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.

I guess this album is directed mostly to those who are interested of this band's material which was done with Sandy Denny. As a complete document this record is not as good as the two first studio releases from that time, but it has some interesting songs on it. I liked mostly the Leonard Cohen covers "Suzanne" and "Bird on A Wire", though there are some other nice tracks here too, like mesmerizing "I don't Know Where I Stand". Also the lighter and easier rolling tracks are all fine, though not maybe focusing to those characteristic which please me most. On the bonus track section "Fotheringay" and "Autopsy" are really great compositions, but these versions here aren't very astonishing when compared to the studio takes, giving however historical perspective both to their development and BBC radio broadcastings of the 1960's. Also the style of many songs are still closer to American folk than European traditional music, from where the focus moved later to tunes of Celtic musical heritage, and giving birth to the vivid personal sound when synthesizing these to the hippie rock manners of their heydays.

We are here very close to a bland mainstream rock/country/blues that "Monsieur/Madame tout le monde" may like. Thus, I have a serious feeling of deja vu regarding the tracks. The record is less folky & refined than the first one: it is more straightforward country/rock/blues. I do not find the tracks really progressive. The overall music is pretty ordinary, I must admit: many times, the style really approaches a less catchy Fleetwood Mac's. It is a really not convincing record. My advice is that this compilation is not a good one. The country music dimension easily removes 1 star from the rating. I am disappointed since the version here of "I Don' t Know Where I Stand" has no longer a Rush's Caress Of Steel guitar style, so present on the first record. If you are a prog fan that do not like country and blues, then what you need is an anti-Heyday record, if you see what I mean...

Rating: 2.5 stars