The Electric Muse Revisited

When the book The Electric Muse was originally published in 1975 a separate four-LP box set was issued to accompany it (contents ranging from Leadbelly to Traffi c). With Th e Electric Muse Revisited there’s a four-CD set as a standalone soundtrack (of sorts). Th is time things start with Shirley Collins and Davy Graham and finish with Sam Lee and Lisa Knapp. In our age of Spotify playlists it’s a brave move to bring out any kind of compilation on CD but, once the folk festivals begin again, this set should find its audience.

Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span remain on this compilation but the vast majority of recordings are from the last 30 years, making this work as an accompanying set to the earlier vinyl collection. Compiler and writer Robin Denselow casts his net widely – The Levellers, Catrin Finch & Seckou Keita and Show of Hands are all big draws, while Stick in the Wheel, Jim Moray and Lizabett Russo are leftfield choices. Th at said, I’d prefer if household names like Billy Bragg and Eliza Carthy had fewer tracks while the likes of Wizz Jones, Charlotte Greig and Alasdair Roberts had got a look in. And the tunes by John Kirkpatrick and Albion Dance Band are the kind of comedy folk that might make a cider-fuelled audience laugh but are an excruciating listen. So The Electric Muse Revisited is a decent overview, but one that could have been sharper.