EXPLETIVE DELIGHTED !

Expletive Delighted is to date the only wholly instrumental Fairport Convention album. While the idea of an instrumental Fairport Convention album appeals to me a lot since I find the instrumental numbers on many of their other albums generally highly enjoyable, the actual result is not too impressive. Nothing here is bad by any means, but I feel that this could have been so much better and more interesting than it is. The instrumental numbers on other albums of this period in the bands career were often among the better and most progressive tracks on those albums, but here they serve us instrumental Fairport by the numbers. While the up-tempo numbers are good enough even if hardly among the band's better tunes of that kind, the slower numbers are quite dull and come across as transportation. Indeed, some of these tunes just sound a bit like average Fairport numbers simply stripped of their vocals.

The opportunity to experiment a bit and utilize a wider array of instruments than usual is sadly lost. The sound is not noticeably expanded on compared to other albums of this period, quite the contrary I would say. Also in terms of the progressiveness of the material, Expletive Delighted does not stand out in any way. If you wish to look into 80's/90's Fairport Convention (and you should, there is some really good stuff from this period!), I would certainly not recommend to begin here.

Recommended for fans and collectors, but not to Prog fans in general