntingly anthemic Meet On The Ledge, heralding the label’s oncoming “quiet revolution” combining folk and electric rock forms, examined here over three CDs.

The astutely-picked selection swings quite naturally from the worthy traditionalism of The Albion Band into the late, great John Martyn revamping the same form with his treated electric guitar (one of seven beauties from the man). In between these sonic goalposts bubble a diverse gaggle including the mighty Traffic, intensely poignant Sandy Denny, wonderfully-whimsical Dr Strangely Strange, Richard & Linda Thompson, Cat Stevens, Nick Drake, Incredible String Band, Jethro Tull, Ronnie Lane and less-remembered names such as Jess Roden’s Bronco and The Sutherland Brothers. The worthy nose-pinching element may put some off but folk has always been either a multi-faceted or much-divided field, depending on personal standing, so it’s further tribute to Island that they covered all these bases and made it look quite natural.