The Doug Dillard Expedition, “Live at the Fremont Hotel, Las Vegas, 1970” (Floating World)-The name of Doug Dillard may not be too familiar to the average record buyers these days but readers with very long memories may possibly recall his pioneering work with The Dillards. This infectious combo’s musical exploits in the sixties helped to expose the delights of bluegrass to a new young audience via their TV appearances and college performances, and the group’s splendid Elektra albums should be required listening for Americana devotees everywhere. Floating World’s new collection shines a welcome spotlight on the banjo ace’s subsequent short lived creative collaboration with demon fiddler Byron Berline in the Doug Dillard Expedition as they charmed their Las Vegas audience with old favourites such as “Uncle Pen,” “Orange Blossom Special” and “Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms.”

“Roots 2 – The Best of Show Of Hands” (Hands On Music)- Steve Knightley and Phil Beer have carved out a unique niche for themselves in the British folk pantheon with an intelligent and thought provoking brand of music making which has seen them showered with awards and critical accolades during their thirty years together. The Devon duo have now decided to call it a day as far as their touring activities are concerned and these master practitioners of the roots music genre have also taken this opportunity to delve deeply into their illustrious back catalogue to create this eloquent showcase for the sublime marriage between Knightley’s majestic songwriting and Beer’s multi instrumental abilities which has become their trademark.. Every track really is a finely crafted gem, with the vitriolic “Arrogance Ignorance and Greed” and a live rendition of “Columbus (Didn’t Find America)” emerging as two of the stand-outs.

Crabby Appleton,”Go Back-The Anthology” (Grapefruit / Cherry Red)- Los Angeles rockers Crabby Appleton set out on their fledgling recording career with a genuine flourish when their debut single,”Go Back,” soared into the higher reaches of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1970. Frontman and creative mainstay Michael Fennelly seemed to be guiding the band towards a glittering future as their early brand of power pop attracted rave reviews from prestigious publications such as Rolling Stone and Creem magazine, but the lack of a concerted promotional push from their record label meant that subsequent sales figures remained sadly disappointing, and they finally gave up the ghost in 1972. Cherry Red’s excellent new 2 CD retrospective brings together Crabby Appleton’s complete album output from the early seventies alongside eight bonus tracks from the Elektra archives led by the mono single version of the naggingly memorable “Tomorrow’s A New Day.”