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.

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.