English Weather

Bob Stanley’s various compilation efforts have often been primarily conceptual rather than immediately focused on a particular sound or style; one of his strongest such efforts done in partnership with Pete Wiggs, which ended up starting a new open-ended series of releases, was English Weather. Prefaced by a story from Stanley about being caught in a Newcastle record store against some rain and finding himself taken by some suggestions from the clerk, the stated focus was UK semi-prog/semi-psych acts with “collars turned to the wind of 1970 and the end of the Aquarian dream.” In truth the date ranges here go from 1969 to 1976, but the bulk fits that time and space, with more familiar performers like Caravan, John Cale, Daevid Allen and Camel featured with appropriately moody (though not always quiet) energy. It’s the obscurities and deeper dives that really flesh it out further, including captivating library music cuts from the Roger Webb Sound and Alan Parker & Alan Hawkshaw, downbeat rock vibes from Bill Fay and The Way We Live, and an atmospheric rarity by Pilot under the name Scotch Mist.