FULL HOUSE

Full House is the fifth studio album from UK folk/ rock act Fairport Convention. The album was recorded after the departure of two of the most prolific members of the band. Female vocalist Sandy Denny and bassist Ashley Hutchings were both heavily involved in the songwriting and re-arrangement of the traditional folk songs for their fourth album Liege & Lief. The band chose not to replace Sandy Denny with another female vocalist and took on the lead vocal duties themselves but Ashley Hutchings was replaced by new bassist Dave Pegg ( who would much later become a member of Jethro Tull).

The overall style didn´t change much as the music is still basically folk/ rock. The male vocals are not very strong though and I greatly miss Sandy Denny if I have to be honest. Violinist Dave Swarbrick is even more dominant on Full House than he was on Liege & Lief and IMO in a bad way. The mood of the album really suffers from the very traditional folky edge. Liege & Lief also had a very traditional folk sound but there were strong emotions involved on that album. That´s totally lacking here and the only track I partially enjoy is Sloth. The two instrumentals Diry Linen and Flatback Caper are terrible IMO. If you like traditional folk this might suit your taste but I dislike this kind of music.

The musicianship is good but as I mentioned above the lead vocals are really weak and it sounds like they needed a bit more practice before they should have recorded them.

The production is not as good as it was on Liege & Lief and of course this doesn´t help the music to shine either.

Full House is a great disappointment after the excellent Liege & Lief and I can only reward the album with 2 stars. I´m simply not entertained and the folky edge sometimes embarres me. I was really expecting more than this from Fairport Convention.