If anyone deserves a tribute as impressive and comprehensive as this Swarb!! box it is surely mercurial fiddler Dave Swarbrick. Like legendary bluesman Robert Johnson, the man affectionately known to all as Swarb must surely have done a deal with infernal forces in return for his prodigious talent. Since his early days with the Ian Campbell Folk Group, through landmark collaborations with Martin Carthy and his long stint with Fairport Convention--during which he effectively invented electric folk-rock--no single figure has had more influence on the British folk scene. His zest for the pleasures of life--principally beer and cigarettes--and his superabundant sense of humour have always been evident in his music: qualities that make his fiddle playing so unique, so full of character, and so universally admired. This luxurious box set is another in Free Reed's exemplary series--previous boxes have been devoted to Martin Carthy and Fairport Convention. Here four CDs of diverse recordings drawn from every phase of Swarb's career are accompanied by another of Free Reed's massive illustrated biographies and, joy of joys, a selection of Swarbrick fiddle tunes transcribed by Maartin Allcock. Despite the notional themes of each disc, the track listing ranges fairly randomly across the years, from the early 1960s recordings with Ian Campbell, Bert Lloyd and Beryl Marriott, through the Carthy, Fairport and Whippersnapper years, solos, duets and guest spots with other groups, to an extract from 2003's English Fiddler album. Happily, sound quality is on the whole pretty good, with the many live recordings coming up generally very well indeed. It's avowedly not a "Best of" collection, so anyone unfamiliar with Swarbrick's output should begin elsewhere; instead, this is a delightful treasure trove of alternative or unknown recordings from the vast repertoire of Britain's greatest fiddler. --Mark Walker
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