Fairport Convention on CD

oh those old groups aren't going to be made into super HD CDs, they just don't make enough money. It's like Spanky and our Gang, Mammas and Ps, or Pentangle, not much call for those.

Take what you can get and consider it a "period" piece.

Do you have the remastered versions Jon? I have some of those and they sound fine to me. I don't think 'History of Fairport Convention' has ever been remastered and you're right in saying that the sound is less than wonderful.

If you are revisiting Fairport Convention, be careful with the 4CD box sets. The material is really interesting and contains a lot of previously unreleased tracks but the sound quality of these box sets is not good. Many were sourced from poor quality tapes in the hands of collectors.

Just checked, both 'What we did on our holidays' and 'History of ' are original versions, not remastered so that may account for poor sound quality. My CD copy of Leige and Leif, which I haven't played for a while, is remastered so I'll give it a spin to see if it sounds any better than the other CDs. If so I'll make sure I get the remastered versions of other albums.
Regards
John

May I suggest that you start with 'Unhalfbricking' Jon ...



Amazon are selling the remastered version for £3.98. It sounds great and includes two bonus tracks which, while not up to the quality of the released selections, are still worth having.

It would rate this album as one of my favourites of all time. I bought a copy back in the 1960s as I liked 'Si Tu Dois Partir', the track that was released as a single. I soon realised that this was probably the least strong track on the album but hearing 'Who Knows Where The Time Goes', 'A Sailor's Life', 'Percy's Song' and 'Autopsy' gave me a whole new outlook on music. I still play this album regularly.

At £3.98 it should be available on the national health!

quote:

Originally posted by Doctor Jazz:
May I suggest that you start with 'Unhalfbricking' Jon ...



Amazon are selling the remastered version for £3.98. It sounds great and includes two bonus tracks which, while not up to the quality of the released selections, are still worth having.

It would rate this album as one of my favourites of all time. I bought a copy back in the 1960s as I liked 'Si Tu Dois Partir', the track that was released as a single. I soon realised that this was probably the least strong track on the album but hearing 'Who Knows Where The Time Goes', 'A Sailor's Life', 'Percy's Song' and 'Autopsy' gave me a whole new outlook on music. I still play this album regularly.

At £3.98 it should be available on the national health!

..........and one of the greatest album covers in history.........IMO

I remember Fairport Convention on French TV in the late sixties. It was a great gig. They sounded like some British version of Jefferson Airplane. The singer was very cute. I recorded the show using by dad tape recorder. I bought their first album, but this is a very pale image of the live performances. It is one of many groups of this time that where (at least as I remember) much better on stage than on records: Soft Machine, Pete Brown, ..

They were one of the first groups I got "into" as a teenager after hearing them live at a festival. I can't remember which one it was either the Bath festival in 1969 or one of the Isle of Wight festivals in 1970/71? (As they said at the time - if you can remember the sixties you weren't really there).
I hitched hiked to festivals at the time - surprisingly efficient way of transport and often the only way as a pennyless student. This mode of transport now seems to have disappeared completely - sad really as I got to travel all over UK and Europe and met loads of interesting people on the way - just an old hippy at heart.
Jon

Fairport Convention were (and in some respect still are) a stunning group - the debut album with Judy Dyble (the woman Naim named its pre-Ovator top of the range speaker after) providing the female vocals does sound reminiscent of the Jefferson Airplane and is every bit as good as the finest work from that delightful ensemble.

But when, Judy left - the classic Fairport began - the second and third elpees What We Did On Our Holidays and Unhalfbricking are quite stunning. Meet on the Ledge from WWDOOH and Who Knows Where The Time Goes must rate as two of the greatest songs every written. I have the vinyl and re-mastered CDs of these epics and enjoy both. but prefer the vinyl.

So how does a group follow two great albums - well simple: they release a masterpiece - a defining moment in 20th century contemporary music Loyal and Ready or in middle English Liege & Lief. The original vinyl is unsurpassed, but the re-mastered CD sounds pretty good. The deluxe CD is fine too, but the novelty tracks like The Lady Is a Tramp and Fly Me to the Moon sit a bit oddly - sure they are far better than any other versions I've heard, but they don't belong on Liege & Lief.

Come all ye rolling minstrels,
And together we will try
To rouse the spirit of the air
And move the rolling sky

Now that is the stuff of Liege & Lief - from the opening bars of Come All Ye, you know this is a very special record. Next up, we hear of a young woman with black hair, blue eyes and lips red as wine in tryst with sly old Reynardine and we know this is the haunting legend of a werefox that lures young girls back to his castle. The dye is set as we are now in a new dawn for folk rock: the traditional songs of old England presented in a fresh exciting way by some of the finest musicians ever to grace a stage: Sandy Denny, Dave Swarbrick, Richard Thompson, Simon Nicol, Ashley Hutchings and Dave Mattacks. The third track is yet another stunner Matty Groves - a familiar story line that many have told from Shirley Collins and Christy Moore (Little Musgrave) to this masterful presentation: Sandy's vocals and Dave's fiddle are sublime.

Matty Groves is a plain man seduced by Lord Donald's wife, while the honoured gent is in the cornfields with the horses. When Donald finds of this treachery he challenges Matty who says he is not armed for a fight, but Donald says "Well it's true I have two beaten swords and they cost me deep in the purse, but you will have the better of them and I will have the worse. Donald wins the duel and kills Matty and turns to his wife who says I'd rather a kiss from dead Matty's lips than you in your finery. Slightly miffed Donald runs her through with his broadsword.

Shirley Collins once said there was only one contemporary songwriter who could hold a candle to great traditional songsmiths of old England and that was Richard Thompson. Richard more than makes a case for this with his two contributions Farewell Farewell which ends side one and Crazy Man Michael which ends side two. These are just fantastic songs and Sandy's vocals on Farewell Farewell are as pure as ever.

The rest of the album contains The Deserter - a Victorian tale of young soldier turned in by his colleague for going absent without out leave from the Queens army, but saved from the firing squad by Prince Albert - nice to have a trad. folk tune with a happy ending.

The rest is Swarbrick with a great trad medley and the superb Tam Lin with Sandy once again to the fore. The story is of a maid called Janet who comes to Carter Hall, plucks a rose without the leave of Tam Lin who chastises her for so doing. On returning home (not sure if Sandy has left out a verse), Janet's father tells her she is pregnant. Unfortunately, Tam had fallen from his horse some years before and landed amongst Fairies (never a good idea) for he had but only seven years. As his time drew near, the Fairy Queen returned and Tam, dressed in elfin grey, drew courage and won his freedom just before the Queen could turn him in to a tree. Well, these things happen.

Yes I like Liege & Lief a lot.

So perhaps they never quite reached those heights again, but they still created some more great albums - Full House, Angel Delight, Babbacombe Lee, Rising for the Moon and have kept going with various line-up changes.

I'm not overly disappointed with the sound quality of the Fairport CDs I have - I prefer the vinyl when available.

However, if you have never sampled this great band then please click here to hear and work your way forward.

BTW, IMHO the best vocal ever on a Led Zep elpee was on the Battle of Evermore and sung by Sandy Denny - even Robert Plant agrees with me.

Please click here to here the genius that was Sandy Denny from her first solo album The North Star Grassman and the Raven.

Were Fairport Convention as important in the development of popular music as the Beatles - IMHO: yes - but when given a choice do both.

ATB Rotf

I'm really looking forward to seeing Fairport Convention for the first time at Cropredy in August. Details here.

Hi Stu,

It was the Moseley Folk Festival. I've been the last two years but can't make it this year. Gutted, we have a great time. It's relatively small, lots of families and a great atmosphere. They manage to attract some really good bands as well.

Mark

ROTF

I think you have proven, if proof were needed, how misguided it is to explain a folk song - or probably any song. Tam Lin is a classic best experienced by listening to it. Carterhaugh, not Carter Hall btw (Child Ballad 39).

Matty Groves resulted in many badges being sold on the folk circuit proclaiming "Matty Groves is innocent" whereas the song shows he is, actually, as guilty as sin...Liege and Lief is a masterpiece. The current Fairport are a pale remnant of past glory IMO.

quote:

The current Fairport are a pale remnant of past glory IMO.

Last years reunion gig at the Barbican was really good, all surviving main members(I think) except Swarbs were there, plus some extra Thompsons including Linda.

Remastered Fairport Convention albums are now on sale at HMV UK online for £2.99 each (Free postage)

What a bargain!

quote:

Originally posted by Jonn:
They were one of the first groups I got "into" as a teenager after hearing them live at a festival. I can't remember which one it was either the Bath festival in 1969 or one of the Isle of Wight festivals in 1970/71? (As they said at the time - if you can remember the sixties you weren't really there).
I hitched hiked to festivals at the time - surprisingly efficient way of transport and often the only way as a pennyless student. This mode of transport now seems to have disappeared completely - sad really as I got to travel all over UK and Europe and met loads of interesting people on the way - just an old hippy at heart.
Jon

Hi Jon

It was probably Bath Blues Festival 1970 along with Led Zep, Pink Floyd, Zappa & The Mothers, Dr John, Steppenwolf, Monty Pythons, Dad's Army etc etc those were the days!!

Stuart

Sandy Denny's follow-up group Fotheringay aren't bad either. Denny fans will enjoy half of the recently released second Fotheringay album "2".

I enjoy this stuff in modest doses, but I'm far from a fanatic.

quote:

Originally posted by Doctor Jazz:
May I suggest that you start with 'Unhalfbricking' Jon ...



Amazon are selling the remastered version for £3.98. It sounds great and includes two bonus tracks which, while not up to the quality of the released selections, are still worth having.

It would rate this album as one of my favourites of all time. I bought a copy back in the 1960s as I liked 'Si Tu Dois Partir', the track that was released as a single. I soon realised that this was probably the least strong track on the album but hearing 'Who Knows Where The Time Goes', 'A Sailor's Life', 'Percy's Song' and 'Autopsy' gave me a whole new outlook on music. I still play this album regularly.

At £3.98 it should be available on the national health!

And I've just noticed that HMV is selling the remastered versions of Unhalfbricking, Liege and Lief and others (as well as all three original Nick Drake albums!) at just £2.99.

Same deal with Amazon + free P&P