Received this double cd last week,of this privately pressed album from 1971,i have the Sommor reissue from a few years back,but this reissue is a definite improvement in the sound department to my ears,as good as anyone is going to get as this was not a big label production in 1971,as i said it is a private pressing,so this was crudely recorded,but its still good sounding.

What do we have?A rather amateurish(not meant in a negative way) folk based with tinges of jazz album,and not the usual cd issue from Grapefruit,you have violin,flute,electric and acoustic guitars,male and female vocals,but a very british sounding left of field folk rock sound,made by privately educated school kids,who wrote most of this album,which includes 3 covers,a weird version of Nottamun Town,and the often covered Summertime recorded by every type of group in every genre,but this version is flute and violin addled with female vocals and keeps that jazz tinge to it,and a Debussy piece called Syrinx played with very nicely played flute.The other 5 songs are group written affairs,and are what makes this album so interesting and enjoyable,you can certainly hear the influence of the likes of Pentangle in those songs,and those songs are far more enjoyable than the covers,i'd loved to have heard a full album of originals by the youngsters,as they sound a lot more free on their own songs,the covers except Syrinx,sounded a bit forced and muddled,but what a difference playing their own tunes,particularly the last 3 songs,because they flow better,it's a shame that the other 2 self written songs The Hunt and Peggy were not all together,but i shall programme my cd player to have all 5 self written songs play together and see how it flows,you even have an 8 minute track titled Minas Tirith ,which of course which was quite common at this time,is a point of reference from Tolkiens Lord of The Rings,this even has a drum solo,dont get worried its not too long,this was to be their centre piece of the album,but remembering these are schoolkids,its a rather quite adventurous work,with odd time changes but all done in a folk setting ,but with added prog vibes on this,it's their most adventurous work on the album,and it ends with the flute riddled Epitaph,with pleasant male vocals,i do prefer the songs with a sole vocal,as i feel in parts the harmonies are a bit jumbled ,and maybe too much for the limited recording facilities etc.

The bonus with this cd reissue,is you also get a bonus cd of a concert they played 3 months before the recording of their album,obviously again a crude recording,but these young people had talent as this concert testifies,the acoustic guitar picking is good and influenced by Bert Jansch to my ears,and the flute player is very good,this live setting has the guys more intimate and not full band sounding,this bonus cd makes this cd worthwhile to me,i really liked their more basic folk sound,well done to this bunch of youngsters!!

This is not a masterpiece,far from it,but its a great vibe of bygone days when young people were putting their version of folk music on tape,some of it works better than other bits,and their own songs are good,the covers of Summertime and Nottamun Town to me get in the way of their own flow,which is a shame,this is folk music,to my ears there is nothing much psychedelic or acid about thjs album,maybe others may hear it?Its folk with some nice flute,which at times adds a jazz feel to the recording.

If you are not a folk music liker,i'd leave this alone,if you're looking for a psych infected album with fuzz guitar and effects,or folk with ethereal wasted vocals and vibe,you will not find that on here,what you will find,are talented kids,recording in basic facilities,with a tiny budget,in not quite lo fo quality,but not high end soundng,whos own 5 songs are good,and would probably sound great if theyd had the budget and chance to spread out even more than they could!!A decent folk album then!!Glad ive got this,and finally i must say,the artwork for the original 99 copies is lovely in startling black and white of trees roots,cracking design by one of the lads in the group.I'd give this double cd for its music 6 and a half out of 10,and for presentation,as with all Grapefruits packaging,very high,nice reproduction of the sleeve,nice easy to read liners with photos,and not in a jewel case,but a thick double hardy cardboard like package,so i'll give the packaging an 8 and a half out of 10.