Greenwich Village in the ‘60s provides a long overdue compilation of this defining musical era. There are the obvious names: Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, and plenty of the frequently overlooked would-be icons of the time such as Richard Farina and Mimi Farina (nee Baez), Ramblin’ Jack Elliot and Phil Ochs. There are the tragic geniuses (Tim Hardin, Karen Dalton and Tim Buckley), the misunderstood eccentrics (Fred Neil), the original folk archivists (John Jacob Niles) and a host of other artists whose stars burnt warmly, if not forever (including Dave Van Ronk, whose career partly inspired Inside Llewellyn Davis)
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The lyrics are earnest, almost condescendingly so; the music blends Celtic folk melodies with a dirty urban realism. The highlights come thick and fast: Dave Van Ronk’s Hang Me, Oh Hang Me is gospel for the peacenik generation; Tim Buckley’s haunting, impassioned vocals in Aren’t You the Girl take you to another world. The latent relationship between folk and blues can be seen in Mississippi John Hurt’s Make Me A Pallet on Your Floor and Ramblin’ Jack Elliot’s Raving Gambler. Pete Seeger’s Turn! Turn! Turn! (subsequently covered by The Byrds, who, arguably more so than Dylan, provided the bridge from folk to rock’n’roll) is the natural end to the first disc; Judy Collin’s Farewell draws the curtain to the second. This, even more so than the exploited sixties, is when music really mattered to society.
BY PATRICK EMERY
Best Track: Dave Van Ronk’s Hang Me, Oh Hang Me
If You Like These, You’ll Like This:THE BYRDS, CROSBY STILLS AND NASH, CAT STEVENS
In A Word:Folk
