h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

At the pub today, a surprising number of us discovered a mutual disdain for fashionable contemporary folk rock of the 'Mumford' persuasion. It's such a popular format at the moment that I'd previously felt it was just me who wasn't 'getting it', but no, it seems it fails to reach a number of us. For me, it falls uncomfortably between more esoteric folk and more exciting rock, but YMMV.

Is there anyone else out there who can't see what all the fuss is about?

I like Mumford & Sons, and bought the album. I'm not interested in a "movement" though. I don't listen to music radio much but, if I heard any more like it, I would judge it on its own merits. I most certainly wouldn't automatically assume its quality by association.

Bands like Mumford & Sons and the Fleet Foxes are a welcome relief from all the X-Factor bubblegum R&B we're forced to suffer these days.

Here are the Foxes at Glastonbury. Tell me this isn't the true spirit of that festival:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw2OP_6YeTw


And here's a reminder of a better age: Love in 2003:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YknaRmORo0

Ah now, there's a good demonstration: I have a Fleet Foxes song, and I found it no better than alright. I also went to see Love once (on my dad's recommendation) and was unimpressed. It's interesting that the closest comparison I could make was to a "hippy Paul Weller", given that Arthur Lee predates Weller by at least a decade.

Maybe it's because it was your dad's recommendation My dad was into George Formby, but, novelty value aside, I can't see myself enjoying that stuff for long.

Are these bands REALLY folk rock?

They don't really live in the Fairport / Steeleye / Albions / Horslips / Moving Hearts stable do they?

Or has the term folk rock been hijacked the way that RnB was?



PP

>>Are these bands REALLY folk rock?

Definitions are always difficult. For example, what is 'folk'? You might know it when you hear it, but it doesn't seem to have any particular feature which can be universally applied to everything the label covers.

But regardless of what you call these bands, the question remains; would you say you can't see what all the fuss is about?

I have to say that I hadn't really noticed a fuss. I do remember that the early Fairport albums were greeted with something of a fanfare and were seen to be groundbreaking. Ashley Hutchings became a huge presence in the genre.

It seems to me that the fuss has died down somewhat over the last 40 years.

Must have a listen to some of those albums today. Especially The Albion's Christmas Present.

PP

PP, Ashley Hutchings still is...

And I enjoy 'Larkrise'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7h6tnsV0zQ

Mumford doesn't really do it for me, but I, too, am a Fairport, Steeleye, Pentangle type person.

MMF

So, basically, you don't 'get' a particular genre of music... that's kind of how it works, isn't it?

Pentangle?

Folk jazz then.



PP

A fewn years ago, I heard a comedian say that folk music has been "making a comeback" for about the last 40 years. I would be wary of extrapolating the success of Mumford into growing support for a whole genre.

And I also discovered, late in life (like last year) Wishbone Ash.

Also enjoy Bellowhead and Boden and Spiers...

So still contemporary-ish.

And how about The Spooky Mens' Choral fit?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhpo-MqK9tk

MMF

It never really went away. I have to say I'm not really familiar with Mumford, but some of the other bands mentioned like Horslips, Steeleye Span and Moving Hearts still have a pretty big following.

I tried to get into contemporary folk a few years ago. Thinking you have a chance of getting into someone's pants makes you do crazy things.

I'd imagine it might. What is "contemporary folk", though? It sounds like one of these labels invented by someone who is too keen on pigeon-holes. Like "Adult-Orientated-Rock" (AOR). What's that all about?

PP - Pentangle? That mekes me estimate you´re as old a fart as me.

Pentangle? Keeper of Mustelids started it Pit. So he is probably another old fart too.

Ba - da - pa do da da - ba - pa do da da

Danny Thompson often makes up part of Richard Thompson's band.

'Get on with it!'

I remember John Tamms' moustache.

I'm rambling now. Like people of 'a certain age' often do

PP

Not rambling I guess. Just muttering whilst searching your record shelves.

And

That was the intro song of that TV thingie "Take three Girls"!
Boooy, we´re really getting a bit long in the teeth.

(for newbies: "Let´s get away you say, find a better place")