Davy Graham
Album: Anthology 1961-2007 Lost Tapes
Label: Les Cousins
Tracks: 17+19+18
Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_Graham

Being exactly what it says on the tin, this new anthology is the best possible news for the many fans of Davy, the undisputed guitar hero of the British folk-blues clubs who died in December 2008. It presents, in chronological sequence, recordings which were collected, unearthed and assembled over a very long time (and often left in cupboards and boxes for just as long), and which Davy himself had bequeathed to label boss Mark Pavey with the instruction to make them available "when people were ready for them". That time is now, and this fabulous three-disc set represents an essential chunk of the Davy Graham legacy. His was a chequered career, and he was an enigmatic artist by any standards, but he was a true explorer, and no true music fan - much less any guitar player worthy of the title - can deny his enormous influence on the development of folk and blues guitar playing over the 40-year span covered by these "lost" recordings.

From Bert Jansch right on in, Davy has been revered by fellow-musicians for his remarkable and wildly inventive playing, as well as for his eclectic, boundary-transcending musical adventures that melded folk, jazz and blues with flavours and stylings of what we now term the various branches of world music (of which he'd had extensive first-hand experience) and, crucially, for developing the modal DADGAD tuning system. Davy's influence runs very deep through all musical genres, in fact, from rock through to folk. Not only was he a true virtuoso, as pieces like Fingerbuster proved, but a craftsman-composer and arranger too; and yet one who resolutely did not court fame and fortune.

The first disc of the set steers us through from five tracks comprising Davy's very first audition acetate, and on to the legendary 1961-vintage tape of Davy at the tender age of 21 which Bert Jansch received from Len Partridge (containing the first tryout of the celebrated Anji) and finally to a couple of pointers to the musical road ahead: an early-stage rendition of the equally celebrated She Moved Through The Fair (which even then was full of eastern-promise), and Mustapha.

The second disc begins with a tape of an incendiary 1965 set of "his best tunes" at a university folk club where Davy shared the bill with Shirley Collins (it's just his solo performances, however).These include his stunning picking on such notable pieces as Mingus' Better Git It In Your Soul, Davy's Train Blues and Maajun. Then follows the mighty ten-and-a-half-minute Blues Raga, and taking us up to 1970 is a handful of pieces whose provenance is (as far as I can see) uncredited anywhere on the package but includes a John Peel radio session (comprising Bruton Town, Tristano, Rock Me and an interview segment).

The third disc continues on from 1970, with source/s again uncredited, and takes us through the ensuing 37 years to end with some selections recorded in 2007 at The Sage, Gateshead on Davy's final tour (following which he was only to play one more concert before his death). The booklet note asserts that the music on this third disc runs contrary to popular belief, in that Davy's playing "continued to be dynamic and relevant throughout the time when it widely assumed he was either half-mad or half-dead"; certainly the selections presented here give plenty of credence to that assertion; they include a couple of spirited tracks played on the sarod, while even the vocal tracks don't do Davy's memory a disservice. Admittedly, though, the vast majority of Davy's admirers will still prefer to remember him by the earlier groundbreaking musical excursions represented on the first two discs in this set.

Inevitably, any recordings from rough tape sources will necessarily be somewhat variable in sound quality, but in the end this doesn't present any problem for the aficionado and even the early acetate is of perfectly listenable standard, the quality of mastering being superb throughout the set. As I've mentioned above, the only deficiency in the otherwise really good presentation is the omission of specifying exact sources for the sequences of tracks - it's not clear where some of them come from. The digipack is really attractive, its artwork largely generated from repros of cuttings etc from Davy's personal scrapbook 1961-80 (the companion volume for the period 1980-2000 had been stolen…). Needless to say, the whole set comes highly recommended.

David Kidman