Track Listing

1. Bad Penny
2. Glade Somewhere
3. Lovemaker's Way
4. While You're Gone
5. Sylvie
6. Fantasy You
7. Fading Light
8. Do You Want Some Smoke
9. Don't Want To Go
10. Nothing Else Will Matter
11. Mirror Of Life
12. Rain Is On My Balcony
13. Hawk The Hawker
14. Bluebell Dance
15. Midnight Hanging Of A Runaway Serf
16. To Julie
17. Gypsy Girl And Rambleaway
18. Do Not Walk In The Rain
19. Much Ado About Nothing
20. Graveyard
21. Famine Song
22. Autumn Child

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15864 in Music
• Released on: 1994-10-01
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .24 pounds

CD Description
The popular multi-ethnic '60s potpourri of pop, folk, paganism, and pure whimsy purveyed by Donovan and the Incredible String Band created a demand for similar sounds. Island Records snapped up Incredible String Band associates Dr. Strangely Strange, while EMI found its own band of merry minstrels in one of UK disc-jockey John Peel's favourites, Forest. Theband crafted two wonderful albums, collected in this double-disc set, then returned to their home county of Lincolnshire, leaving their music for the ages.
1969's FOREST overcomes rough production with sublime harmonies, inventive arrangements, and strong songwriting. These dozen tracks, brimming with the band's beguiling blend of guitars, hand percussion, pastoral pipes, Pan flutes, and organs, are every bit as timeless as the country airs of outfits such as Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span. "Sylvie", "Nothing Else Will Matter", and "Fading Light" even embrace pop choruses. 1970's FULL CIRCLE incorporates crystalline production into an even stronger set. Forest, working with producer Malcolm Jones, here opt for sparer, more adventurous arrangements, borrowing freely from progressive, country, and psychedelic forms. Thefragile fairytale "Bluebell Dance" stands out, but each of these 10 tracks is a masterpiece.

Customer Reviews

One of the best underground acoustic folk-rock albums ever
Forest were a gifted trio from North England who all wrote, sang and played numerous instruments on this, a compilation of their two outstanding albums.

The first album was preceded by one of the most beautiful singles of the 1960's - Searching For Shadows'. The album did not contain the single but complex hormonies and intriguing melodies puts the album a cut above the more traditional folk fringe at the time. Check out the haunting 'Don't Want To Go' and the hormonic beuty on 'Sylvie'.

The second album 'Full Circle' managed the near impossible task of bettering the debut eponymous album. Along with Fairport Convention and The Incredible String Band this album puts Forest firmly in the list of all time great folkesque bands.

With the exception of 2 tracks the album would be flawless. Highlights include the piano blues-rock track, 'Do Not Walk In The Rain' - showing that they are equally gifted away from straight folk the beautiful 'Graveyard' nodding to their classical musicianship, the exquisite harmonies on 'Famine Song' and the album track of the year in 1970, the timeless 'autumn childhood'.

These albums make you wonder what else the trio could have achieved had the music climate not changed to more about the visual side than the musical content in the 1970's.

Fantastic
Based upon the simplicity of the musical vision within this trio, (i.e. English, pastoral, acoustic-guitar-in-a-field type music) there really is probably no better way of doing it than Forest do. Upon first impressions (especially with the self-title disk) I couldn't help but laugh at how extremely hippyish I found them. 'Surely these people are the most hippyish hippies of all time' I said. And it is not because they put on a show to make themselves appear that way (i.e. nonsense about pixies and fairies) but their music presents themselves as they simply are, thus all hippy antics were pointed at them and not at their whims.

The self-title disk consists of songs of a pop-type structure, i.e. verse, chorus etc. and the songs are generally more (dare I say it) commercial (it isn't commercial in any way, but compared to full circle it is). It took me a long time however to turn to Full Circle and discover that they are neither corny field-lovin' folk nor extreme hippies. Instead I discovered that their music is genuinely charming and is in no way laughable or humorous, at least not in the way that I first thought they were. Half the charm of the trio is that they do not have a lot to say as they themselves said in a song, and shan't pretend to either.
In terms of folk, this was the first folk-type album I ever bought and ever since then I have been searching for folk bands that match the high expectations that my first try at folk music was so lucky to come across. Spirogyra came as a result (superb stuff)

Musically > fantastic vocal harmonies and features classically-trained, inventive and skilled guitarists and general instrumentalists and so forth.

If you want to have a feel of real English charm with songs of mystery, an ore of nature, a touch of underground and moods that often turn away from flowery meadows into dark, thick woods of haunting shadows and tear-dropping ghosts then this great value for money CD is for you.

Favourite tracks? > has to be Famine Song and Autumn Child. I see them both as the same song and together they work beautifully.

sorry, but...
Nobody will thank me for this review, but I've got to make this point..

If you're considering buying this on the strength of Fading Light, which has turned up on a few other compilations (most notably Strange Folk), DON'T.

Whoever that astonishing mystery vocalist was, she isn't on any other track on these discs, and instead you are stuck with the rather awkward wailing of the regular members.. and to be honest, they'd have been better as an instrumental band. Musically intriguing, lyrically embarrassing, I haven't played this since the day I bought it. But to be honest, if you play the samples above and like them, then please ignore my review.