Forest was an English psychedelic-folk / acid-folk trio who formed in

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town in Lincolnshire, England with a population of 86,138 (as of 2021). It is located near the mouth on the south bank of the Humber that flows to the North Sea. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes dir ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, England, in 1966. Made up of brothers Martin Welham and Adrian Welham and school friend Dez Allenby, they started out performing unaccompanied

traditional folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

in a similar vein to contemporaries

The Watersons The Watersons were an English folk group from Hull, Yorkshire. They performed mainly traditional songs with little or no accompaniment. Their distinctive sound came from their closely woven harmonies. They have been called the "most famous f ...

and The Young Tradition. The band were pioneers of the nascent 1960s underground acoustic-psychedelic/acid-folk scene writing unconventionally crafted songs evoking Britain's ancient groves using a variety of acoustic instruments.

History

Beginning life under the name The Foresters of Walesby, the group began singing unaccompanied vocal harmony folk songs in Lincolnshire folk clubs. After relocating to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, West Midlands, in 1968, they shortened their name to Forest and soon progressed to writing within the burgeoning psychedelic/acid folk movement in the wake of the

Incredible String Band Incredible may refer to: Music Albums * ''Incredible'' (Clique Girlz album) or the title song, 2008 * ''Incredible'' (Gary Puckett & The Union Gap album), 1968 * ''Incredible'' (Ilse DeLange album), 2008 * ''Incredible'' (Mary Mary album) or ...

's emergence in the mid-1960s. They were championed by DJ

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

and performed several sessions for

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

. In 1969, they were signed by

Blackhill Enterprises Blackhill Enterprises was a rock music management company, founded as a partnership by the four original members of Pink Floyd ( Syd Barrett, Nick Mason, Roger Waters and Richard Wright), with Peter Jenner and Andrew King. Blackhill were the ...

and were amongst the first wave of signings for EMI's new progressive

Harvest Records Harvest Records is a British-American record label belonging to Capitol Music Group, originally created by EMI in 1969. History Harvest Records was created by EMI in 1969 to market progressive rock music, and to compete with Philips' Vertigo ...

label. The non-album single "Searching for Shadows" was released in 1969, followed by Forest's debut eponymous album which featured an array of acoustic

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

sounding instruments, contrapunctal harmonies and pastoral lyrical imagery. ''Full Circle'' was released a year later, an eclectic set of songs with dark themes that saw more disparate styles incorporated into their brand of

pagan Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

folk, including the neo-classical piece 'Graveyard' and the bleakly

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

"Midnight Hanging of a Runaway Serf". Opening track "Hawk The Hawker" was given a

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

hint by the inclusion of steel guitar (played by session musician Gordon Huntley) and the traditional folk piece 'Famine Song' saw the band return to their unaccompanied three-part harmony roots. Both

gatefold A gatefold cover or gatefold LP is a form of packaging for gramophone record, LP records that became popular in the mid-1960s. A gatefold cover, when folded, is the same size as a standard LP cover (i.e., a 12½-inch 2.7-centimetresquare). ...

album covers featured strikingly haunting artwork by artist Joan Melville. Dez Allenby left the band in 1971 and the Welhams drafted in Dave Panton (viola, oboe and saxophone) and Dave Stubbs (bass) for their live work. Forest's final festival appearance was at the 1971

Pinkpop Festival Pinkpop is an annual music festival held in Landgraaf, Netherlands. It is usually held on the Pentecost weekend (''Pinksteren'' in Dutch, hence the name). If Pentecost falls on an early date in May, the festival is held later in June. Starting in ...

Geleen Geleen (; ) is a city in the southern part of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg in the Netherlands. With 31,670 inhabitants in 2020, it is part of the municipality of Sittard-Geleen. Geleen is situated along the river Geleenbeek, a ri ...

, Netherlands, which saw them record their final BBC Radio 1 sessions before disbanding later that year. The Forest song "A Glade Somewhere" featured on the Harvest Records sampler '' Picnic - A Breath of Fresh Air'' in 1970. "Graveyard" was included on the 2004

Castle Records A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

acid-folk compilation ''Gather in the Mushrooms'' and the Albion Records collection ''Strange Folk'' released in 2006, included the ''Forest'' album track "Fading Light".

Legacy

Forest's second album, ''Full Circle'', was one of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

s ''1000 albums to hear before you die''. Martin Welham is now one half of psych-folk duo The Story with his son Tom. Dez Allenby is active playing music in East Yorkshire and beyond.

Discography

Albums

* ''Forest'' (1969) * ''Full Circle'' (1970)

Singles

* "Searching for Shadows" / "Mirror of Life" (1969)

References

Sources

External links

Forest fan site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forest 1966 establishments in England 1972 disestablishments in England English folk musical groups Grimsby Harvest Records artists Musical groups established in 1966 Musical groups disestablished in 1972 Musical groups from Birmingham, West Midlands Music in Lincolnshire English musical trios Psychedelic folk groups