Burnt Offering

The cover design, containing The Wicker Colossus of the Druids (depicting a scene like something out of the denouement to The Wicker Man), showed that the group meant business, and they had the musical smarts to back it up. There's not a dull or predictable moment here, whether they're singing of lust ("The Cuckoo's Nest"), plague victims ("Gabriel John"), or romantic woes ("The Butcher and the Parson"), as well as a straight acoustic rendition of one version of "A Sailor's Life," a song that became something of a concert standard for Fairport Convention as an extended electric piece. (Out of print) ~ Bruce Eder