ANGEL DELIGHT

If folk rock is prog, then all right, here we go... This was the first Fairport album without guitar genius Richard Thompson, who had also been singing a lot of the lead vocals on Full House. The lead guitar and vocal role was filled by Simon Nicol, who does a good job. None of the current members were strong vocalists, but they harmonize well, and their traditional music vocal technique is OK. There is no epic like "Sloth" and no guitar pyrotechnics, but fiddler Dave Swarbrick guides the band further than ever into folk/rock fusion on "Lord Marlborough", "Sir William Gower", "Banks of the Sweet Primroses" and the "The Bonny Black Hare", all of which benefit from fuzzy guitars and dulcimers and atmospheric fiddling. The originals are slight, but fun songs, similar to what the late 70s version of the group (featuring the same lineup sans drummer Dave Mattacks) would put out- long on humour, short on pretension. Not a step forward, not necessarily inventive, but a darn good time that fans of Fairport and Steeleye Span won't want to miss.