Critic's Review
Chris Nickson, All Music Guide
Unlike the Green Linnet collection, this focuses purely on Carthy's early albums, both alone and from his partnership with fiddler Dave Swarbrick. What's apparent, even from these relatively callow performances, is that from the beginning Carthy was a superb, and sometimes radical, interpreter of traditional songs, in addition to being a brilliant and often understated guitarist. His "Scarborough Fair" was heavily borrowed by Paul Simon for a hit where Carthy never received credit or money, but those who heard understood. And though Carthy covered some well-trodden ground in material like "Lowlands of Holland" and "Seven Yellow Gypsies," it was never a simple reiteration, but always done with thought for the lyrics, sometimes with a tune gathered from some unusual source. Throughout his career, Carthy's also been a scholar, finding the obscure and bringing it into the light, as on "The Bloody Gardener" or "Lord Franklin." It's perhaps a shame that two high points of the Carthy/Swarbrick axis -- "Byker Hill" and "Prince Heathen" -- aren't on here, but really, the compilers are spoiled for choice with such a wealth of material. Closing with a storming "Cold Rainy Haily Night" this is, if not a perfect sampler of the man's early work, then definitely representative of what can only be called developing genius.
