01	Come All Ye						05:01
	02	Reynardine						04:33
	03	Matty Groves						08:09
	04	Farewell, Farewell						02:39
	05	The Deserter						04:24
	06	Medley: The Lark In The Morning/Rakish Paddy/Fox Hunter's Jig/Toss The Feathers						04:07
	07	Tam Lin						07:13
	08	Crazy Man Michael						04:37

...in which ages-old folk music and modernistic rock technologies finally go hand in hand.
Best song: MATTY GROVES

This is not necessarily a huge improvement on the previous album, but certainly a huge breakthrough. See, in our expansive, all-encompassing times it's hardly possible to be surprised by anything, but I daresay that Liege And Lief was really an eye-opener for people back in the late Sixties. Some actually complain that with the release of the record, the band drove itself into a corner, restricting themselves to one patented style - and that might be so, but others would successfully counteract this accusation by saying that Liege And Lief is, in fact, the first Fairport Convention record where they finally found their unmistakable and unique identity. Who can tell?
Yeah, Liege And Lief did not invent folk-rock or "Anglo-Saxon folk-rock" or "Celtic rock" or anything like that, but it was the first record almost entirely dedicated to discovering old folk songs and epics and dressing them up in rock instrumentation. Countless folk-rock bands like Steeleye Span and their numerous lesser brethren took their cue from this revolutionary record and ran with it further, but arguably, no-one could do this stuff better than Fairport Convention in their absolute prime, with Richard Thompson on guitars, Dave Swarbrick on violin and Sandy Denny on fair vocals. Only two originals here, two slow, meditative ballads by Thompson, but frankly speaking, you could hardly tell them apart from the covers. Now the problem is: does this actually sound all that great? Well, yes, it mostly does. I never usually condemn albums like these for monotonousness if the songs are done well, because, after all, it's a band's schtick and that's it, you gotta take it or leave it at that. But frankly speaking, I don't even have a 'monotonousness problem' with Liege And Lief because everything sounds so dang memorable and, to a certain extent, diverse. There's a raising epic, a few ultra-slow moody pieces, a couple of grandiose epics, and even a dance instrumental - what else would you expect? What more could you expect? You could only expect less.
Actually, I must make a correction: the ultra-slow pieces, to me at least, don't sound all that good. I'm particularly speaking of 'Reynardine', which is just too atmospheric and vague for me - no instrumental melody to speak of, just a bunch of unrelated guitar arpeggios and a bit of echoey violin scraping in the background. It sounds nice, but it's looooong and will only appeal to diehard folk junkies. This is, however, the only relative stinker on the entire record, and that says a lot.
'Matty Groves' alone is worth a fortune, of course. Admirers will gush all over Thompson's blissful guitar rhythms and solos and Swarbrick's ominous violin never stopping for a single second, but I would also like to point out that to a large extent, it's the drumming that makes the song - God bless ol' Dave Mattacks, whose steady, unnerving, hyper-rhytmic pulsating thump-thump totally draws you inside the experience. And once you're all inside the experience, Sandy will certainly thrill you with the tale of poor little Matty Groves and his unhappy adventure with Lord Darnell's wife. (By the way, I am in no way wishing to go into details over those old folk lyrics here, but I'd like to make a little exception by pointing out that one of the sources of the uniqueness of 'Matty Groves' is that essentially, the song doesn't have a negative character. I mean, Lord Darnell did kill his wife and her lover, but he certainly behaved in a noble way, didn't he? Just one of those wise old songs that states the facts and invites you to make your own conclusions. I love that style).
Apart from that, highlights would certainly include 'Come All Ye', where Sandy's singing will certainly inspire you to rise to your feet and do a noble deed or two, and the already mentioned instrumental medley. Wow, the instrumental medley is cool as it drives you through all those crazy inflaming parts, each one faster than its predecessor. Finally, 'Tam Lin', the album's second epic, is certainly distinguished by Thompson actually playing some riffs on his electric and an amazing opposition between Sandy's complex vocal patterns and Richard's power chords in the background. It's rather hard for me to describe the rest of the songs without mostly concentrating on the lyrics, so I'll just stop here - I guess you got the idea already.
See, a usual problem with folk-rock albums is that there's too much folk, not enough rock. This isn't a problem with this album - this is real folk-rock, far from the purism of 'revivalist' bands, and so certainly subject to a lot of badmouthing from said purists, but since purism is music's worst enemy, or, at least, the worst enemy of any development in music, who really cares about that? Saying that 'Anglo-Saxon folk and rock music are incompatible' is akin to all those useless complaints from haters of progressive rock who claim that it 'betrays the spirit of rock' and further nonsense like that. And speaking of betrayal, Liege And Lief certainly does not betray the folksy spirit one iota, as it certainly is able to carry your imagination into the deep past, but it also adds an energetic and rhythmic punch to a musical genre that needs it so much in order to become easily accessible to a wider range of audience. Yeah, kinda like Emerson, Lake & Palmer put their classical music heroes within a rock'n'roll framework to get their fans acquainted with their idols. Is this bad, 'cheap' or 'fake'? Wrong answer: yes. Wrong answer: no. Right answer: IT DEPENDS. On how far you go with this stuff, that is. And Liege And Lief never lets you down in this respect.




A Consumer's Guide to Fairport Convention


Please note:

1. This guide deals only with the official studio and live albums released by Fairport Convention. No samplers, collections or unofficial live albums are mentioned.

2. The albums are graded as follows: (****) = A classic. Should be in everyone's collection. (***) = Very good, strongly recommended. (**) = Not bad at all. If you like them please buy it. (*) = Collectors only. (The grades express my personal opinions and will no doubt be heavily disputed by other FC fans.)

The early years

It all started in the Muswell Hill area of North London in 1967 with a nucleus of bass player Ashley Hutchings and guitarists Simon Nicol and Richard Thompson. As they practised in a house called The Fairport Lodge, owned by Nicol's mother, they took the name Fairport Convention. During 1967 they were joined by Martin Lamble, drums, Judy Dyble, vocals, and Ian Matthews, vocals, and with this set-up they secured their first recording contract with Polydor.

Their first album, Fairport Convention (*), was released in June 1968. Listening to it more than 30 years later it gives no indications of the glory to come. It is an erratic effort by a group that has not yet decided what they want to be. About half of it is self-penned, but the best part is the other half, with their first Dylan cover "Jack O'Diamond," two good interpretations of Joni Mitchell's "I Don't Know Where I Stand" and "Chelsea Morning," and "Time Will Show the Wiser."

After the debut, the band decided they were not strong enough in the vocal department, and Dyble was told to leave. She was replaced by Sandy Denny, who had already made herself a reputation in the folk clubs and through a collaboration with the Strawbs. With Denny they got a strong female singer, a good songwriter, and one more instrumentalist.

The second album, What We Did on Our Holidays (****) (not to be confused with the latter-day collection by the same name), should rightfully be considered the first album by FC as we know them today. It was released in January 1969 on Island, one of the homes of what was then called progressive rock. With everyone but Lamble contributing songs, it is a record filled with small jewels, some of which have reached classic status. We are treated to Denny's tribute to Mary Queen of Scots, "Fotheringay," Thompson's "Meet on the Ledge," a song that has evolved into FC's anthem, Hutchings's rocking "Mr Lacey" and FC's first two excursions into the traditional territory, "Nottamun Town" and "She Moves Through the Fair." They even have time for an obscure Dylan song, "I'll Keep it with Mine," and Joni Mitchell's "Eastern Rain."

As all groups in the late '60s, FC played a lot of gigs up and down the country and did a lot of covers. Some of them were recorded by the BBC for their programmes. 12 of these recordings were released in 1987 by Hannibal on Heyday (**). The record includes songs like "Bird on the Wire," "Reno Nevada" and "Tried So Hard." Some of them turned up later on Matthews's solo albums. There is also a Hutchings-Thompson original on it, "If it Feels Good, You Know it Can't Be Wrong," not released on any other record.

The only really constant thing about FC in the early days were the personnel changes. After What We Did..., Matthews left the group to form Matthews Southern Comfort, although he was kind enough to lend his voice to some of the tracks of the next effort, Unhalfbricking (***). Once again the band is a little unsettled when it comes to choosing direction, though their playing is superb all the way through. They lend their hand to some Cajun music, "Cajun Woman" by Thompson, and include three Dylan songs, "Million Dollar Bash," the epic "Percy's Song," and a musical joke in the form of "Si Tu Dois Partir," a French version of "If You Gotta Go," the group's only single hit.

But the album is mostly remembered for Denny's "Who Knows Where the Time Goes," a song recorded by many and nowadays a regular in the FC repertoire, and the traditional "A Sailor's Life," the longest track, where they are joined by Dave Swarbrick, a man with a reputation for being one of the finest fiddlers within traditional English music. Swarbrick guested two more times on the album.

The folk rock era

In between recording and release of Unhalfbrickling, disaster struck. On the way back from a gig, the band's van crashed on the motorway. Lamble and Thompson's girlfriend died in the crash. In the aftermath, Swarbrick joined as a permanent member and the group recruited Dave Mattacks as a drummer. To overcome the grief they threw themselves into a new project, making a record with electrified folk songs. Whichever way you look at it, Liege & Lief (****) -- released in December 1969 -- is a classic. It helped to define a whole new branch of popular rock, folk rock. Here was a group who tackled mediaeval ballads like "Matty Groves" and "Tam Lin" with electric guitars and blistering drums. With the instrumental medley, Mattacks provided instructions for all future drummers who were given the task of playing jigs and reels in rock bands.

But they were not all traditionally arranged. The record opened with a Hutchings-Denny-collaboration called "Come All Ye" while Swarbrick and Thompson teamed up for the first time for "Crazy Man Michael," one of the best ballads ever on an FC album.

The songs of Liege have proved to have lasting quality. "Matty Groves" has survived in the group's live repertoire through their whole career, and "Crazy Man Michael" and the instrumental medley are dusted off frequently. But there was disagreement in the band. Was this a new direction for the band or was it a one-off-project? Hutchings thought the first and left to pursue his hunt for traditional music, which led him to form Steeleye Span and later the Albion Band. Denny thought the latter and left to form Fotheringay and later to embark on a solo career.

The remaining members decided not to replace Denny but went looking for a bass player. They had settled on being a rock band sometimes playing traditional stuff and tried to resist Swarbrick's attempts to get his old friend Dave Pegg into the band. Reluctantly they admitted Pegg to an audition but tried to prove their point by speeding the songs up. Pegg survived the test and joined to become the longest lasting member of FC.

The next album was crucial. How can you follow a classic? With 1970's Full House (****) FC established themselves as folk rockers supreme. "Dirty Linen" was another instrumental medley with all instruments trading tunes and licks. "Sir Patrick Spens" gave us another reworking of a mediaeval ballad, while "Flatback Capers" introduced the mandolins, played by Swarbrick and Pegg, into their armoury. The Thompson-Swarbrick partnership developed further with three songs, of which two, "Walk Awhile" and "Sloth," have been much performed over the years. The latter is mostly used as a vehicle for the present band members to show off their instrumental abilities.

This version of the band was a superb live band. A string of gigs in the Los Angeles Troubador Club was recorded and 1977 Live at the LA Troubadour (***) was released. It gives us three sets of jigs and reels, Thompson's reading of "Matty Groves," "Sloth," a new Thompson-Swarbrick song, "Poor Will and the Hangman," never officially released by FC in its studio version, "Banks of the Sweet Primroses" and another musical joke, "Yellow Bird." The same concerts appeared again on House Full (***) released in 1986. On this, you get "Sir Patrick Spense," "Staines Morris" and "Battle of the Somme," the latter two tracks never recorded by FC in the studio, plus five of the tracks from the other one. Which one to get is mostly a question of what songs you prefer.

The band was at the time living as a commune with their families in a closed-down pub, the Angel. Thompson did a lot of session work and decided to start his own solo career and left. The others decided to continue as a four piece. They tried to record a successful single, but every recording they brought to their record company was turned down. Eventually they had enough songs to make up an album. Angel Delight (***) was released in June 1971. Few of the songs live on in the band's current repertoire but there are quite a few nice ones on it. The starter, "Lord Malborough," is one of the most successful traditional arrangements the group has ever produced, "Angel Delight" is a very amusing tale of the band's life together, "Bridge over the River Ash" gives us FC as a string quartet with Mattacks on bass, and on "Bonny Black Hare" Swarbrick shows that he learnt quite a lot vocalwise during his days with Martin Carthy.

Babbacombe Lee (***) from 1971 is unique in two ways. Firstly it is the first time ever FC recorded two consecutive albums with the same line-up, secondly it is their only attempt at a concept album. Swarbrick had found the story about John Lee, a man sentenced to death for a murder he claims he did not commit. He used it as a starting point for a song suite with the various songs composed by different members of the band. On the original cover there are no separate song titles and it is supposed to be enjoyed as an entity. Musically it continues the direction set out on Angel Delight. But what looked to be a stable band was not. Nicol left when the record was released and Mattacks followed some months later. None of the replacements survived to make it onto an official FC record, though tapes of the album that was recorded is circulated among fans.

The Lucas-Donahue era

It took almost a year to get a stable line-up. Mattacks returned, and the trio was joined by American guitarist Jerry Donahue and Australian singer-guitarist Trevor Lucas. Both had been members of Denny's group Fotheringay thus enabling some joker to label this line-up "Fotherinport Confusion."

According to rumour, the first release by the new line-up, 1973's Rosie (**) had originally been intended as a Swarbrick solo album. It is clearly not recorded with the whole group present. Mattacks only gets credit for four tracksout of ten and both Thompson and Ralph McTell guest. It is also to be noted that Gerry Conway drums on three tracks, 25 years before he officially joined the group.

The title track has become somewhat of a Swarbrick anthem. It is one of five from his pen. Newcomer Lucas contributes two and sings them as well; and Pegg gets his first credit for an instrumental, "Peggy's Pub." He also contributes the funny "Hungarian Rhapsody" about the band's fortunes behind the Iron Curtain. The song has a line which could be the policy statement for the group: "Actually we're only here for the beer."

The A-side of Nine (***) from 1973 is one of the master pieces of the band. Had the B-side been as good this could have been a classic. It starts off with a traditional, "The Hexamshire Lass," sung at high speed by Swarbrick,,continues with Pegg's music to the trad song lyric "Polly on the Shore which gets a nice treatment by Lucas. There is a mandolin-based instrumental medley, "To Althea From Prison," a poem by Richard Lovelace (1642) set to music by Swarbrick and ends with one of the best instrumentals FC has ever recorded, "Donahue's "Tokyo"."

As Denny was now married to Lucas, the next step should not have come as a surprise, but a few eyebrows were raised when Denny appeared on the 1974 release Live Convention (**) (also released under the title A Moveable Feast) recorded live in London and Sidney. As usual with FC live albums you get versions of "Sloth" and "Matty Groves," but they also treat you to Dylan's "Down in the Flood," a new instrumental medley called "Fiddlestix" and the old pop song "Something You Got." Quite a nice live album, but a resting point in the FC career.

During the recording of the next studio album Mattacks left and on half the album Bruce Rowland, ex-Grease Band and drummer on the original version of Jesus Christ Superstar, can be heard in his place. The resulting LP, Rising for the Moon (**), released in 1975, is a bleak affair. The main mood is mellow. It is the first FC studio album since the debut not to contain any traditional songs or tunes, and the first since Unhalfbricking not to have any instrumentals. Denny, Lucas and Swarbrick provides the songs with Denny winning the competition. Her "Stranger to Himself," "Dawn" (written with Dyble) and "One More Chance" are the strongest tracks.

The final days?

And then it was all chaos again. Dyble, Denny and Lucas left, and the remaining trio recorded an album with various musicians, including Martin Carthy and the then-popular duo Gallagher and Lyle. The result is Gottle O'Geer (*) (May 1976), a record for which there are very few excuses. Probably "Limeys Lament" could pass off as a musical joke, but the rest should rest in peace. The most interesting feature is that SN returned, although only as engineer and guest musician.

A short-lived version of the band, including Breton guitarist Dan Ar Bras, toured for a few months, and then it seemed like FC was history. However, a new FC four-piece with Swarbrick, Pegg, BR and Nicol began touring in small venues. In July 1977, they appeared on record again, this time with Phonogram. Bonny Bunch of Roses (***) is a return to folk rock with three traditional songs, one each by Thompson and Ralph McTell and only one by Swarbrick. There are two instrumentals, another one from Pegg and the traditional medley "Royal Seleccion No 13," now a regular in FC concerts.

We get a very powerful FC this time, more lively than the past versions. At the same time they seemed more relaxed, playing as if they had nothing to prove anymore.

The same goes for the follow-up album, Tipplers Tales (***) from 1978, a lovely record in its unpretentiousness. Once again we get a bunch of traditionals, sometimes interlarded with tunes. Pegg turns out to be a great supplier of instrumentals. There are three from him this time. If this record had been released a decade later, it would have been pronounced a classic. Now it is best remembered for the powerful "John Barleycorn."

Then it was almost over again. FC did not prove the golden goose for their new record company; they were released from their contract and given a substantial sum of money for not making any more records. They did one last tour with a subsequent live album released as Farewell, Farewell (**) in September 1979 on a new record company founded by Pegg with his share of the money from Phonogram.

A new beginning

Pegg went off to join Jethro Tull, Nicol played with the Albion Band, and Swarbrick recorded solo albums for Transtlantic. Where BR went, no one knows. But there were the annual reunions in August each year, reunions which started out as "one-offs" but eventually developed into the Cropredy festival.

Some off these reunions were recorded. The 1981 one at Broughton Castle was released on LP, Moat on the Ledge (**); 1982 year's reunion turned up as a cassette called AT2, complete with an ET pastiche on the cover; and 1983 year's festival became a double cassette called The Boot. The new millennium saw the release of AT2/The Boot (**) as a 4 CD-box. Hopefully the later recordings, The Other Boot and The Third Leg will get the same treatment. The money from the cassettes helped to run the festival and to establish Woodworm Records.

As the festival grew, so did interest in a proper reformation of FC; and in 1985 it was time. Pegg, Mattacks and Nicol went into the studio to record another FC album, this time on their own label. Swarbrick turned the offer down due to his commitments with the newly founded group Whippersnapper, that incidentally included Chris Leslie, so Ric Sanders, whom Nicol had met in the Albion Band was invited to play on the record, and later to join the group.

Glady's Leap (***) from 1985 was a strong return for FC. It also gave the band a new direction, playing songs by contemporary songwriters working within a traditional framework. Ralph McTell provides three songs on the album, one co-written with Mattacks and one with Nicol. "Hiring Fair" is already considered a classic FC track, and "Bird from the Mountain" is one of the few songs in FC's history where Pegg takes lead vocals. But for me the stand-out track is "Honour and Praise," written by Jon Richards. It is an epic ballad about man's hunt for glory.

After the release, the band were joined by multi-instrumentalist Martin Allcock to become a touring band, Pegg sharing duties between FC and Jethro Tull. The most stable of all FC-lineups was formed.

Glady's Leap only had one instrumental, but this was corrected by the next album, 1986's Expletive Delighted (**), FC's only all-instrumental album. In true FC tradition, the cover shows the members with black tape across their mouths, and the last words on the back cover are "Lyric Sheet enclosed." Most of the tunes are newly written, usually by RS or MA. "Portmeiron" by RS is already a classic among FC-fans; the closing "Hanks for the Memory" brings back Dyble and Thompson for a medley of Shadows tunes. My favourite is John Kirkpatrick's 5/8-tune "The Gas Almost Works," a tune that was not mentioned on the original cover.

It was now time for another live album, although a counterfeit one. With the 20th Anniversary coming up Island wanted an album. With no time to do a proper concert LP, FC went into the studio and did live versions of some classic tracks, including "Matty Groves," the first in a number of reworkings of the song, and "Crazy Man Michael" with Nicol on vocals. It was released with the audience sounds from a John Martyn concert under the title In Real Time (***). The record shows the high level of musicianship within this lineup. It also shows the development of Nicol from a supplier of vocal harmonies to a lead singer of substance.

The 1989 release Red and Gold (***) is a sadly overlooked record. It is worth owning for the title track alone. It is a wonderful tale of a man who witnesses the battle of Cropredy Bridge during the English Civil War. Ralph McTell's song takes place somewhere in the twilight zone between dreams and reality. The album also boasts instrumentals from both RS and MA and Huw Williams' lovely "Summer Before the War."

The Five Seasons (***) from 1990 has many fine moments but somewhat lacks direction. On "The Card Song," FC are back like good old folk rockers. On "All Your Beauty," they are in danger of turning into a country combo, and on "The Wounded Whale," MA shows ambitions of combining symphonic rock with folk song.

Then it was anniversary time again. This time the group decided to keep it within the family and their performance at the Cropredy Festival 1992 was recorded. The proceedings were marred by RS having an unfortunate encounter with a plate glass window some time before the festival and therefore being unable to play his violin. Chris Leslie stood in for him leaving RS with some keyboards and announcing the guests.

The 1993 double CD, 25th Anniversary Concert (***), was the result. It is a run-down of some of the classic FC tracks with guests providing other songs as well. CL sings "I Wandered By a Brookside." Robert Plant performs Dylan's "Girl from the North Country," and Hutchings supplies a completely new set of lyrics for "Million Dollar Bash." He is not the only past member present. Swarbrick sings "Rosie," and both Thompson and Dyble are there on a number of tracks. Even BR is back, banging a tambourine. As for the ever-changing nature of "Matty Groves," this time MA turns it into heavy metal with a screaming electric guitar. Maybe it was Robert Plant's presence that inspired him.

Having been four years since their last studio effort FC decided to do the next one rather thoroughly. They invited a number of songwriters to contribute, recorddemos for the members to work with and then they are ready to go into a studio. They came out with 15 tracks to make up Jewel in the Crown (***) (January 1995), the strongest album by this line-up. The opening is superb. The title track by Julie Matthews is a rocky item dealing with Britain's colonial past. It is folloed by Steve Tilston's beautiful "Slipjigs and Reels," a haunting story of the wild west, and MA's "Surfeit of Lampreys," a strong contender for the best FC instrumental ever -- beaten on the finish line by "Tokyo." The rest is not as strong but "The Islands" by McTell and MA, "London Danny" by Jez Lowe and "Red Tide" all stand out.

Changes again

With Pegg out of Jethro Tull and Mattacks doing lots of work with others, there were gaps in the calendars that could not be filled by proper FC tours. So, Fairport Acoustic Convention was created. It also gave the lads the opportunity to perform in smaller venues. This set-up is still used to this day, with FC performing with a drummer on the winter tour and at festivals and bigger venues, and as an "acoustic" four piece for the rest of the time.

In March 1996 the only FAC album of yet was released. Old New Borrowed Blue (**) is a strange collection. The first seven tracks are studio recorded. Top tracks are "Woodworm Swing," a jazzy instrumental by RS, and "Lallah Rookh," a lovely tune by MA with words by CL. The rest is a live recording with the band performing songs from the FC back catalogue and other recorded items like "Foolish You" by Wade Hemsworth and Loudon Wainwright's "Swimming Song."

Sometimes the Acoustic Convention are just FC without a drummer. At other times, they are nearly an English impersonation of a bluegrass band. Early January 1997, just before the winter tour MA left. CL was called in as a replacement, getting little more than a week to settle in. Instead of just performing old classics, they decided to add seven new songs and tunes to their repertoire. These turned up on their next album, 1997's Who Knows Where the Time Goes (****), a record that truly has gained from most of the songs being performed live before they were recorded. The fourth star is taking a risk, but I suspect this will be considered a classic FC album in years to come. There are lots of good songs on it, like CL's "John Gaudie," Anna Ryder's "Sailing Boat," the traditional "Spanish Main" and Kristina Olsen's "Dangerous." As a bonus you get a live recording of the title track with Nicol singing and a lovely string arrangement by RS.

It was anniversary time again. At Cropredy, FC played for a total of six hours.

On Friday night they performed songs up to Full House. In May 1998 a 3 CD-box is released capturing some of the moments. You also get a new song from Hutchings, "Wings," about the early days and a stunning version of "Rain" (Lennon-McCartney) by Dan Ar Bras. As a bonus, there is a studio recording of traditional song "Seventeen Come Sunday" and an evil April Fool's Joke played on Swarbrick many years ago. The Cropredy Box (***) could be viewed on as FC's Anthology.

In March 1998, there was again a line-up change. Mattacks left, and Gerry Conway moved in. The first result is a live CD from that year's festival, imaginatively called Cropredy 98 (*), a mix of FC tracks and guest spots. Though not a bad album it is almost unnecessary, since there is a superb video on general release from the same year, "Beyond the Ledge."

The latest release, 1999's The Wood & The Wire (***), has been the cause of much debate in fan circles. One of the reasons is that is the break away from the formula FC has used for the past decade and a half. Instead of choosing among other people's songs, they have concentrated on their own, mostly written by CL. It also has a more acoustic feel to it than recent albums, a change that was brought about by CL replacing MA and GC standing in for Mattacks. With CL playing only acoustic instruments such as the mandolin, fiddle and mandola as opposed to MA's armoury of electric guitars and keyboards and GC being more of a percussionist than a drummer, the change is inevitable. The problem is that with sticking to your own songs, you have less to chose from. Nevertheless, there are some magic moments on the album, like the title track and "Banbury Fair." There are also two or three songs that do not add much. But to be on the safe side FC added a couple of borrowed songs as well. Both "The Heart of the Song" by Peter Scrowther and "Rocky Road" by Steve Tilston stand out in a positive way; and their version of "Western Wynde" makes you wonder if they should not dig for more traditionals. But CL proves himself to be a very promising song writer indeed; and, if they can keep this line-up going, there could be another age of glory on the way for Fairport Convention.

[Lars Nilsson]

A complete discography can be found here. The official FC Web site is here.


http://www.fcfansite.fsnet.co.uk/

http://www.fairportconvention.co.uk/






Features: The Liege & Lief Story

Fairport Convention's Liege & Lief won 'Most Influential Folk Album of All Time' at the 2006 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

Mark McCulloch tells the story of the seminal1969 LP.

During 1969, the members of Fairport Convention were living in a rented Queen Anne mansion in Farley Chamberlayne near Winchester. The youngsters were recovering from a motorway crash that had resulted in the death of drummer Martin Lamble and their friend Jeannie Franklyn and injured several other band members.

Their previous album, Unhalfbricking, released earlier that year, had been hailed as 'perfect' by Fusion magazine, with Rolling Stone calling it 'Fairport Convention at their best'.

Unhalfbricking showed the band beginning to edge away from their original US West Coast influences towards a more traditional English sound. Bass guitarist Ashley Hutchings was spending time researching traditional songs at Cecil Sharpe House , the home of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, while vocalist Sandy Denny was also increasing her repertoire of English folk music – occasionally dismissing an excited Hutchings' latest find with: "Oh, that one. I've sung it for years."

Indeed, it was Denny who had introduced Fairport to the song A Sailor's Life, arguably their first proper step into the genre that would become known as British folk-rock.

The result of these influences was Liege & Lief, the LP that marked the transition of Fairport Convention from a rock band that used folk music as an influence on their sound, into a band that specialised in reinterpreting traditional English music.

Many of the songs were premiered on long-time supporter John Peel's BBC radio show Top Gear. Peel commented that these were the songs that would "sail them into uncharted waters", and as was so often the case, Peel was correct.

Fairport had thrown themselves into the electrification of ballads, myths, and rollicking jigs with innovative and stimulating effect. Guitarist Simon Nicol recalls new member, drummer Dave Mattacks "getting a tremendous charge out of it, inventing a whole new form of drumming without knowing it."

Fiddler Dave Swarbrick, a guest on Unhalfbricking was now a full member of the band, forging an inspired partnership with guitarist and songwriter Richard Thompson.

The individual talents were balanced perfectly. From the driving pace of Matty Groves to the haunting vocals of Crazy Man Michael, Sandy Denny's voice and Richard Thompson's guitar were the perfect conduits for this seminal recording.

With Liege & Lief, Fairport had invented British folk-rock in spectacular style. It was a milestone album for them, and an inspiration for many others. Even after more than thirty years, it is still one of the biggest-selling British folk albums, and has been consistently voted into 'Best of' lists by pundits and public alike.

For example, Q magazine feted Liege & Lief in their list of 'Best Folk Albums' list, describing it as "...consciously revivalist at a time when folk was drearily parochial, Liege & Lief revolutionised the genre. Swarbrick supplied the cachet, the band redefined the meaning of 'Trad Arr' and Sandy Denny sang like an angel. Folk-rock's defining moment."

Many other reviews testify to the enduring quality of the album. Take Uncut for instance: "Liege & Lief set out a template for how rock and British folk could fuse together and become at once mystical and vital." Similarly, The Wire said: "The group's masterpiece... this is one of the monumentally great records of the last 40 years... a focused and coherent work, the whole record steams along at an excited pace."

However, the album was to be the last from that classic Fairport Convention line-up. Sandy Denny left to form Fotheringay with her future husband Trevor Lucas, Ashley Hutchings went on to found Steeleye Span, and Richard Thompson was to leave after the next Fairport album, Full House.

As Nigel Williamson, writing in The Times, noted in retrospect: "Not only did Fairport Convention invent English folk-rock but they effectively destroyed it, too. Nobody could top the electrified versions of trad ballads such as Tam Lin and Matty Groves on their classic, genre-defining Liege & Lief – after that there was nowhere left to go."

Ashley Hutchings probably summed up Liege & Lief best, though. Speaking to Q magazine in 1999, he said: "It's a monster album. I love to listen to it even now."

Mark McCulloch, February 2006

Read more about Fairport's history on this website. For a tracklist of Liege & Lief and Fairport's full discography, visit the excellent Expletive Delighted "unofficialy official" fansite (http://www.fcfansite.fsnet.co.uk/)