VA - Meet On The Ledge: An Island Records Folk-Rock Anthology (2009) 3CD

Lavish 2009 three CD box set celebrates the golden age of Folk music at the Island label and charts the journey from Folk into Folk-Rock featuring the very best from Sandy Denny, Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, John Martyn, Traffic and many others. Compiled by, and with sleeve notes by, the redoubtable David Suff, Fledg'ling Records supremo. 44 tracks. Universal.

Subtitled "An Island Records Folk-Rock Anthology", this UK-released May 2009 mini box set offers 44 tracks across 3 CDs and compliments its Reggae equivalent "War Ina Babylon" (see separate review). Both have been released to celebrate 50 years of Chris Blackwell's Island Records label (1959-2009) and having lived with "Ledge" a few days now, it's both brilliant and infuriating in equal measure (with the good far outweighing the bad it should be said). First up is the complaint that there's too many familiar tracks and therefore doesn't warrant buying - you'd be wrong. The 2009 remastering by Denis Blackham (of Skye Mastering, Scotland) on the tracks you already own is truly fantastic - I felt every track sounded like an upgrade - and the obscure tunes you don't own are well chosen and worth your attention - many seeing CD light of day for the first time. The sound quality needs some explaining. Take track 2 on Disc 2, "On The Road To Find Out" by Cat Stevens - it's a superlative lesser heard gem tucked away on Side 2 of his "Tea For The Tillerman" LP from 1970. Most fans will probably have the 2000 remaster of the album, but this version is a 2009 remaster, and the sound quality is Stunning - absolutely gorgeous. The instruments just leap out of the speakers with wonderful clarity. The same applies to "Living In The Past" by Jethro Tull on Disc 1 - I adore this tune and have various remasters of it - but this is without doubt the best-sounding version I've ever heard... I've enjoyed hearing this box so much - and I suspect it will send many folk and rock music fans scurrying back into second-hand record shops trying to hunt down original Island palm-tree label LPs - those things we adored so much - all those years ago.