Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

I'd imagine that one of the curses of being a former member of Parchment is that people only remember you for the chart hit "Light Up The Fire" (no 31 in 1972). Before Delirious?, After The Fire and all those other Christian artists trying to make a mainstream impact, there was Parchment who did it first including Top Of The Pops! John Paculabo, Keith Rycroft and Sue McClellan recorded four albums which combined folk, roots, pop, rock and psychedelic influences to create a style of music which seems a little twee today. Back then it propelled the band alongside the progressive folk rock of bands like Steeleye Span, Pentangle and Fairport Convention and sounded thoroughly contemporary. Musically, some of these songs have travelled the intervening years better than others. Highlights for me on this welcome compilation are the trippy vocals of "Hard Road" which brought a smile to my face, the pure nostalgia of "Light Up The Fire" and some of the adventurous tracks like "Death In Jerusalem" and "Light Of The World". I am sure there are plenty of other classic recordings from the '70es and '80s sitting in the vaults somewhere and I applaud Kingsway for honouring pioneers like Parchment with this series. (9 squares) Mike Rimmer