HEYDAY BBC RADIO SESSIONS 1968-1969

This BBC sessions collection might not just be a good intro to the prospecting proghead, since it concentrates on the shorter (and dare I say it, commercial) tracks with rather few traditional folk track but concentrating on a more American folk rock sound than usual.

One of the surprising highlights for the proghead is the Richard & Mimsy Farina Reno, Nevada cover with its great driving bass line and constant positive tension. Cohen's Suzanne and Bird On A Wire are also noteworthy. But the absence of longer tracks is really hurting the album and to make matters worse the track selection waits until the final track to give us Reynardine and Tam Lin. With the traditional Nuttamun Town, I just named the totality of tracks that can appeal to a proghead not particularly into Fairport.

Overall, what strikes about this collection is that it does not represent the more progressive or even more representative side of Fairport for that matter of fact. The many cover of contemporary artiste (Cash, Byrds, Dylan, Joni Mitchell and even Everly Bros covers are also on the menu) added to the lack of lenghty instrumental interplaying songs, just does not make this album a very good choice for the proghead. But if you are in Fairport, this might just be indispensable in your collection as this does show some unusual facets of the group, such as the Denny-penned Autopsy.