This impressive collection traces the history of British acoustic folk music from 1960 to 2000, and the 85 tracks are neatly packages on 4 CDs, with each disc concentrating on one of the four decades.
Looking through the track listing, there's no serious omission, every name you expect to see is present and correct - and it's possible to follow the paths key artists have taken through the years, with some names popping up in various guises across the decades (Martin Carthy is featured 10 times in a number of line-ups covering 30 years). This is all made possible by the superb 55 page that accompanies the discs - it features extensive commentary on every track, along with notes on the musicians playing on each song, it truly is an impressive and fascinating pieces of work.
Highlighting or listing elements of this collection is a pointless exercise, with each disc picking 20 or so tracks from each decade, it means there is nothing but the best here, and inevitably a quick dip into any one of the discs usually results in a much longer listening session.
As the magnificent booklet suggests, in the hands of a great performer a traditional song can sound like it was written yesterday - many contemporary influences are present, and it's easy to hear the changes in interpretive style as you follow the timeline.
'The Acoustic Folk Box' is a tremendously ambitious collection, that with the aid of it's accompanying book, charts the history of the British folk revival from Ewan MacColl & Sandy Denny through to Billy Bragg & Kate Rusby. 

£39.99