Martin Carthy

This seminal 1965 debut from the godfather of the 60s English folk revival is reissued on vinyl as part of the Topic Treasures series. Among its tracks is most famously ‘Scarborough Fair’, which inspired a young American singer named Paul Simon to give it a go himself.

But beyond the celebrity name-dropping, these 14 tracks were the beginning of a career that would define English folk to the present day. Classics such as ‘Ye Mariners All’, ‘The Wind that Shakes the Barley’ and ‘High Germany’ are given the pure, acoustic guitar-driven Carthy treatment, while we also hear from among the first recordings of his long-time collaboration with fiddler Dave Swarbrick.

Perhaps the pick of the bunch are album closer ‘And a Begging I Will Go’ and ‘The Barley and the Rye’, a short, sweet tale in the long tradition of beautiful wives who take a tumble in the fields with a handsome young man. For all true fans, this is an opportunity to hear this early release afresh in its original vinyl form. For those who missed it first time around, there’s no better place to start a voyage into the English folk revival.