LATE NIGHT TALES – MIDLAKE

The Late Night Tales series of compilations is an admirable venture in the digital age, when everyone makes their own mix-tapes anyhow – asking the listener to enter the world of the compilation’s curator, a late-night radio show of musical library-hopping. This time it’s Midlake’s turn – a fantastic Texas group whose re-invention of the darker side of 1970’s soft rock could arguably be held responsible for a whole new generation’s interest in the nearly forgotten folk-rock world of the 1960’s and 1970’s. Where would groups like Fleet Foxes be without the artists on this disc? Midlake’s song choices are largely album tracks from the greats of that folk-rock scene, and there are some shining gems here, all sequenced to perfection – Jimmy Spheeris’ bewitching Esmaria is a high point, and the excellent Genesis Hall from Fairport’s seminal Unhalfbricking. Midlake even throw in their eeried-up version of Black Sabbath’s Am I Going Insane for those who want to compare notes with the band and their influences. It’s an excellent mix, full of haunting little surprises and peeks into a genre that is enjoying a deserved second wind.  Nice one, Midlake.

***1/2