LIVE CONVENTION

Live Convention is a remarkable Live performance because of the "comeback" of Sandy Denny, the woman vocalist that shined on the Liege & Lief record and the records before that. I do hardly prefer her voice aboth the man vocalist: in fact she might the best woman vocalist within the folkgenre. So, this record is interesting for fans of the early Fairport Convention.

The quality of the record goes up and down by each track. The livesound of Matty Grooves differs from the original track, but is equally good. The solo's are different, showing that Fairport Convention is not just a folkrock band, but a jamband as well. This opening for the record/show is great!

Rosie, the second track, is not more than a standard country song performed by the man vocalist. I prefer Johny Cash live performances aboth this one. Something you got is a second country track with dual vocals. Not so good either. Fiddlestix is a nice instrumental folky song, which invites dancing like in a western movie. The violin player is doing some great job here as wel in speed as in tightness.

Maybe the finest track of the record is John the Gun; a psychedelic folksong, which is a song written in Sandy Denny's solo career. There is some tension in the vocals and also in the violin. One of the best songs ever performed by Fairport Convention on record.

The record as a whole is not so steady. There are some great moments and some down moments. However there are many nice guitar and violin solo's and because of the jamming (not just repeating the studio records) this is a nice addition to a fairport convention collection, especially for fans of the vocals of Sandy Danny. Total rating is about 3,5 star.