TREES (50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION)

Its now over fifty years since Trees formation and although Acid Folk has now become a sub-category in the lexicon of record dealers and music critics and although founder member David Costa feels the original noughties reissue helped consolidate a gathering wave of curiosity they themselves remain in the shadows.Earths new Trees collection brings together both albums adding shiny alternate mixes of key tracks along with a selection of radio sessions and demos all sounding brighter and cleaner than ever before.Trees first album The Garden of Jane Delawney 1970 snuggles nicely into contemporary nu-folkies idea of the genre and shares some of the pastoral-whimsy that characterised The Incredible String Band or Donovan offset by some stunning interpretations of traditional material and Bias own songs which were somehow part of the tradition Trees had adopted.Readings of Lady Margaret Glasgerion and the old standard She Moved Thro The Fair and the extended fade of the groups own Road presage the explosive instrumental duelling that would come to characterise the follow-up album On The Shore.Theres a definite shift between the records the second being darker and more ambivalent. Here Trees dont tell you what to think. Youre left to formulate your own response to this odd opaque music.The Streets of Derry session version leans into the brain vibrating drone-groove they somehow found at the traditional tunes centre. Polly On The Shore another traditional tune is one of the definitive moments of English folk-rock. 1.1 Nothing Special 1.2 The Great Silkie 1.3 The Garden Of Jane Delawney 1.4 Lady Margaret 1.5 Glasgerion 1.6 She Moved Thro The Fair 1.7 Road 1.8 Epitaph 1.9 Snails Lament 1.10 Soldiers Three 1.11 Murdoch 1.12 Streets Of Derry 1.13 Sally Free And Easy 1.14 Fool 1.15 Adams Toon 1.16 Geordie H 1.04 W 12.43 L 12.61.