To celebrate their 40th anniversary back in 1999, Island Records released a five-disc series chronicling their progression from Jamaica to all around the world. The third and fourth discs made it to me as freebies during my college radio days, while I still have yet to hear the others. To quickly summarize, disc 1 is first-wave ska, 2 is British R&B, 3 is folk/acoustic rock, 4 is psych and glam rock, and the last disc is reggae.
"Acoustic Waves" is a bit misleading as a subtitle. The disc is primarily folk rock bands that aren't necessarily acoustic (Fairport Convention, Incredible String Band), or rock artists doing the acoustic thing (Traffic, Murray Head, Cat Stevens). Of course there are a few genuine folkies thrown in for good measure (Nick Drake, Sutherland Brothers). Toward the end of the collection, the folk rock movement is seen clearly moving toward a greater acoustic emphasis, emphasized by Amazing Blondel and the "pure" Chieftains, who close out the compilation.
Unlike the fourth volume, this compilation features a lot of artists that are either unknown only passingly familiar to American audiences, with the exceptions perhaps of Traffic and Cat Stevens. Fairport Convention, whose family tree dominates this collection, was only so-so popular across the Atlantic. With a little scratching, though, it's easy to tell these are not obscure artists. Murray Head, for those who missed him as Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar (the original soundtrack recording), would have a big hit in the 1980's with "One Night In Bangkok". Renaissance featured former Yardbirds frontman Keith Relf on vocals. Sandy Denny (who appears both as a part of Fairport and solo here) sang alongside Robert Plant on Led Zeppelin's "Battle of Evermore".
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