If you're calling them Fairpoint convention, I wouldn't call you a dyed in the wool fan. |
From the Leige and Leif album. I still have that album from 1969 or 1970. There was another English folk/rock group from that era that I also enjoyed, saw them at the Spectrum in the early 70's with Fairport. Remember the group Linsisfarne and "Lady Eleanor"? They were superb. |
Richard Thompson...what a great guitar player and singer/
songwriter. |
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Tubegroover,
This is getting to be a pretty amusing thread. |
DISCLAIMER ON POTENTIAL SPELLING ERRORS - it's been a while since I've visited this material, so spell correct for your own pleasure only.
Along with Lindisfarne, Pentangle, and (a little later) Renaissance and Steeleye Span you had that whole folk baroque thing going - great chick singer coupled with expert guitarist playing vaguely minstrel driven material. The guitar playing was just about 100% acoustic. Bert Jansch (Clapton and Page both cite him as a major influence) and John Renbourne (just ungodly skilled) of Pentangle always set the standard for me. Then, +/- 1970, Richard Thompson's "Sloth" (from (IIRC) Full House) just changes the world.
One listen and you knew that this guy was just badass. |
Don't neglect Davey Graham in this crowd.Extraordinarily gifted guitarist.Hey Roxy don't get on me about spelling of Davey/Davy I have records featuring both spellings.Loved this music growing up,continue to enjoy it's timeless qualities in the modern era.Saw Fairport,Steeleye Span,Sandy Denny, Fotheringay Richard & Linda Thompson and have many wonderful memories of these shows. |
wasn't Richard Thompson's "did she jump" (or did she fall) about Sandy Denny? Still listen to Pentangle & Unhalfbricking regularly. |
I won't get on you about your spelling Casey. In fact, I want to thank everyone for reminding me of the folk/baroque (love that name) genre. I was never deeply into it at the time, but always enjoyed the limited exposure that I had, and now I will start collecting some of these old treasures.
There were certainly some great singers as well as instrumentalists in these bands.
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Another artist is Ian (or Iain) Matthews who sang with Fairport Convention and then had a solo career (Matthew's Southern Comfort, etc.). I bought an LP, "If You See Thro' My Eyes" fairly recently at a Half Price Books in Austin. It was a reissue and sounds great, really one of those records you just missed at the time. Richard Thompson plays on it as well. |
Love Fairport and I've been privileged to call the current band members (Pegg, Nicol, Sanders, Leslie, Conway) good friends. While the studio recordings over the last 15 years aren't groundbreaking in the way the earliest catalog is, for musicianship and production they are my favorite. |
No one mentions Annie Brigss? The one who started it all. |
Well we could go back a little bit further than Annie and include the Chieftains but maybe they don't qualify since they're Irish and aren't strictly folk/rock, their repertoire spreads out a bit more. How far back can this go? So far as musicianship goes the Chieftains are right there with the best of them and still going strong. What's more wonderful is the staggering list of guest performers at their live performances.
How'd I do this time Roxy? |
RIP Alan Hull. You were one of the greats who not many know about. |
As a kid from the States, I wasn't plugged into the early UK folk/psych
scene at the time. (I'm not counting the acts that got famous, but some of
the more obscure ones). I've started to dig into this stuff and it is wonderful.
L&L and Unhalfbricking (or whatever that FC title is) are both wonderful- the
original island pink labels are pricey, but the pink rims can be found
relatively cheaply. I know someone who was very involved in this scene at
the time- he recommended that I read Joe Boyd's book, White Bicycles,
which was worthwhile. I've been digging into some of the more obscure
acts on Vertigo too- not exactly 'folk,' more psych/progressive- what an
interesting time in pop music. And stands up well today. Great fun to
discover what others already knew 40 plus years ago. |
Unhalfbricking is my favourite album of all time as is Sandy Denny my favourite performer- Fairport Live is fabulous as well. Found live performance at Abberts Field on CD quite recently, sadly not a very good pressing. And then there was Fotheringay...........what a time that was. |
Has anyone heard the 4 Men with Beards re issues of Fairport Convention's catalog? Any comments on sound quality? |
Lot's of stuff on the Net about 4 Men reissues. The only one I recall off the
top of my head is Dusty in Memphis, which was close to unlistenable. I later
replaced it with, I think, the Chad/Analogue Productions re-do. I'm not
against reissues, but I think you could find a UK pink rim for not a lot of
money. I haven't researched the deadwax for Fairport on Island but
because Island did not do its own pressings, there are sonic differences.
(Look up info on the '1 U', '2 U " vs the 'A' 'B' codes as it relates to
Island pressings - i think the difference is EMI v. Polydor but not sure how it
applies to the FC stuff). I have pink labels and pink rims of many of the
early Island releases. The early pressings sound more organic, but are
often noisier. The surfaces on the pink rims are quieter, but the records
aren't quite as vivid. That said, if you are willing to do the digging, you can
sometimes find pink rims with essentially the same deadwax info (and thus,
using the same metal parts/mastering) as the earlier pink label.
I have several records, including an early 'Free' record where the rim and
the earlier pink label have the same matrix info.
The rims are typically far cheaper than an early pink label and my suspicion
is, will sound much better than some newer reissue with questionable
source provenance. |
Thanks Whart. A bit of trivia the couple on the cover of Unhalfbricking is Sandy Denny's parents. The band and a photographer were driving all around looking for a suitable shot for this album and after three or four hours suggested they drop in and see mum and dad. The band is in the background having lunch. |
Qdrone,
On more than one occasion when listening to Unhalfbricking I wondered why the couple on the cover. Thanks for the bit of info. |
