FAIRPORT CONVENTION

The album art doesn't leave much room for doubt. Folk rock alert!

It is quite a tour de force though and the first of two excellent Fairport Convention releases that fully developed their unique blend of epic folk tracks, electrical rock instruments and Sandy Denny's divine chants.

Most songs are really captivating here, apart from a few questionable filler tracks like Si Tu Dois Partir, Cajun Woman and Percy's Song (Am I singling out all Dylan tracks now?). Those songs set off all my 'campfire sentimentalism!' alarms. Genesis Hall and Autopsy are moving ballads though. The music isn't really flashy but more then adequate. The vocals however, they are simply godly, so fragile and melancholic. Sandy Denny's voice must be the main reason Fairport Convention got so successful. The epic Sailor's Life and Who Knows Where the Time Goes also deliver ample proof of that.

Overall 25 minutes of excellent music. That's almost a full-length PFM album :) 3 smouldering campfires!

This recording leans way more to the folk side of Fairport Convention than the progressive side (not that Fairport Convention was ever very progressive, but they did show some elements from time to time). What we get here is just over an hour of nice British folk rock, ranging from the good to the very good.

Lyrically, the album is fun and interesting, and the music is mostly upbeat. And I must agree that the last two songs are a bit of a letdown after the rest of the album. Did they run out of ideas, and just add some filler because it would fit?

— First review of this album —

FOR WHO LOVE FOLK PROG AND FAIRPORT CONVENTION

This is a compilation of Woodworm Records recordings. Woodworm is the Fairport's personal label.

Of 14 original tracks, 6 songs are from members solo albums. And the best track of this compilation is sure the track #1, a Pegg solo song, Level Pegging, that consist of bass solo by Pegg. This song is a pure English Folk song. For the rest this compilation is OK, but not totally in Folk Prog style, because some songs are good POP song.

In general this compilation is good and for who not have any Woodworm recordings. But sure this compilation is not fundamental.

P.s.: 2nd edition (1997 Folkprint press) present 2 bonus tracks: Orange Blossom Special (live) and Rubber Band, two songs that are not fundamental.

This is my favourite Fairport album. What Fairport were trying to do (especially Sandy Denny) was to write modern material, but in a folk influenced style; a very difficult task. The strains would show when she left the band after Liege and Lief. Unhalfbricking is halfway between the folk pop of their first two albums and the all out folk rock of Liege and Lief. A Sailor's Life is my favourite track with an extended coda in the style of Cream (this band could really rock when they wanted to) and a beautiful vocal by Sandy in the first half.I think I can also have a go at explaining the title; "halfbricking" is the style of garden wall you see the couple standing against on the album cover (Sandy's parents by the way!). As such it stands for middle class suburban conformity. Unhalfbricking is, well, the opposite!

4,5 stars

Embarrasingly I had first little cautious feeling towards this album, as instead of the singress frm 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 the hey day records.

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 film of this song moving around. There are two JONI 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. "Decameron" is then 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.

If I expire, I'll go down below

Fairport Convention is a band with many different faces (with an emphasis on both different and many). Even if I'm personally not very fond of the bands 60's period with Sandy Denny on vocals, I must say that the period between 1973 and 1976, consisting of the four albums Rosie, Nine, Rising For The Moon and the present one is their worst period. We are a long way away from the very good and quite progressive Full House and Babbacombe Lee albums here. Fortunately they would make many much better albums later on too.

This album is the least folky one they had done since the very debut in 1968. This is basically a straightforward Pop album. Our Band is very close to the style of 10cc!! It is clear that they're having fun. Piano is the leading instrument on several songs, which is very unusual for Fairport. Don't Be Late is dominated by brass instruments! Which is even more surprising, but it isn't a very pleasant surprise!

Reading through the credits you find more interesting instruments like organ, electric dulcimer, autoharp, mandocello and many guests performing on guitars, trumpet, fluegel horn, saxophone, dobro and harmonica and more. The most notable guest is Simon Nicol who soon would return to the band full time and steer the band in the right direction. But even with this list of surprising features, this album is as boring as the disastrous Rosie.

Cropedy Capers and The Frog Up The Pump flow into each other and are the only typical Fairport British Folk numbers on the whole album. But unfortunately not very inspired! The drums are especially lame. There is nothing here up to par with the best tracks from the uneven Nine album.

If there is a positive thing about this album it is that they got rid of the obvious Country influences that plagued the previous three albums. But the British Folk and progressive aspects are still almost completely gone. As it turns out, the cover art is the best thing about this album, portraying a jester which is a recurring theme in progressive rock. But the album is sadly not very progressive at all.

This is for completionists only.

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.

Archaeology convention

There is nothing very progressive about these early albums. What We Did On Our Holidays is a very poppy album with slight folky and bluesy influences.

The opening song is very beautiful and showcases the distinctive voice of Sandy Denny very well. And the album closes beautifully with a short acoustic outro. But the material in between goes off in various different directions - Folk, Blues, Pop, Rock - but not really containing anything to catch my interest. However, Meet On The Ledge has a strong chorus and not too surprisingly this song is a favourite on the band's live shows till this day.

It is probably for historical reasons only that this early album is so highly regarded. But to my ears this sounds heavily outdated. For the Prog fan, Full House, Babbacombe Lee and even Angel Delight offers much more of interest.

I can recommend this only for hardcore Fairport Convention and Sandy Denny fans.

Alan Simon featuring Fairport Convention (and others)

This album is very unlike any other Fairport Convention album. Indeed, in a way this is not even a proper Fairport Convention album at all. All the music was written or co-written by French songwriter Alan Simon and the members of Fairport Convention were (among many musicians) recruited by Simon to play for him on a long serious of concept albums he had written about the King Arthur legend, called Excalibur. Fame And Glory is, as far as I understand, a collection of material from several of these Excalibur projects spanning the years 1998- 2008.

Hence, Fame And Glory is, like Babbacombe Lee (according to the sleeve, Simon's personal introduction Fairport Convention), Tippler's Tales and Jewel In The Crown, a concept album. The theme of King Arthur and his knights of the round table lends itself perfectly to concept albums and the theme is indeed common among Prog bands and artists. Rick Wakeman's illustrious King Arthur album is probably the best example.

The sound of Fame And Glory is far more Celtic than on any other Fairport album. Unusually, for Fairport Convention, flute is a dominant instrument throughout the album. The flutes are apparently played by Alan Simon himself and he is indeed an excellent flautist as well as a very good song writer. Several other uncommon and interesting instruments show up in various places.

There are also a number of surprising guests like Supertramp's John Heliwell on saxophone and clarinet, Andreas Volenweider on harp and John Wetton on vocals. Perhaps less unlikely guests are Jethro Tull's Martin Barre on electric guitars and Jacqui McShee from Pentangle on vocals. Inside the very nice digipack sleeve there is a picture of further musicians apparently part of the project but not featured on this album, including Les Holroyd from Barclay James Harvest, Justin Hayward from The Moody Blues and Maddy Prior from Steeleye Span. An impressive cast of musicians!

The first couple of songs on this album are in a similar vein to the material on previous Fairport albums like the good Who Knows Where The Time Goes? and the excellent Jewel In The Crown. The album starts strongly with a great instrumental jig with a powerful electric rock sound. The second track, Pilgrims, is a very good melodic Folk rocker that would have fitted nicely on recent Fairport albums.

Celtic Dream is another instrumental with a Jethro Tull like sound due to the flutes. Or rather it could have come from an Ian Anderson solo album. This track is the first of several that was recorded live. The mix of live and studio tracks makes the album less coherent than it otherwise could have been.

Those songs with female vocals remind of Sandy Denny-era Fairport Convention or Steeleye Span. Simon is a very good song writer and all the material featured here is very melodic and memorable. There are several excellent moments and the whole album is very enjoyable. Fame And Glory is often strong and powerful, the sound is crystal clear and the production is flawless. But it is not at all glossy or overproduced.

The fact that some songs were recorded live and the rest in the studio, coupled with the fact that there are several different vocalists involved makes the album a bit less coherent than it otherwise might have been. Still, I am certain that this album will strongly appeal to fans of Prog Folk and Celtic rock and I highly recommend it to people of those interests.

''The History Of Fairport Convention'' is the definitive Island 1969/ 1972 album! I do not have other words to describe in good manner this album. Sure I have preferred songs in this album but the final result is incredible. It is difficult to judge in a correct manner this album because the doubts assault me and my mind. Certainly this album is not a commercial release because the level of ''The History Of Fairport Convention'' is too high. At the same time this is a label tribute to Fairport Convention because in '70's for me this are the purpose of ''Greathest Hits'' albums. So it is difficult to me formulate a truly unbiased opinion.

In every case the songs with Sandy Danny are my favourite but it is clear that the English Folk revival is not only a movement for Fairport Convention. That in Folk Prog genre (not in Prog Folk) are from the better band (and one of the more close to Prog). Because of this ''The History Of Fairport Convention'' is a great album, also for Progsters. In this sense ''Sailor's Life'' is a good song because with great athmospheres that transform this songs in a Doom Folk song. ''Also Bonny Black Hare'' is a song for Progsters, similar for atmospheres to ''Sailor's Life''. For Progsters is also ''Bridge Over The River Ash'', a cheerful short song for viola and bass. In general, however, all the songs have Prog elements, especially by seeking out with careful listening.

Well... I think that, in conclusion, if you are newbie with Fairport Convention this ''The History Of Fairport Convention'' be a great album. But also for who have all about Fairport Convention this is a good album.