december

(Album of the Month) December 2014: Kate Bush – The Kick Inside (1978)

2015/01/12

Kate Bush – 1978 Its taking me a while to suss out how I was going to give due diligence to an artist I admire as highly as Kate. One of the wonders of December is that its a month so long, and at times so cold, that you settle into the warmth of comforting…
Nigel Mazlyn Jones: Ship To Shore (1976)

2014/12/20

Nigel Mazlyn Jones Nigel Mazlyn Jones, now this is another great artist waiting to be rediscovered. His album 1976’s Ship to Shore introduced a thoroughly unique take on the singer-songwriter genre. He was part of the second wave of progressive folk styles that Roy Harper, John Martyn, and Al Stewart sorta introduced earlier in the…
Mike Oldfield: Ommadawn (1975)

2014/12/12

Mike Oldfield – 1974 “The end of the first side of Ommadawn is the sound of me exploding from my mother’s vagina.” — Mike Oldfield. Although said with tongue planted firmly in cheek, no truer words have been spoken to describe a sound such as found at the end of Ommadawn, than the words spoken/written…
Mike Oldfield: Hergest Ridge (1974)

2014/12/11

Mike Oldfield The exploration and deconstruction of English folk music seemed to be the path needed to be taken by new neo-folk artists. One unlikely champion of this became one that you’d least expect to be one. Now known as one of New Age and World music’s pioneers with albums like Tubular Bells, Incantations, and…
Clannad: Siúbhán Ní Dhuibhir (1973)

2014/12/04

Clannad In this brief sojourn to Ireland, for some neo-folk goodies, lets not forget a true behemoth of Celtic music: Clannad. Now famously known for giving us oodles of egregiously bad tin-whistle and keyboard-laden approximations of Irish new age music, and introducing the world to the wonderful Enya (who I’ll defend to no end!)…before, there…