Oysterband - Granite Years

Facts This double-CD set is a collection drawn from the ten albums that the indefatigable English folk-rock veterans recorded between the dates in the title. It seems extraordinary that Oysterband managed to toil so long and so prolifically while eliciting so little popular or critical recognition--not even the parochial devotion afforded their approximate spiritual kin in Scotland (Runrig), Ireland (The Saw Doctors) or Wales (The Alarm). Though Oysterband were by no means flawless--they were hidebound by the gruff dogmatic puritanism common among 80s lefties--they did produce a consistently more invigorating racket than, for example, The Levellers or New Model Army, who clearly owed Oysterband a great deal. As proof of this, Granite Years collects some fine tunes and some passionate playing.