A very diverse collection of protest-songs, folksongs, etc from all over the world, but performed in the native language of the band, danish. The songs include Joe Hill, El Pueblo Unido and one of the more beautiful hymns of football (a commission from the Danish Football Union)"Stjerneskud"…

Although former New Christy Minstrels singer Barry McGuire scored a fluke novelty hit with the Bob Dylan-styled folk-rock protest anthem "Eve of Destruction" in the summer of 1965, neither he nor producer Lou Adler's startup label Dunhill Records seems to have had a long-term plan for his solo career beyond trying to score another hit single. Naturally, Dunhill quickly issued an Eve of Destruction LP, filling the tracks with McGuire covers of recent folk hits and more originals by P.F. Sloan, who'd penned the hit. Sloan also wrote the follow-up singles "Child of Our Times" and "This Precious Time," neither of which made the Top 40. By the end of the year, Dunhill had another McGuire LP, This Precious Time, again mixing Sloan songs with other people's hits like "Do You Believe in Magic" and "Yesterday." That is the first of two McGuire albums combined on this two-fer CD reissue.

This double-disc is a very solid collection of Sally Oldfield's recordings for the CBS subsidiary Bronze (don't laugh, Uriah Heep was on there too). Before her brief resurgence in the '90s, Oldfield's recordings were new age before there was such a term. She brought not only a songwriter's sense of elegance to tape, but also an instrumentalist's sense of silence and dynamic. Brother Mike Oldfield helped out on "Waterbearer," perhaps he best-known offering here, as well as on some of the subsequent tracks on later records. Oldfied was the real precursor to people like Enya and Loreena McKennitt, marrying a classicist's sense of arrangement and dynamic to a mystic's heart and a Celtic woman's abiding folk history, myth, and legend. These two discs are impeccably remastered and offer a wonderful introduction to a talent who, at least on this side of the pond, never got her proper due.

Two CDs devoted to the Springfields is probably a bit much for casual fans. This set could likely have been trimmed to one 70-minute CD, leaving out "Silver Dollar," "Row Row Row" and some of the other lesser material from their first album, although it is strange in an enlightening way to hear Dusty singing the latter, a pre-World War I standard more suited to the likes of Ruth Etting. What's good is that none of the high spots are left out, including "Allentown Jail," the ethereal "Far Away Place," "Silver Threads and Golden Needles" (natch), the delightful "Little Boat" (the best of their international numbers), and the gorgeous, near-British beat style "Come On Home," where Dusty starts to show off some of the soulfulness that would later identify her voice. The notes are well detailed, and the mastering is flawless.

Best known for her lengthy collaboration with famed electronic composer Mike Oldfield, singer Maggie Reilly was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1956. She began her performing career during the early 1970s as a member of the local blues band Joe Cool; later renamed Cado Belle, the group's self-titled debut LP was issued in 1976. An EP followed a year later, but Cado Belle dissolved soon after, with Reilly turning to session work before signing on with the trio Riotous Assembly. She met Oldfield in 1979, and a year later contributed vocals to his album QE2; they collaborated on three more projects – Five Miles Out, Crises and Discovery – before Reilly made her solo debut in 1984 with a cover of the classic "As Tears Go By." She spent the latter half of the decade focusing on raising a family, returning to music only intermittently, including a 1989 reunion with Oldfield on his album Earth Moving; finally, in 1992 Reilly issued her debut solo LP Echoes, followed a year later by Midnight Sun. Elena appeared in 1996.

Just as the title implies, 25 Years of Greatness is a career-spanning 32-track compilation covering most of the highlights of the Wolfe Tones' first quarter of a century. There is the important caveat, however, that like many folk groups, the Wolfe Tones have recorded many of their most popular songs several times, and this collection tends to favor more recent and/or more arranged versions of the Spartan originals that graced early albums like Let the People Sing. That's not as much of a problem as it would be with some groups, however, as the Wolfe Tones have wisely resisted any temptation to "update," "modernize," or otherwise ruin a traditional Irish folk style that has worked for them for so long; even the Fairport Convention-like electric track of the new "Rock On Rockall" has a bracingly traditional feel to it. This is the Wolfe Tones set to have if you're having just one, but there's plenty more where this came from.

Before becoming a solo act, Linda Ronstadt was the lead singer of the Stone Poneys, an L.A.-based trio with an acoustic folkish sound and strong original material. The band's focal point and greatest asset was Ronstadt's clear, powerful singing. Originally recording in a coffeehouse folk style not far removed from Peter, Paul and Mary, the group rocked up its sound slightly and scored a Top 20 hit with "Different Drum," written by Mike Nesmith of the Monkees, in 1967.