Let us now praise Fairport Convention's "Liege & Lief"

Is any of the rest of it as good as 'Farewell Farewell'?

The extra tracks, incidentally, are "Sir Patrick Spens" (a rather different arrangement than the one that ended up on Full House, and this time sung by Sandy Denny) and a longish, uncertain adaptation of a Richard Fariña piece, "Quiet Joys of Brotherhood," with some lovely Thompson guitar.

Since no ones mention it, my fav song is the "The Deserter" which, in addition to fantastic lyrics, has this super cool drum beat that sounds all slowed down and then sped up in a really weird way.

the song 'sloth' from 'full house' fits nicely at the end of one side of a C90 containing 'holidays'. 'sloth' is probably my favorite song by them ever.

one of the bands that's made my life better.

Well, to be pedantic about it, Richard Thompson stole the tune from a version of "Willie O'Winsbury" sung by Andy Irvine on the first Sweeney's Men album - the problem being that Irvine sang the WRONG melody. So the melody isn't actually "Willie O'Winsbury" at all.

it's what english folk song does best - dark, black songs rather than celtic fiddle-de-dee stuff

If you think that "English" folk music does "dark and black songs best" then I suggest you haven't heard anything like as much Scottish and Irish folk music as you should have to be making such judgements. And anyway given that the folk music of the British Isles is all intermingled and given that that song you hear on a Fairport album, or a Martin Carthy album, or a Nic Jones album, is just as likely to be Scottish or Irish as English then generalisations are not a good idea.

Talking of which, does any London ilm-er know whereabouts in Wimbledon the striking cover was photographed (Sandy Denny's parents house)? I'd love to see the location 40 years on.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a82/bobbysixer/unhalfbricking.jpg

Arthur Road, Wimbledon - apparently. But I couldn't find any recent photos - fans are so lazy these days.

Let us praise it, indeed. I just soak up this kind of old-style British stuff like a sponge.

Come on, who is awake who knows this album? Speak now.

get the "new " fotheringay joint that just came out
great sandy stuff on it!

^yeah totally looking forward to getting the fotheringay thing when my emusic downloads reset

Playing the rec right now thanks to your revival, Bimble!

Can't spell "Mattacks" without "attacks"!

What is "the rec" Myonga? The record?

And what is this bloody fotheringay stuff. Might as well give a drunk Bimble a link and not make him figure it out on his own, aye?

Why can't I die in England? If only to die on English soil! I don't know why...I just can't explain the subsconscious feelings I get when I hear stuff like this. I really can't explain it at all. I know it makes me look daft, but I can't figure out how to explain it. Deep in my ancestry, some kind of really deep memory thing. I can't put it into words at all.

info on the lost second fotheringay lp, now available..

http://brainwashed.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7139&Itemid=1

Thanks, Jim.

I thought the "Unhalfbricking" pic was photographed somewhere near the entrance to Hyde Park, but if it is from Wimbledon I guess it just looks typically English then.

I raved about Unhalf a while ago, got it in Fopp Cambridge for £3.

Went for this to follow on, and um, ... sigh... it's .. not... there for me.

Maybe I have to go backwards, i.e. "What we did hols" more.

it was sandy denny's parents house, with her parents posing in front. apparently her mother was a bit of a monster and was responsible for a lot of sandy's chronic self-esteem issues

In the back of the latest John Peel "sessions" book, the log entry for the Fairports has a demo tape of one Alexsandra Denny with a note from her mother saying that they should audition her as "she is very good".

Just sayin' like.

.. from around 1965 or so, I should have added.

yeah, i'm sure there's 2 sides to the story, i read some article about a bio of sandy that came out a few years ago. the portrait of the mom was pretty unflattering. but sandy's husband trevor lucas is also seen as a bad influenece on her. ultimately as an adult she was responsible for getting her shit straight but never could. i do think a lack of confidence was crippling for her, and that usually starts in childhood, but don't mean to slander her mom as i'm sure it's a very complicated story

I always loved that photo though, the genteel Daily Mail (1960's) old couple, and those frightful hippie friends of their daughter camped out on their lawn..

It does suggest the 'cold' relationship, in the same way as those pics of the incredible string band always suggested how the relationship between the 'couples' actually were irl.

Rec = record, yes

When I first got Unhalfbricking (after hearing this one) I really thought I was gonna like it, but soon concluded it was pretty inessential.

"A Sailor's Life"! Tom Verlaine plays with the Velvets! While an english Nico sings!

Autopsy!!! For those two alone it's essential.

also I cannot wait to hear that 2nd Fotheringay record.

Yeah, well I do recall one or two stand-out tracks, to be sure. Don't remember what they were, though. Oh well.

whoa i brought this record to work and listened to it hours before i saw this thread! weird. i think i prefer unhalfbricking these days, but i mean, its a pretty sweet choice to have to make.

^yeah totally looking forward to getting the fotheringay thing when my emusic downloads reset

i didn't know this was on emusic. i'll grab it tonight, thx.

from upthread:

The Hutching Mattacks rhythm section are actually kinda funky.

i'm not sure they're actually funky, but they definitely have some groove. i think that sort of loping feel they give the music is key to connecting the trad stuff with the rock stuff. it provides a setting for the melodies that updates them without feeling contrived or boxing them in.

Queen Elizabeth Hall
The Lady : A Tribute to Sandy Denny

Monday 1 December 2008, 7.30pm

In the 30 years since her death, Sandy Denny has emerged as one of the UK's greatest singer-songwriters. A very special line up of artists including former colleagues and young admirers re-interpret her songs in this very special tribute showcasing her work with Fairport Convention, Fotheringay and her solo career.

http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/music/productions/the-lady-a-tribute-to-sandy-43399

If Joe Boyd is behind this (no idea if he is), this could be very good indeed.

I think if I were that guy I'd sneak a look at your shoes and your hairstyle before taking a musical tip, no matter how vehement.
― Momus, Friday, May 10, 2002 12:00 AM (6 years ago) Bookmark

Thank god this twit isn't around anymore.

"When I first got Unhalfbricking (after hearing this one) I really thought I was gonna like it, but soon concluded it was pretty inessential."

WTF?!?! That is crazy crazy stuff.

xpost isn't that just a floral way of saying "cheeck the guy's visible taste, if it's OK, maybe the tip is as well" ?

shit, a lot of people dress well, but i don't think that makes their taste in music any more or less valid.

I find the first Fotheringay record slightly too polished sounding. How is the production on the "new" one?

I have to say Ian is OTM here.

sure, I don't even mean "well", just 'similar to you'...

It doesn't mean it's more (or less) valid

No love for "What We Did On Our Holidays"? That's the one I play most!

Richard's web Q&A from this month has an awesome tidbit:
The Wikipedia entry for Judy Dyble contains the following gem:

Q: Famously, she sat on the front of the stage at the Speakeasy club knitting, while Hendrix and Richard Thompson jammed. Is this true? Did you really jam with Hendrix? If so, what was she knitting, a drum kit or a bass guitar?

A: Jimi jumped up on several occasions at the Speakeasy. I think he just liked to play. We didn’t feel especially privileged, because he’d get up with everybody. Jude’s knitting, of course, was a creative reflection of the music, and would change shape and stitch with the musical mood.

although Dyble is certainly overshadowed by Sandy in terms of Fairport female vocalists, her coolness factor just went way up.

I only know "Who Knows Where the Time Goes" and I love that. How does this compare?

"Liege and Lief", you mean? More traditional folky.

yeah, but still electrically electrifying! one tune on this record that gets overlooked sometimes i "Reynardine" -- seriously, how do they do it? The music just hangs there, floating in space. I play in bands, and I cannot figure out how to pull this off.

this album rulz

Okay, it probably deserves its own thread, but this Fotheringay 2 thing is really something to be reckoned with.

Their debut is often overlooked, but is actually a great UK psych pop album. A little less "folk" influenced than their later stuff but it has some elements already in there (after all, Joe Boyd was around already), only more English psych in addition.

MATTY GROVES

he's little

i still don't have this fucking album, every time i go to buy it my wife tells me not to because she already has it. WELL WHERE IS IT, THEN?

(we are the lockhorns irl)

Oooh this album.

"Farewell, Farewell" = tears

"tam lin" sounds proto-black-sabbath to me. so heavy.

The final triumphant turnaround in "The Deserter" is so amazing to me. The "set him free!" part just kicks ass.

thompson took the tune from the child ballad "willy o'winsbury" and set his lyrics for "farewell, farewell" to it. he heard it from sweeney's men, the irish proto-folk rock group that ashley hutchings wanted to draft into fairport at the time of liege & lief. it didn't happen, supposedly that is one of the reasons hutchings left the band. he did succeed in getting terry woods from that group into the first steeleye span lineup

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTZZgovSEYQ

The Pentangle version of "Willy O'Winsbury" is fantastic too.

ha, just noticed they talked about willy o'winsbury upthread.

but I guess with Sandy Denny, just start with the North Star Grassman and the Ravens and work your way forward...

love the proto-Television guitar workouts you get on tracks on that lp.
The 2005 remaster helped hearing that greatly. Did the Sandy Denny box set get a further remaster?

"tam lin" sounds proto-black-sabbath to me. so heavy.

think this really hit me a few weeks back when it appeared on my walkman. Not sure why on this occasion particularly, it must have appeared dozens of times without me thinking that, but I was just thinking 'what a riff'. Like has anybody actually reworked the riff fior anything?

Also wondering if anybody's taken direct influence from Steeleye Span's first 3 lps & used it for other purposes than trad folk. Those 3, the Hutchings era Lark In The Morning set sound like they'd make a great psych or goth influence if you backburnered the source material.
So original music, directly influenced by 1st 3 lp Steeleye Span any examples?

I know that Robyn Hitchcock has always been a big Martin Carthy booster, and I think you can hear the Steeleye influence in some of his more celtic-y sounding stuff ... not super overt, but it's there.

Sure they weren't influenced by them... but I got into Steeleye Span in the first case because they reminded me of Popol Vuh

... and the Velvets!

I know this will draw ire from many, but I think this is the album where Fairport started becoming much less interesting, and it's largely because it's here that they abandoned original songwriting (both their own and others, which included both the obvious contemporary folkmasters (Bob Dylan) and less-obvious (a not-yet-famous Joni Mitchell, Gene Clark, Mimi and Richard Farina, etc.) in favor of traditional British folk. And while I do love traditional British folk music, when a band has great songwriters like Richard Thompson and Sandy Denny in it, it's a shame not to take advantage of their talents (Denny's astonishing voice makes it easy to overlook how great a songwriter she was). For me, any of the first three albums or the equally impressive Heydey collection > anything Fairport has done since (at least the 8 or so albums I've heard). Plus they never again had a lineup as strong as the Holidays/Unhalfbricking one.

fair enough, there are times where i like the pre-liege & lief stuff better, too -- though the post-Denny lineup has some amazing moments. The Full House/House Full stuff is particularly great.

didn't know richie unterberger posted on ilm

Yes, I've read RU's reviews, comments, and book, but I've thought the same thing for the last 25 years, long before I'd ever heard of him.

(That said, few rock critic's taste are so closely aligned with mine. But I do disagree on about 10% of his opinions.)

weirdly, steeleye span came up at breakfast this morning at my house. wife said something about "that renn faire stuff you and your older brother like"... ;_;

What Lee626 said is what I think, too.

after the accident that killed martin lamble they decided they would only go on if they could more or less be a different band, hence the full leap into traditional or traditionally-inspired material. so as much as i love holiday and unhalfbricking they just felt that they were through with that stuff for very personal reasons and i'm glad they came up with another model for making great music. also, no way denny or thompson were going to stay long-term in any band where they weren't running the show.

Steeleye's "Hark! The Village Wait" has become something of a white whale to me...which is odd because you'd think it'd be just the kind of album that you would find evenly dispensed the used bins. I've seen about a million copies of "Please To See The King" (all with different covers too), but "Hark!" has proven elusive. Also lots and lots of what look like dodgy later efforts. So what's the third one that I should also be on the look for?

Ten Man Mop is the other one to look for, it's got one of the key Steeleye tracks on it - 'When I Was on Horseback'

Below The Salt has its moments too, but the first three albums are definitely the ones you need.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q4BrtuM5mU

Don't know if Tom was talking about that particular song when he mentioned VU btw, but there is a comparison to be made right there.

the first three albums are definitely the ones you need

otm

Don't know if Tom was talking about that particular song when he mentioned VU btw, but there is a comparison to be made right there.

That's exactly the song! That's the song that got me into them!

would love to hear lou sing the "wasn't i gay" part

LOL

Easiest way to get the classic Hutchings stuff is to get the Lark In The Morning 2cd on Sanctuary. Think it may contain a couple of bonus tracks.
the r'n'r single?

The next 5 lps are available on a 3cd set too
A Parcel of Steeleye Span.

both of those sets go pretty cheap.

There was an edition of each of the first 3 with a bonus disc of live material a few years back. i never investigated since I had the Lark In The Morning set. Not sure what quality the live material had. Would like to cos I haven't found Hutchings era stuff torrented, earliest I've found is '73

i listened to this every week when i was in college.... not so much for about a decade thereafter... i thought it was a bit over the top... but am rediscovering it as we speak... and it's good....

btw the two key members of sweeney's men, discussed above, later joined planxty, who are at least as awesome as fairport IMO....

It's Fairport night on BBC4 next Friday – docus on the band and RT, a (recent, sadly) live performance and some archive BBC footage from the 60s and 70s.

Sky Arts just showed a film called London Rock earlier this week that had some footage of the Full House line-up at their communal home among some other stuff. hadn't seen it before.

Also had The Faces and a few other bands. Keep finding interesting stuff on that channel , wish I'd realised I'd had access much earlier.

There's another live set by that line-up shot in I think Maidstone in a show that also feature Matthews Southern Comfort who were also in that London Rock

Just saw that there's a huge Fairport box set out - Come All Ye: The First 10 Years, with a lot of live material, rarities, alt takes. Most of it is on Spotify, as are pretty much all their albums (many of which hadn't been added last time I checked).

What a motherfucking album

I wonder if the debut live L&L performance at the RAH is ever going to become releasable. Somebody did a home remastering of it a few years ago that was at least listenable.

but the recording was deemed unreleasable a few years ago.
Shame to have a recording that historic and not be able to circulate it fully.

Are advances in recording technology going to make things like that more salvageable.

I have the "deluxe" edition with a bonus disc containing:
2-1 Sir Patrick Spens (Sandy Denny Vocal Version)
2-2 Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood {Take 4}
2-3 The Ballad Of Easy Rider
2-4 Tam Lin (BBC session)
2-5 Medley: The Lark In The Morning; Rakish Paddy; Foxhunter's Jig; Toss The Feathers (BBC session)
2-6 Sir Patrick Spens (BBC session)
2-7 Reynardine (BBC session)
2-8 Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood {Take 1}
2-9 The Lady Is A Tramp (BBC session)
2-10 Medley: The Lady Is A Tramp; In Other Words (Fly Me To The Moon)

It's a great addition to an all-time classic.

I wonder if the debut live L&L performance at the RAH is ever going to become releasable. Somebody did a home remastering of it a few years ago that was at least listenable.

but the recording was deemed unreleasable a few years ago.
Shame to have a recording that historic and not be able to circulate it fully.

Are advances in recording technology going to make things like that more salvageable.

― Stevolende

it depends how low our standards as a species get!

that bbc box of theirs is totally amazing btw

don't know if i've ever heard the royal albert hall L&L performance ... anyone know where it can be found?

Royal Festival Hall. To be annoying about it.

ah — i've heard a 1970 festival hall show w/o Denny ... is this one different?

Maybe not? Is the sound quality atrocious?

it's not great — i guess this is the one you're referring to (link is dead): http://time-has-told-me.blogspot.com/2009/01/fairport-convention.html
don't think i've heard it, judging from the comments, the quality is terrible, but I'm pretty used to that.

That's like two or three months before L+L was released, so I would think that's the gig stevolende was referring to.

someone ysi plz

I want to see the English countryside next year, really really I want to go back once in my life...I promise, before I die...

― Bimble, Sunday, 22 April 2007 20:34 (ten years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ah man

I was wondering to what extent the L&L line up was a live band. trying to think when the accident taht killed Martin lamble happened. looks like taht was June 69 and both Sandy Denny and Ashley Hutchings quit on the way back from a Scandinavian promo appearance before the end of teh year.
Plus there had to be some recovery time and whatever time teh band spent getting their music together in teh country before it got recorded. Chronology I'm looking at here http://www.stocton.org/fc_chron.htm only has the band together for 2 months in taht lineup though some of teh new members are around for serveral months after that.
So wonder if they had time to play together live much at all.

I think that the lineups either side of that L&L one are better documented live. Dyble era has the Bouton Rouge performance which really need s to be seen. Sandy & Ian matthews has 2 1968 sets Whittlesley Barn and Amsterdam.
Then the post Denny/Hutchings line up have Maidstone and POP2 from paris as video plus there seem to be several 1970 audios.

Wish there was more around. the 2 early Sandy are quite nice.
Bouton Rouge has some great guitar from Richard Thompson.

There are also a couple fo pretty good tv appearances from 1976

I wish they still had the TOTP appearance. Looked a laff..

xp Also would love to see taht TOTP performance where thy are consciouly miming and bringing attention to it with props and things.
Seen stills from it but don't think the actual footage survives.

It's Si tu Doir Partir from what i recall.

I was wondering to what extent the L&L line up was a live band.
really don't think they played very much at all in the L&L lineup — Sandy was pretty much gone by the time the album was released, I think, and by early 1970 Hutchings was out too.

I thought they both quit on the way back from a Scandinavian appearance. Thought it might have been a tv show in which case would love to see the footage. if not I thought it was a radio thing which would also be a good thing to have. Thought it wasa performance as in songs rather than just an interview anyway.
Must get around to reading I Always Kept A Unicorn now.

the Ashley Hutchings biography the Guv'nor was a very good read but may be long long gone since it was on helter skelter books I think.

Also would love to see taht TOTP performance where thy are consciouly miming and bringing attention to it with props and things.
Seen stills from it but don't think the actual footage survives.

It's Si tu Doir Partir from what i recall.

Yeah..

A bit of a shame, as they managed to get copies of the songs they did in radio session by "asking nicely at the time", otherwise they'd all have got wiped after broadcast. Which is why that BBC CD exists.

Had a lovely evening tracking back and forth across various Denny Thompson bits and pieces. Ended up with the Albion Band who are patchy but damn, Gresford Disaster and Poor Old Horse.

L&L is unimpeachable.

Denny Thompson, wasn't he in Pentangle?

Liked fighting with Jehn Martyn, so I'm told.

I do like the post fairports Ashley Hutchings stuff. Albion band was mainly him plus various others over the years. Including one time wife Shirley Collins on No Roses which is worth tracking down.
As is the Battle of the Field which seems to have an inner glow that always reminds me of Kosmische stuff.
& the 1st 3 Steeleye Span lps.

Albion band also went through a stage where it featured both Richard & Linda Thompson and covered The Left Banke prior to the recording of teh first lp. There are 2 or 3 live sets from taht very early period that circulate.

I am hearing Bright Phoebus for the very first time rn

0_0

according to this site:

http://home.myfairpoint.net/srabbot/fc/fcbase.htm

...the "liege and lief" band did maybe a dozen gigs before sandy denny left. i haven't heard (or seen) the danish tv broadcast - is it out there on video?

"Tam Lin" is such a savage piece of music.

yes "Tam Lin" is a wild ride, would love to hear a live version from the era that catches even more fire if one exists

That List that Rushomancy links to is really fascinating. I wonder if tracklisting denotes existing recording or just surviving set list. Would love to hear those sets if they do exist anyway. & see the Danish tv performance.
Here's the 2 tracks from Bouton Rouge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Zvr-IKaf9I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5IUHjLpf3A

I was hoping something like that gigography existed since I'm familiar with teh fromthearchives site which covers Gun Club, Birthday party bad Seeds etc in a somewhat similar fashion.

I don't see an entry for Ashley hutchings leaving on the list though. I thought it was on the same return trip as Sandy Denny left so surprised it wasn't included in that note. Especially since I thought he was the actual founder member that the rest of the group formed around.

Pop 2 is here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgnWWNZoa4w
and still has Richard Thompson on board.

yes "Tam Lin" is a wild ride, would love to hear a live version from the era that catches even more fire if one exists

― droit au butt (Euler)

well, i've heard the tape discussed on this thread (i'd ysi it but i've no clue where i left the darn thing) and i don't believe such a thing does exist. my recollection is that the "tam lin" at this gig is about the same as the version they recorded the day before for top gear (it's on the bbc box) but in much worse fidelity - and i don't think the top gear version is by any means a patch on the album version. on the top gear version sandy starts in full bellow and stays there - no build.

the nonexistent thing i'd love to hear is the "liege and lief" band playing "a sailor's life". it could have been great! but the band didn't last long enough for such things.

the "pop 2" show is wonderful. the '70 fairport gets way short shrift imo, and hearing richard thompson play "sloth" with wilco a couple years back was pretty fucking awesome.

One of the great rock holy grails is a recording of (parts of) Fairport jamming with (parts of) Zeppelin at the Troubadour in Los Angeles in 1970.

"September 4, 1970 - Today, after playing to 20,000 fans at the L.A. Forum, Led Zeppelin appear with Fairport Convention at the Troubadour in L.A. to a crowd of only a few hundred. The bands share instruments. Richard Thompson, guitarist for Fairport Convention plays Page's Les Paul, but FC's drummer, Dave Mattacks is hesitant to let Bonham play his drums because of Bonham's reputation as a very powerful drummer. Bonham sits down at the kit and steps on the bass pedal. Mattack watches in horror as his bass drum flies forward a half a foot. After the jam session which lasted almost three hours, the drum heads need a good changing and the toms need a good tuning. After the jam session, Bonham retires to Barney's Beanery, an after-hours bar, where he engages in a drinking contest with Janis Joplin."

Denny Thompson, wasn't he in Pentangle?

― Buff Jeckley (Tom D.), Monday, March 12, 2018 2:53 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

TS: Denny Lethargy VS. Denny Vertigo

Which is the best box set to get for a beginner like myself? No Best Of crap, just album collections. Do some have important bonus tracks that others don't.

Just go for the Five Classic Albums CD box set for ~$15. A good place to begin. Covers the first five albums, which is the Richard Thompson and Sandy Denny years (except Rising for the Moon), no bonus tracks but I wouldn't go down that rabbit hole until you're more devoted.

Is there notable bonus tracks on any releases?

Heyday has a lot of bonus tracks on the reissue

Liege & Lief reissues have included great outtakes like Sir Patrick Spens (w/ Sandy on vocals), Quiet Joys of Brotherhood and Ballad of Easy Rider.

some, sure. b-sides and outtakes, the liege and lief outtakes "sir patrick spens" and "quiet joys of brotherhood" are nice. the meat is still on the original records.

"heyday" is a bbc sessions record - there's now a box of that material, and honestly i'd recommend it strongly. fairport convention were one of the greatest bbc session bands; plenty of tunes, particularly from the "what we did on our holidays" era, not represented elsewhere.

yeah, most of their first ten albums have been re-released on CD at least twice with bonus tracks and sometimes entire extra discs. there are a lot of good bonus tracks!

Do wish there was more stuff avaialble from them live from the Thompson years. NOt sure how Live the BBC sessions are, assume they are far more one-take than an official studio set would be.
BUt hearing things like the Bouton Rouge set and the stories about Thompson jamming with Hendrix and his endless invention and ability to improvise just means would be so great to have concrete evidence.

I think I'll go for the individual releases. Don't want to buy stuff twice or search for digital files if I really like the albums.

And thanks for the tip on Heyday.

https://routepublishing.wordpress.com/tag/what-we-did-instead-of-holidays/

new Clinton Heylin book on the extended fairports family. & the offshoots of at least the original line up.
Not sure if Trader Horne are covered since not seeing any mention but some of their stuff at least is good.

The original one-disc xp Heyday is really cool, despite scruffy sound quality, which can often also be found on my studio LPs and CDs of Fairport and 70s Richard & Linda.
Haven't heard Tree With Roots yet, though it's waiting patiently on Spotify: seems like a handy round-up of all(?) prev. released Dylan covers, from FC, Fotheringay, and Denny solo LPs. Track list[ etc:
https://www.folkradio.co.uk/2018/06/a-tree-with-roots-fairport-convention-and-the-songs-of-bob-dylan/

I am v. excited to read that Heylin book but what is up with that awful title?

I drove out to Farley House the other day, where Fairport reconvened after the death of Jeannie Franklyn to record Liege & Lief. Not a huge amount to report I guess, apart from the atmosphere, which is lonely and wild (if you can have a wildness this close to civilisation. Thoreau might be the person to ask). It's in the arse end of nowhere (relatively speaking for Hampshire) surrounded by flint and chalk farmland, looking out towards some low hills and the distant docks at Southampton and the Isle of Wight beyond. Farley Mount - the high point in the surrounding landscape, topped by a dazzling white monument to 'Beware Chalk Pit' the trusty horse of the 3rd Earl of Bolingbroke - is not too far off, but not visible from the house. There is a pretty amazing church nearby - St John's at Farley Chamberlayne - one of several in the area that seem to serve no real purpose and no real community. It's totally naked in the surrounding countryside, a sanctuary from the wind and the loneliness. There was a guy sitting on a low bench as I approached; I asked if the church was open and he pulled out some earbuds from under his hood, and was clearly crying. Despite the gloom, the inside of the church is like a basin of light. I didn't tarry: I felt like I'd intruded and left quite quickly.

Some nice photos of the band at the house here: https://jennyartichoke.wordpress.com/2014/09/02/fairport-convention-farley-chamberlayne/

https://i.imgur.com/pVtg40X.jpg

Lovely post

^^^

^^^

<3

also hampshire has all the best village names

Not while there’s Dorset, it doesn’t.

(Lovely post, Chinaski.)

okay at the risk of complete thread derail, these are my top thirty hampshire place names:

Cowplain
Crampmoor
Crow
Crux Easton
Deadwater
Dummer
Enham Alamein
Farleigh Wallop
Fox Amport
Freefolk
Frogmore
Funtley
Golden Pot
Gore End
Little Ann
Martyr Worthy
Mislingford
Mockbeggar
Nately Scures
Oliver's Battery
Picket Twenty
Quidhampton
Ragged Appleshaw
Red Rice
Sheet
Tiptoe
Tickley
Up Nately
Viables
Worlds End

bollocks i forgot Firgo

Compton Pauncefoot still the top of the charts though.

(Ah no it turns out that’s in Somerset. So is Queen Camel.)

Hehehe. When I write my noir novel, my nom de plume will be Farley Chamberlayne. Or Compton Pauncefoot. Or Purbeck Incline.