Byrd and his Contemporaries

Advantages: MacGregor's chameleon-like arrangements render every piece interesting, appealing.
Disadvantages: She remains in obscurity in the US.

...New music. Modern music. Contemporary music. John Cage, Charles Ives and Gyorgy Ligeti on the concert program are not exactly crowd-drawing names, unlike the ever-reliable and familiar Beethoven, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, heck, even J. S. Bach. The ridiculous flap over British composer Mike Batt's facetious (and ultimately, expensive) homage to John Cage only enhanced my pooh-poohing of the avant-gardists as creators of unlistenable, pretentious music. In 2002, a controversial lawsuit was filed when producer Batt added a track to an album otherwise filled with the usual classical repertoire performed by a group of young musicians. He tossed in a silent track entitled One Minute of Silence. His mistake? To acknowledge Cage's 1952 piece, 4'33", in the composer listing of "Batt / Cage". Cage's British publishers caught on and quickly... Read review

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Advantages: The best early Dylan tracks
Disadvantages: None

...barely hold a note that he was not a great singer or that his musicianship was bettered by many others then and more since but this is hardly relevant. Of his early contemporaries such as Bob Seeger or Arlo Guthrie or even Joan Baez, the ‘female Dylan’ none have managed to maintain their success to bus-pass age. Dylan remains an artist many are compared to because he was the original. Those who decried his switch to electric guitars have long since become irrelevant. Publicly Dylan has hardly put a foot wrong though his shambolic performance at the US end of ‘Band Aid’ was unwelcome. This Greatest Hits album is a must for anyone who is interested in early pop music and who appreciates songs with the strengths of personal conviction.... Read review

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Advantages: Sandy Denny's vocals, Richard Thompson's guitar, some very strong tunes.
Disadvantages: The odd weak track, a couple of Bob Dylan covers too many.

...out on a cheerful note. There isn't anything particularly special or subtle about it compared to the other songs. But with the 2 bonus tracks added it does feel more superfluous now. Dear Landlord, the first bonus track is yet another Dylan cover and a very strange song that Dylan originally did on his John Wesley Harding album. I can't see the purpose of why Fairport would want to attempt this song or why it would be included on this album. By contrast the other bonus track is the Fairport cover of the Byrd's' The Ballad Of Easy Rider' and is a good one possibly topping the original. If I have one complaint about the album, it is that there are just 1 or 2 too many Dylan covers for comfort, which is why I gave this 4 stars. However it's still overall a very good listen with some great songs, arrangements and genuine... Read review

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