ROSIE

Rosie is the eigth full-length studio album by British folk rock act Fairport Convention. After the excellent Babbacombe Lee (1971) big changes occoured in the band´s lineup. Simon Nicol left the band and former Fotheringay members Trevor Lucas ( vocals, acoustic guitar) and Jerry Donahue ( guitar) joined. Simon Nicol was the last remaining member from the original lineup which meant that the lineup on Rosie didn´t feature any original members of the band. The album was released on Island Records and was produced by Trevor Lucas. Rosie was re-released in 2004 with five bonus tracks. All bonus tracks were recorded Live In London on the 23th of April 1973.

Even though no original members are left in the lineup the music is still unmistakably Fairport Convention. Folk rock with a warm sound and great humour. Just listen to the witty Hungarian Rhapsody for evidence of humour. The music contains lots of guitar, mandolin and fiddle and some pretty strong vocal performances too. The addition of the skilled lead guitarist Jerry Donahue means a lot for the music. His contributions to the songs are excellent. But the addition of Trevor Lucas is also a treat. The musicianship is overall very enjoyable from all involved. The songs are very ordinary in structure and there are not many instrumental parts in the music. This is vocal and song oriented music so don´t expect progressive elements here. There are none IMO which of course doesn´t have any effect on my rating.

The production is very warm and pleasant. One of the best sounding albums from the band up until then.

Rosie is a very enjoyable album to these ears and while it lacks the fantastic and bizarre concept story of Babbacombe Lee and doesn´t quite reach the hights of that album it´s still a good album with some great songs in my book and well deserving a 3 star rating.