Fairport Chronicles

Last updated

Fairport Chronicles
Fairport Chronicles.album.jpg
Compilation album by
Released1976
Genre Rock, folk rock
Label A&M
Producer Trevor Lucas, John Wood
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [1]
Christgau's Record Guide A− [2]
Tom Hull – on the Web B+ ( Five Pointed Star Solid.svg Five Pointed Star Solid.svg ) [3]

Fairport Chronicles is a 1976 compilation album of the British folk-rock band Fairport Convention, including songs from 1968 to the departure of the last original member in 1972. The double album is unique in that it was only released in the US, features original material and American covers over the traditional material usually associated with Fairport, and includes songs from side projects. All of the material was originally issued in the USA on A&M Records, which explains the exclusion of songs taken from their first, pre-Sandy Denny album, which was only later released in the United States.

Contents

History

A mere two traditional songs are present: "Bridge Over The River Ash" from 1971's Angel Delight , and "Tam Lin" from 1969's seminal British folk-rock recording, Liege and Lief . Originals include Richard Thompson's "Tale in Hard Time", "Meet on the Ledge", "Genesis Hall", and "Farewell, Farewell" (all sung by Sandy Denny); Denny's "Who Knows Where The Time Goes" (a hit for Judy Collins and later covered by Eva Cassidy), "Come All Ye" (co-written with bassist Ashley "Tyger" Hutchings), "Listen, Listen" (from Denny's album, Sandy ), and "Fotheringay"; "Walk Awhile", "Now Be Thankful", and the anti-war statement "Sloth" by Richard Thompson and fiddle/mandolin player Dave Swarbrick; and the gentle instrumental, "End of a Holiday", by perhaps the must unsung individual in the band, second guitarist Simon Nicol.

Although closely associated with the British folk movement, Fairport, from their formation in 1967, excelled at covering American folk and pop tunes, especially those of Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. Although no Mitchell songs made it onto this compilation, Bob Dylan is covered with "I'll Keep It with Mine", "Million Dollar Bash", and "Percy's Song". One of the album's highlights is Fotheringay's interpretation of Gordon Lightfoot's "The Way I Feel" (Fotheringay was Denny's post-Fairport band). The other two covers – Dion DiMucci's "My Girl The Month of May" and Buddy Holly's "Learning The Game" – are taken from the one-off album Rock On by an aggregation of Fairport members and friends collectively known as The Bunch.

Track listing

Side one
  1. "Tale in Hard Time" (Richard Thompson) –3:24
  2. "Who Knows Where the Time Goes" (Sandy Denny) –5:08
  3. "Walk Awhile" (Richard Thompson, Dave Swarbrick) –3:57
  4. "Come All Ye" (Sandy Denny, Ashley Hutchings) –4:55
  5. "Listen, Listen" (Sandy Denny) –3:56
Side two
  1. "Bridge Over the River Ash" (trad. arr. Fairport Convention) –2:10
  2. "I'll Keep It with Mine" (Bob Dylan) –5:50
  3. "My Girl the Month of May" (Dion DiMucci) –2:12
  4. "Million Dollar Bash" (Bob Dylan) –2:55
  5. "The Way I Feel" (Gordon Lightfoot) –4:44
  6. "Learning the Game" (Buddy Holly) –2:05
Side three
  1. "Meet on the Ledge" (Richard Thompson) –2:29
  2. "Percy's Song" (Bob Dylan) –7:52
  3. "Now Be Thankful" (Richard Thompson, Dave Swarbrick) –2:22
  4. "Tam Lin" (trad. arr. Fairport Convention) –7:20
Side four
  1. "Genesis Hall" (Richard Thompson) –3:37
  2. "Fotheringay" (Sandy Denny) –3:03
  3. "Sloth" (Richard Thompson, Dave Swarbrick) –9:19
  4. "Farewell, Farewell" (Richard Thompson) –2:38
  5. "End of a Holiday" (Simon Nicol) –1:06

Personnel

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fairport Convention</span> British folk rock group

Fairport Convention are an English folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater. They started out influenced by American folk rock, with a set list dominated by Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell songs and a sound that earned them the nickname "the British Jefferson Airplane". Vocalists Judy Dyble and Iain Matthews joined them before the recording of their self-titled debut in 1968; afterwards, Dyble was replaced by Sandy Denny, with Matthews later leaving during the recording of their third album.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandy Denny</span> English folk rock singer-songwriter (1947–1978)

Alexandra Elene MacLean Denny was an English singer-songwriter who was lead singer of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. She has been described as "the pre-eminent British folk rock singer".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fotheringay</span> British folk rock band

Fotheringay was a short-lived British folk rock group, formed in 1970 by singer-songwriter and musician Sandy Denny on her departure from Fairport Convention. The band drew its name from her 1968 composition "Fotheringay" about Fotheringhay Castle, in which Mary, Queen of Scots had been imprisoned. The song originally appeared on the 1969 Fairport Convention album, What We Did on Our Holidays, Denny's first album with that group. The original Fotheringay released one self-titled album but disbanded at the start of 1971 as Denny embarked on a solo career. Forty-five years later, a new version of the band re-formed featuring the three original surviving members together with other musicians, and toured in 2015 and 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trevor Lucas</span> Musical artist

Trevor George Lucas was an Australian folk singer, a member of Fairport Convention and one of the founders of Fotheringay. He mainly worked as a singer-songwriter and guitarist but also produced many albums and composed for the film industry toward the end of his career. He married three times, his first wife was Cheryl, his second wife was fellow folk musician Sandy Denny (1973–1978), and his third wife was Elizabeth Hurtt (1979–1989). Lucas died on 4 February 1989 of a heart attack in his sleep, in Sydney, aged 45. According to Australian rock music historian Ian McFarlane, Lucas "was one of the most acclaimed singer-songwriters Australia ever produced and although he was held in high regard in UK folk rock circles, he remained virtually unknown in his homeland".

<i>(guitar, vocal)</i> 1976 compilation album by Richard Thompson

(guitar, vocal) is a 1976 album by Richard Thompson. It was released by Island Records as a career retrospective after he and his wife Linda had gone into semi-retirement from the business of making and performing music following the release of Pour Down Like Silver (1975).

<i>Liege & Lief</i> 1969 studio album by Fairport Convention

Liege & Lief is the fourth album by the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. It is the third album the group released in the UK during 1969, all of which prominently feature Sandy Denny as lead female vocalist, as well as the first to feature future long-serving personnel Dave Swarbrick and Dave Mattacks on violin/mandolin and drums, respectively, as full band members. It is also the first Fairport album on which all songs are either adapted (freely) from traditional British and Celtic folk material, or else are original compositions written and performed in a similar style. Although Denny and founding bass player Ashley Hutchings quit the band before the album's release, Fairport Convention has continued to the present day to make music strongly based within the British folk rock idiom, and are still the band most prominently associated with it.

<i>"Babbacombe" Lee</i> 1971 studio album by Fairport Convention

"Babbacombe" Lee is a 1971 album by British folk rock group Fairport Convention, which tells the life story of John Babbacombe Lee, a Victorian-era alleged murderer who was condemned to death but was reprieved after the gallows failed on three occasions to work properly. After the commercial and chart success of its predecessor, Angel Delight, the album sold disappointingly, though it was critically acclaimed, and is regarded by the authors of The Electric Muse (1975) as the first "folk rock opera". It was the band's seventh album since their debut in 1968.

<i>Sandy</i> (Sandy Denny album) 1972 studio album by Sandy Denny

Sandy is the second solo album by British folk rock musician Sandy Denny. It was released in September 1972.

<i>Rising for the Moon</i> 1975 studio album by Fairport Convention

Rising for the Moon is the tenth studio album by the British folk rock band Fairport Convention, released in 1975. It reached number 52 in the UK albums charts. This was the last Fairport album to feature vocalist Sandy Denny.

<i>Rosie</i> (album) 1973 studio album by Fairport Convention

Rosie is a 1973 album by British folk rock band Fairport Convention, their eighth album since their debut in 1968.

<i>The North Star Grassman and the Ravens</i> 1971 studio album by Sandy Denny

The North Star Grassman and the Ravens is a 1971 album by English folk rock singer-songwriter Sandy Denny. Built mostly around her own compositions, The North Star Grassman and the Ravens is distinguished by its elusive lyrics and unexpected harmonies.

<i>Fairport Live Convention</i> 1974 live album by Fairport Convention

Fairport Live Convention is a 1974 live album by British folk rock band Fairport Convention originally released in 1974 by Island Records. It was recorded live at the Sydney Opera House, the London Rainbow and the Fairfield Halls, Croydon by John Wood and mixed down at Sound Techniques, London. It was produced by Trevor Lucas & John Wood.

<i>Heyday</i> (Fairport Convention album) 1987 live album by Fairport Convention

Heyday: the BBC Radio Sessions 1968–69 is an album by the English folk rock band Fairport Convention first released in 1987. As its title suggests, it consists of live versions of songs recorded for John Peel's Top Gear radio programmes.

<i>Who Knows Where the Time Goes?</i> (Sandy Denny album) 1985 compilation album by Sandy Denny

Who Knows Where the Time Goes? is a retrospective compilation of the work of English folk rock singer Sandy Denny issued in 1985. It is a four LP boxed set released on the Island Records label in the UK and Germany and on Hannibal/Carthage Records in the US, later reissued as a three CD set. It includes released and previously unreleased recordings from 1967 to 1977, live performances, outtakes and demos from Denny's solo career, and with Fairport Convention, Fotheringay and Strawbs.

<i>Gold Dust</i> (Sandy Denny album) 1998 live album by Sandy Denny

Gold Dust is a live album by the late English folk rock singer Sandy Denny. It documents one of Denny's last public performances and was recorded at London's "Sound Circus" venue at the Royalty Theatre, Portugal Street, near Aldwych, London on 27 November 1977. The album features many of her classic songs both as a solo artist and as a member of Fairport Convention and Fotheringay and remains the most extensive documentation of Sandy's live work with a backing band. The album was not released on the label originally planned owing to stated technical problems with the master tape, and was only released on a different label twenty years after her death after various guitar and backing vocal tracks parts were re-recorded by Jerry Donahue and others.

<i>Farewell, Farewell</i> 1979 live album by Fairport Convention

Farewell, Farewell is a live Fairport Convention album recorded on the band's farewell tour in 1979. It is the last Fairport album to feature fiddler/mandolinist Dave Swarbrick. Tracks are drawn from three performances of the Farewell Tour during Spring 1979: at Birmingham University, Southampton University and at Derby Assembly Rooms. Most of the songs are performances of already familiar tracks from previous studio albums. In 1997 to mark the 30th anniversary of Fairport Convention, the album was remastered, repackaged and re-released as "Encore Encore". This version included the 1980 studio single "Rubber Band" plus three additional tracks recorded on the 1979 tour: "The Hens March Through the Midden/Four Poster Bed", "Flatback Caper" and "Dirty Linen".

<i>Gottle OGeer</i> 1976 studio album by Fairport Convention

Gottle O'Geer is the eleventh studio album by English folk rock band Fairport Convention. The album was released through Island Records in May 1976.

<i>Fotheringay 2</i> 2008 studio album by Fotheringay

Fotheringay 2 is the second album by the group formed by Sandy Denny after she left Fairport Convention in 1969. The band was short-lived, and broke up in 1971 after only a small number of tracks for this album had been completed, some of which then subsequently appeared on other compilations. The remainder were assembled, with additional studio recording as needed, from masters in various states of completeness by Jerry Donahue and finally released in 2008. Two songs originally worked on for this album were re-recorded and appeared on the first solo Denny album The North Star Grassman and the Ravens in 1971, while live versions of others had previously been known to collectors from recordings of BBC radio broadcasts and live concerts, as subsequently compiled on the 2015 release Nothing More: The Collected Fotheringay.

<i>Live at the BBC</i> (Fairport Convention album) 2007 compilation album by Fairport Convention

Live at the BBC is a 2007 compilation album by British folk rock band Fairport Convention. It consists of tracks recorded for the BBC for various radio programmes between 1968 and 1974 and comprises four CDs in a fold-out package with a fifty-page booklet including song lyrics and numerous contemporary photographs.

<i>By Popular Request</i> 2012 studio album by Fairport Convention

By Popular Request is a 2012 album by British folk rock band Fairport Convention, released in January 2012 on the band's own Matty Grooves Records label. The band have released over 30 albums since their debut, Fairport Convention, in 1968. The album consists of studio re-recordings of previous material as selected by popular request via the band's website.

References

  1. Deming, M. (2011). "Fairport Chronicles – Fairport Convention | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  2. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: F". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies . Ticknor & Fields. ISBN   089919026X . Retrieved 24 February 2019 via robertchristgau.com.
  3. Hull, Tom (12 October 2020). "Music Week". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved 14 October 2020.