CRYSTAL JACQUELINE & Friends – Smoke Road review – acid / psych folk

CRYSTAL JACQUELINE & Friends – Smoke Road review
Fruits de Mer

Obviously, I haven’t checked but suspect that this sold out quicker than the Father Day pie* at the Pans Baynes*.

Not surprising when you consider the calibre of the musicians involved. many of the names will be extremely familiar to that coterie of modern day psych / psych folk. It’s a collaborative effort between Crystal Jacqueline, poet and author David Greygoose, and composer Icarus Peel, with additional contributions from musicians such as Leo O’Kelly, Dick Terry, Mark McDowell, Rob Gould, Jay Tausig, Mordecai Smyth, and more. Taking its cue from the late 60s/ early 70s UK folk scene. You know the drill. Incredible String Band, Sandy Denny, not Nick Drake.

So acid folk, acoustically driven, mellow and melancholic. That Sort of Thing. And it’s quite lovely. Fruits de Mer did a bang up job with the vinyl and presentation. Mine is the smoky vinyl, which is quite spooky in a sparsely lit room. Excellent. Musically, you’ve got to a massive tip of the hat to Icarus Peel. He, of The Honey Pot. He’s all over this. Guitar, bodhrán, bouzouki, bass, sitar, synths. Fella has played a blinder. A few of the tunes are lifted by the violin of Leo O’Kelly from Tír na nÓg, and those, at first listening, seem to be my favourites. ‘Petals of the Moon’ and ‘The Burning’ are hard to beat.

Ms Jacqueline is in fine voice, perfectly suited to the music that surrounds it. It does get proggy in a few places, in case you were worried. A song like ‘The Green Man’ would sit happily in 1973 on a Magna Carta record. There isn’t a bum moment anywhere to be found, spread across the two records. For sure, it’s all very much of a similar pace, but if you’re looking for something to lower the lights to, and try to forget the world, then this is what you want.

Nip over to https://www.fruitsdemerrecords.com/ and see if they’ve any left.

*Scotch pie with mashed tattie, black pudding, and beans, since you ask.