Customer Reviews

Very Best of

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I am a die hard Folkie.I'm a folk singer myself inspired by Dylan,Young,Simon and many other legends.My friend who works at
a big music store here told meto pick this up blindly.I did so and am not regretting at all!It is superb folk rock with all acoustic guitar strumming,piano and Harmonica and ofcourse electric guitar in some songs.Alan is a talented songwriter,indeed!I recommend this CD to any fan of folk and classic rock.This is FOLK ROCK at its BEST!!

The recording quality on this album is not brilliant, but it's no worse than many of its time. There is one track with deliberate crackle and muffled hiss, but I cannot report hearing the movement of the turntable stylus as reported in another review here of this album.

The principal cause of my disappointment with this CD is the quality of the songs. I knew Lindisfarne only by their singles: the foot-tapping 'Meet Me on the Corner' and the excellent ballad 'Lady Eleanor'. Judging by this compilation, it appears that Lindisfarne wrote many more foot-tappers than beautiful ballads. 'Fog on the Tyne' for instance has an intricate instrumental in the middle, but the tune itself is little more than a nursery rhyme or soccer crowd chant. The band seemed to struggle with knowing what direction it should head in. There are shades of Dylan, Neil Young, Steeleye Span, Matthews Southern Comfort and the Strawbs, but the overall feel is of a band heading towards Chas'n'Dave pub rock territory, a segment defined by a duo so obscure that they probably mean nothing to readers outside England.

It turned out that for me, Lindisfarne's best tune, by far, was their first single, 'Lady Eleanor', from their first album. It's always a strong danger signal when a band peak so early. It is strange that a band on the Charisma label -- which also nurtured Genesis and Van Der Graaf Generator -- should drift so quickly away from any pretence at being progressive. But I guess that if you played lots of pubs and clubs in the North-East of England, this is what people wanted to hear.

Occasionally Lindisfarne tried to break out of this playing-to-the-crowd trap, by imitating Dylan or Young, and coming up with some reasonable folk-rock. But it didn't appear to last long. Sorry, lads.

Lindisfarne's "Fog On The Tyne" album has always held a unique and premier position in my vinyl collection. Somehow their unique rock/folk music takes my mind away like no other and simply makes me want to be there in a different time and place! As the vinyl became worn, I was always looking out for the CD replacement and "The Best of Lindisfarne" seems to be the closest I will ever get. However I must say that the quality of the CD recording leaves much to be desired. You can actually hear the needle landing and record scratch clicks on some tracks, and how the "best of .." does not include "Uncle Sam" leaves me a bit bewildered.