Lovely 8CD box, I wrote the notes covering ‘the glory years’, ie their three fabulous LPs on Island, and Mick Houghton did a sterling job on the rest. He used to be one of the great unsung heroes of British rock, but RT has carved himself a nice little niche as a splendid all-rounder (“the Ian Botham of English music” John Tams called him).

Linda lent her glorious voice to her then-husband’s spine-tingling songs. It was professionally, a magical combination. Andrew Batt did his usual exemplary work truffling out rare and unreleased recordings, but somewhere along the line the project stalled, and a great deal of worthy material was not included.

Never the less, this box does give an insight into that fascinating post-Fairport, pre-solo period of Richard’s career. Happy to say he’s still recording and performing; and while Linda has effectively given up singing, her Facebook page is a treat. If she spent as much time on her autobiography as she does online, what a read that would be...

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