Clannad vs Fairport Convention Prog Folk

Edited by BarryGlibb - September 26 2018 at 04:02

I completely agree. Most of Clannad is more new-ageish. Fairport is true folk with many progressive fluourishes. Saw them in Cleveland some years ago and violinist Ric Sanders turned many of their tunes into progressive masterpieces.

Fairport Convention has more progressive tendencies than most people recognize, you just have to listen very attentively and you'll enjoy a wealth of rythms, melodies, orchestration and arrangements than will delight your ears. Certainly they deserve better and more recognition.

No complaints here about either band being listed on the site. I have seen Fairport numerous times, mostly opening for Jethro Tull, and they can hold their own against any other band. On the U.S. west coast, I have heard more of a Fairport influence than Clannad.

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I don't much care much if they are in Prog Related or Prog Folk -- I think that Prog Related has so much great music in it. For me it's an exciting category in PA, and so much music not in PA that I love I consider to be Prog Related. That said, having Fairport Convention in Prog Folk could render the music more easily discoverable for people who are searching the site for types of folk music.

A little problem that I have with Prog Related is that it's such a mish-mash of "related" music which makes it harder to discover music within the category. I've rather wanted Prog Related be broken down into subcategories before, such as Prog Folk Related, but that presents problems (I'd rather have album tagging anyway), and of course Prog Related and Proto-Prog are excluded from the Progressive Rock Top Albums lists, so researching albums at PA does become a little harder. If you know that Fairport Convention is in PA or you are specifically looking for it, then it's easy to find, but if you're wanting to do more general research using our site, then having it in PR can make it become more obscure (especially if you're specifically looking for bands and albums in PA of a Folk music variety -- one would search Prog Folk. So while I think that Prog Related is not a "lesser" category, even if it is less Prog on the whole (but that's not's a bad thing to me), it very liekly would get less recognition, especially at a Prog site, becuase it's not on one of the Prog categories and it's not lumped together in a vaetgory that has alot of similar sounding music.

I am a folk music fan and wouldn't wish to limit myself to Prog Folk, although I do tend to favour Psychedelic Folk (and chamber folk) which may or may not have a rock element and may or may not be termed progressive. I have so wished that I could easily search for lists of psychedelic + folk albums in the PA album archives.

That ramble aside, and onto more rambling, I like Fairport Convention and Clannad, but I do only have a few albums by each. I have a thing for "What We Did on Our Holidays by Fairport (love "Fotheringjay" especially) even it's not one of the more progressive albums. Liege and Liefe and Unhalfbricking are very good, but those are the only three that I have. With Clannad, the first album I heard was Legend (back in the 80s), and it still has a special place in my heart. I'm not ashamed to say that I still get a kick out of "Robin (The Hooded Man)". That said, Dúlamán probably is my favourite Clannad album.

Back in the late 80s and early 90s, I think Clannad mostly appealed to me because I was very into so-called "New Age" music and I searched for music that was categorised that way at the record store and at the libraries (I guess Kitaro set me on that path -- then Enya etc., Clannad has a strong Enya connection for those that don't know).

I do rather feel that Fairport Convention is a good fit for Prog Related, based on the albums I know, and would have thought the same of Clannad, but I don't mind either way.   If the Prog Folk team requested a move for Fairport Convention from Prog Related to Prog Folk, I would have no problem in supporting them (that's their prerogative).

Side-note (aka more rambling): I'm not saying that it is the case here, and each case should be evaluated on its merits even if precedent is important, but one does find some inconsistency with additions over the years. The early days of PA worked differently than when we had genre teams, and team members have changed over the years and there have been different expectations and parameters. Many bands started off in one category, got moved to another, and they can be moved again if the interest in doing so is sufficient and the arguments are sound.

I have to agree that they both should belong under Prog Folk, but then I would also add "Fleet Foxes" and "Grizzly Bear" as being there also, or maybe at least under psychedelic or something.  Their music is just too inventive with so many layers that I don't understand how they can't be included on the site. But that's just me.  I usually don't like to complain about who is here and who isn't, I just know what I like.  And I usually find some aspect of every band listed on this site as having some degree of progressiveness at some time in their career.  If anything, I seem to find a lot of bands that I would think should be on the site, but it's not for me to say in the end, I'm just happy this site exists.

Two bands I've seen live on many occasions over the years and enjoyed - whilst never following them as a true devotee. I think both could be referred to as prog-folk. If anything, Clannad had more of a New Age/Ambient feel at times, making them more prog-related on occasions. I probably peaked with Fairport in the late 70s/early 80s, when I drifted into attending folk clubs as a way to see live music locally, and attending a few Cropedy Festivals too (with a supply of Wadworth's 6X close by). I liked the Harry's Game/Robin/Lore era of Clannad best and the Past Present compilation was regularly played. Nice seeing them in their reunion tour a few years ago when they came to the Sage in Gateshead.

In hindsight I really should explore their catalogues more regularly, but with so much great new prog out there, there never seems to be enough time.