FAIRPORT CONVENTION

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This is the kind of flat rhythmic folkier music that one would not necessarily enjoy 100% after an inattentive listen. However, a better listen reveals very good vocals and surprisingly refined guitar arrangements for 1968. The electric guitar is sometimes almost country. Due to the presence of varied string instruments, the acoustic sound is rich, but the compositions remain not very complex. The tracks are often catchy and they are rather short & not progressive. The strong point is really the female lead vocals, reminding a bit Annie Haslam: they also both have the same English accent. I can surprisingly associate some discrete electric guitars with Rush's Caress of Steel, especially on "I Don' t Know Where I Stand". The Beatles is the overall main influence.

The inaugural convention

A word of warning up-front here. Do not come to this album expecting to hear the folk roots of Fairport Convention, or to discover some long lost predecessor to Liege and lief. For a start, while Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol are present in the line up, there's no Sandy Denny, Dave Swarbrick, or Dave Mattacks.

It is not though just the line up which differentiates this album from what was to follow. The music itself is not rooted in the folk of the British Isles, but crosses the Atlantic to indulge in the pioneering work of artists such us Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. As a result, this album does have a folk flavour, but it is that of North American folk.

Original singer Judy Dyble has a pleasant voice with passing similarities to that of the great Denny. At the same time, it sounds very much at home in songs such as Mitchell's I don't know where I stand and Chelsea morning.

Some of the band members do turn their hand to song-writing, with Richard Thompson and Ian MacDonald (who soon became Iain Matthews, and should not be confused with other similarly named people) but the results are naïve and prosaic. And therein lies the problem with this album as a whole. It simply fails to distinguish itself, and thus the band, from the many other artists of the period (especially in the US) who were creating a similar style of music. The songs are adequate and competently performed, but the band do not impose their own character upon them. While their confidence would develop rapidly, at this stage of their career Fairport were first and foremost a straight covers band.

Occasionally, we will get glimpses of the magic which would follow, such as the echoed flute section on Jack O'Diamonds, and the brief instrumental Portfolio which follows, but such occasions are all too rare.

In view of the tragic events which would follow resulting in the death of founder member Martin Lamble, the title of the final track M1 breakdown is hauntingly prophetic. The track itself is actually as close as we get to a jig, being a Cajun style romp.

The remastered CD version of the album includes four bonus tracks. These include a tasteful cover of Leonard Cohen's Suzanne where MacDonald (Matthews) presents a fine solo vocal performance. Also included is the band's first single from 1967, If I had a ribbon bow. This beautiful melody dating from the 1930's suits Dyble's voice perfectly, this rendition being a hidden gem from the late 60's. The final track, Reno Nevada may be poorly recorded, but it is an exciting piece of early indulgence by the band, with a great guitar jam.

In all, an album which is primarily of historical interest, and even then in the context of the band rather than the genre they later defined.

Incidentally, the band's name comes from the name Simon Nicol's parent's house, where the band would rehearse.

This debut album is not folky and much more conventional rock/pop than latter albums by this band. It is not as interesting to listen to as Lige & Lief or any of the latter albums and it is certainly not prog. Not the best place to start if you want to know what Fairport Convention is about.

This is merely an average pop/rock album with too many cover versions of other peoples songs. Should appeal to fans of 60's pop.

Only for fans this one and only for historical reasons.

Some people are a bit hard with FC's debut album, partly because it doesn't feature the classic line-up, but instead of the over-rated Sandy Denny, we have the delicate Judy Dyble (later GG&F and Trader Horne) and Iain McDonald/Matthews on vocals and it's just as good. Where the comparison may hurt a bit with future albums is that a good part of the album is looking at West Coast folk (that US WC, not Wales you wise arses ;o)) and only touches UK folk, but this will always be the case, just in reverse proportionality and the presence of many covers (Mitchell, Cohen, Dylan).

So this very psyched-out folk album with an intriguing lamp artwork is a still a very worthy album, no matter what purists say and is certainly no less challenging than Babacombe Lee or Nine Lives, or dare I say the highly-touted Full House. Part of its charm is that there are a few gutsy psychedelic folk rock tracks, like the opening Time Will Show (where the band shows their electric chops) or the dark It's Only Witchcraft. Other pure North American folk tracks like Mitchell' Where I Stand and Chelsea Morning & Dylan's Jack O Diamonds are electrified and drummed up (the later has a definite acid folk rock sound), and the least we can say is that the very cute Judy holds her own

The few FC originals like Stomp, Decameron, the instrumental Portfolio, the superb jazzy Sun Shade leading in the full-blown psych of The Lobster (maybe my fave on the album with Dyble's small recorder parts) and One Sure Thing are of correct quality, even holding up their own on the prestigious all-too- often-heard covers. On the weaker M1 Breakdown is below par, being a jug band thingie, but even then it's not bad, because it stays short and funny.

The remastered version of the album comes with a quartet of great bonus tracks (and a superb illustrated booklet), all covers (although who needs yet another version of Cohen's Suzanne, even if a bit different), including a version of Buckley's Morning Glory and a fantastic full-blown seven minutes rendition of US folk giant Farina, called Reno Nevada, where FC show they the longer tracks like sailor's life or Matty Groves were in their blood right from the start. All four tracks are of correct sound quality and just add more weight to the original album, which is easily as worthy as its four successors. Don't shy away from thi

The debut album from british folk rock band Fairport Convention was released in 1968. On this album the folk leanings are not as obvious as they would become on subsequent albums ( at least that´s what I´ve been told). There´s even a bit of psychadelic tendencies on some songs which makes this album a pretty varied and interesting experience IMO.

Sandy Denny had yet to become a member of Fairport Convention and the female vocals were done by Judy Dyble. Most vocals are done by Ian (Matthews) Mc Donald though. Judy Dyble can be heard on songs like the beautiful I Don' t Know Where I Stand, the excellent and psychadelic tinged Chelsea Morning and the sweet One Sure Thing. There are influences from lots of genres on the album from folk and rock to swing jazz ( just hints though in It's Alright Ma, It's Only Witchcraft). The psychadelic leanings are strong in songs like Sun Shade and especially in the progressive The Lobster. The Beatles are no strangers to Fairport Convention either. I think it´s great that the album is so musically diverse. It helps to keep my attention all the way through the album.

The musicianship is excellent. It´s great to hear that the band are already capable musicians this early in their career.

The production is really good considering this was 1968. Really enjoyable.

I must say that I was a bit surprised that I enjoyed this album so much. I´ve been putting of listening to Fairport Convention for years because I had the wrong expectations to their sound ( maybe my expectations of traditional folk will be met on later albums?). I always thought they played more traditional folk/ rock but that´s certainly not the case on this really good album. I´m gonna have to give this one 4 stars and a recommendation. This is a really pleasant album with strong melodies and a few ( very few) mildy progressive leanings. I can´t wait to hear more from Fairport Convention.

Embarrasingly I had first little cautious feeling towards this album, as instead of the singress from the legendary line-up here is Ms. Judy Dyble singing. Luckily I got over this prejudgement, as her performance is fine and the album good, just different than their recordings with Sandy Denny.

Album starts with "Time Will Show The Wiser", which is a nice beat rock tune souding very much The Byrds, with similar ringing guitar and male vocal melodies. There's also a nice film of this song existing. There are two Jono Mitchell's songs in this album, second track "I don't Know Where I Stand" is a really fine interpretation, full of pretty euphoric waving. Maybe the version from the upcoming BBC sessions "Hey Day" is little better, but this is very good too. The other Joni's song coming later is "Chelsea Morning", a fast rhythm section in behind brings much motion to the song fronted by Judy in fine manner. "If (Stomp)" is The Beatles styled light and little boring rocker in my opinion, but "Decameron" is then a quiet and slow, beatuiful acoustic tune for both male and lady singers. Minor chord progressions with treated guitar introduces then "Jack O'Diamonds", a decent rocker. "Portfolio" is a piano driven hypnotic short tune gathering support from violins and other instruments . Middle section's slow jazzy rhythm and distant vocals create a funny surreal feeling to this very fine performance. "Sun Shade" is a relaxed and calm slow jazzy song for both singers and nice guitar solo. "The Lobster" runs trough some changes in slightly experimental way. It starts with instumental jazzy piece, morphing then to more mystical and oppressing tune, leading to trashy sequence, finally ending to fine shadowy ambience. "It's Allright Ma, It's only Witchcraft" stars as quite pure easy jazz, and rock drive puncihing in heavily as the song opens. "One Sure Thing" delivers minor traditional sounding ballad for Judy, with bluesy end sequence. The album closes with "M.1 Breakdown", a weird short end for the album, maybe some kind of "Going to the country" joke? I did not have the bonus tracks on my version, so can't say much about them...

Though the next incarnation of the band is my favourite, there are no reasons to neglect this record either, especially if you like 1960's American oriented folk rock music. As an anecdote, you can hear Judy sing with King Crimson on the compillation double-LP "Young Person's Guide to King Crimson", the song is "I Talk to The wind". As an album the record contains many kind of songs, not focusing totally to one style, but having many kind of ideas by the group. That is not everytime a bad approach... Some songs here are quite of my favourites, "I don't Know Where I stand", "Decameron", "Sun Shade" and "One Sure Thing" are easy moody choices for a romantic, and tracks like "The Lobster" brings in interesting slightly avantgardistic sides of this fine group. I found later Judy's vocal art from the Trader Horne album, which is also quite nice to verify for the proggy folk tones.