Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain’s Visionary Music

Description

Rob Young”s Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain”s Visionary Music is a seminal book on British music and cultural heritage, that spans the visionary classical and folk tradition from the nineteenth-century to the present day.

”A thoroughly enjoyable read and likely to remain the best-written overview for a long time.”
GUARDIAN

”A perfectly timed, perfectly pitched alternative history of English folk music . . . wide-ranging, insightful, authoritative, thoroughly entertaining.”
NEW STATESMAN

”A stunning achievement.”
SIMON REYNOLDS

”A masterpiece.” CAUGHT BY THE RIVER
”Excellent . . . blissfully quotable.” NEW YORK TIMES
”An authoritative account.” THE TIMES
”Consistently absorbing.” INDEPENDENT
”An impassioned and infectious rallying cry of a book.” SUNDAY TIMES

In this groundbreaking survey of more than a century of music making in the British Isles, Rob Young investigates how the idea of folk has been handed down and transformed by successive generations – song collectors, composers, Marxist revivalists, folk-rockers, psychedelic voyagers, free festival-goers, experimental pop stars and electronic innovators.

In a sweeping panorama of Albion”s soundscape that takes in the pioneer spirit of Cecil Sharp; the pastoral classicism of Ralph Vaughan Williams and Peter Warlock; the industrial folk revival of Ewan MacColl and A. L. Lloyd; the folk-rock of Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, Nick Drake, Shirley Collins, John Martyn and Pentangle; the bucolic psychedelia of The Incredible String Band, The Beatles and Pink Floyd; the acid folk of Comus, Forest, Mr Fox and Trees; The Wicker Man and occult folklore; the early Glastonbury and Stonehenge festivals; and the visionary pop of Kate Bush, Julian Cope and Talk Talk, Electric Eden maps out a native British musical voice that reflects the complex relationships between town and country, progress and nostalgia, radicalism and conservatism.

An attempt to isolate the ”Britishness” of British music – a wild combination of pagan echoes, spiritual quest, imaginative time-travel, pastoral innocence and electrified creativity – Electric Eden will be treasured by anyone interested in the tangled story of Britain”s folk music and Arcadian dreams.

”A treat.” TIME OUT
”Young is a fine writer.” MOJO
”Young”s immense narrative is both educative and gripping.” UNCUT
”A multitudinous, fascinating and beautifully written account.” TLS