Sumer Is Icumen In: Pagan Sound Of British & Irish Sumer Is Icumen In: Pagan Sound Of British & Irish CD

Released in 2015, Grapefruit's 3-CD multi-artist British underground folk compilation Dust On The Nettles was widely praised, with a five-star review in The Times hailing it as "a delight from beginning to end". A long-overdue follow up to that set, Sumer Is Icumen In tightens the mesh by focusing on the point when traditional folksong and the burgeoning late Sixties counterculture collided, largely courtesy of seminal acts like the Incredible String Band, Fairport Convention and Pentangle. As Steeleye Span's Martin Carthy commented at the time, the scene had a strong pagan feel, dark and elemental, and progressive folk bands like Dr. Strangely Strange, Comus and Third Ear Band (who performed with the druids in dawn solstice ceremonies at Glastonbury Tor) were active at the same time as folklorists like Mr. Fox pair Bob & Carole Pegg and fellow husband-and-wife team Dave & Toni Arthur, whose commitment to the cause saw them dancing naked at a coven led by 'King of the Witches', the notorious Alex Sanders. Showcasing all of the above names as well as a supporting cast that ranges from Mike Oldfield and Marc Bolan to unsigned bands who recorded demos in a barn, Sumer Is Icumen In features four hours of Albion hymns ancient and modern, including three previously unreleased cuts. "Housed in a stylish clamshell box, it includes a 40-page booklet with track-by-track annotation, numerous band quotes and some very rare photos. The result is a secret glade in a darkly pagan woodland that's peppered with invocations of corn gods, wicker men, bright Phoebus and other non-Christian deities; magickal tales of daemons, sorcerers, false knights and faerie queens; the medieval England myths, legends and traditions of the May Queen, John Barleycorn and the Green Man; paeans to the natural world and the rhythm of the passing seasons; fables of sanctuary stones, scarecrows and buried villages alongside dread stories of purgatory, sacrifice, rape, bestiality and murder.

1. Lark Rise - Third Ear Band 2. Corn Rigs - Magnet 3. John Barleycorn - Traffic 4. Sanctuary Stone - Midwinter 5. The Keys of Canterbury - Vulcan's Hammer 6. The Wood-Gathering Man - the Celebrated Ratliffe Stout Band 7. Twa Corbies - Steeleye Span 8. Lovely Joan - Folkal Point 9. Canon Dale - the Strawbs (Alternative Version) 10. White Horse - Kevin Coyne 11. Yorric - Meic Stevens 12. Lyke-Wake Dirge - the Young Tradition 13. Swan in the Evening - Amber 14. Minerva - Synanthesia 15. The Parting Glass - the Minor Birds 16. Virgin Childe - Parameter 17. The Sapphire - Carolanne Pegg 18. Cabin on the Clifftop - Dry Heart 19. Winter Passes - Mighty Baby 20. On Horseback - Mike Oldfield 21. Tam Lin - Fairport Convention 22. Let No Man Steal Your Thyme - Gallery 23. False Knight on the Road - Tim Hart ; Maddy Prior 24. The Scarcrow - Lal Waterson (Demo Version) 25. Silver Man - Chimera 26. The White Hare - Shirley Collins ; the Albion Country Band 27. Mad Tom of Bedlam - Horden Raikes 28. The Song of the Healer - the Sallyangie 29. Lizard-Long-Tongue-Boy - Bridget St. John (Alternative Version) 30. Strings in the Earth and Air - Dr. Strangely Strange 31. Sorcerers - Jan Dukes de Grey 32. Green Grass - Dave ; Toni Arthur 33. Where's Your Master Gone? - Simon Finn 34. Nottamun Town - Oberon 35. The House Carpenter - Fresh Maggots 36. Hand in Hand - J. P. Sunshine 37. The Bite - Comus 38. Death - the Sun Also Rises 39. Winter - Tea ; Symphony 40. Autumn Lady Dancing Song - Principal Edwards' Magic Theatre 41. Summer's in - Anne Briggs 42. The Bells of Dunwich - Stone Angel 43. Cruel Sister - Pentangle 44. Witches Hat - Incredible String Band 45. Reynardine - Archie Fisher 46. The Poet and the Witch - Mellow Candle 47. Elfin Boy - Curved Air 48. Pretty Polly - Sweeney's Men 49. Three Ravens - Parke 50. Salisbury Plain - Green Man 51. Flodden Field - Spriguns of Tolgus 52. Geordie - the MacDonald Folk Group 53. The Queen of the Night - Michael Raven ; Joan Mills 54. Holsworthy Peter's Fair - George Deacon ; Marion Ross 55. Captain Wedderburn's Courtship - Staverton Bridge 56. Butterfly on the Shore - Shirley Kent 57. Eastern Spell - Marc Bolan 58. The Lark in the Morning - Heather, Adrian ; John 59. Scarborough Fair - the Coterie 60. Mendle - Mr. Fox