Folk rock group Fairport Convention is usually credited as the first British folk rock band. Founded in 1967 and initially covering songs by artists such as Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, they developed a devoted niche following by providing electrified and upbeat versions of traditional folk tunes alongside their own compositions. In a career spanning over 50 years, notable for numerous changes of line-up as well as continued success, Fairport Convention have issued over 50 albums.
Release date | Title |
---|---|
June 1968 | Fairport Convention |
January 1969 | What We Did on Our Holidays (titled Fairport Convention in the USA) |
July 1969 | Unhalfbricking |
December 1969 | Liege & Lief |
July 1970 | Full House |
June 1971 | Angel Delight |
November 1971 | "Babbacombe" Lee |
March 1973 | Rosie |
October 1973 | Nine |
June 1975 | Rising for the Moon |
May 1976 | Gottle O'Geer – credited to "Fairport featuring Dave Swarbrick" in the US, to "Fairport" in the UK |
July 1977 | The Bonny Bunch of Roses |
May 1978 | Tipplers Tales |
August 1985 | Gladys' Leap |
August 1986 | Expletive Delighted! |
1987 | Heyday |
December 1988 | Red & Gold |
December 1990 | The Five Seasons |
January 1995 | Jewel in the Crown |
May 1996 | Old New Borrowed Blue – Studio/Live, credited to "Fairport Acoustic Convention" |
June 1997 | Who Knows Where the Time Goes? |
November 1999 | The Wood and the Wire |
March 2000 | Wishfulness Waltz (New version of the Who Knows Where The Time Goes?, with a new title, new artwork, and 4 bonus tracks taken from The Cropredy Box) |
February 2002 | XXXV |
September 2004 | Over the Next Hill |
February 2007 | Sense of Occasion |
January 2011 | Festival Bell |
January 2012 | By Popular Request |
January 2015 | Myths and Heroes |
January 2017 | 50:50@50 – Studio/Live |
January 2020 | Shuffle and Go |
Date | Title |
---|---|
July 1974 | Fairport Live Convention (titled A Moveable Feast in the USA) |
January 1977 | Live at the L.A. Troubadour (Recorded Sept 1970) |
1979 | Farewell Farewell (aka Encore Encore) |
1982 | Moat on the Ledge – Live at Broughton Castle (Recorded 15 August 1981) |
June 1986 | House Full: Live at the L.A. Troubadour (Recorded Sept 1970) |
December 1987 | In Real Time: Live '87 (recorded "as live" in the studio) |
October 1994 | 25th Anniversary Concert |
1997 | Encore, encore |
1998 | The Cropredy Box (3-CD set) |
1999 | Cropredy 98 [1] |
2000 | Kind Fortune (2-CD set – the first live, the second a compilation) |
2002 | From Cropredy to Portmeirion (Recorded 1990) |
2002 | The Airing Cupboard Tapes (Recorded 1971–1974) |
2002 | Cropredy 2002 (2-CD set) |
2004 | The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood (2-CD set + interview DVD, recorded at Cropredy 1986 & 1987) |
2004 | Cropredy Capers: 25 Years of Fairport Convention and Friends at Cropredy Festival (4-CD set) |
2005 | Journeyman's Grace |
2005 | Acoustically Down Under (Recorded 1996) |
2006 | Off the Desk |
2007 | Live at the BBC |
2007 | Who Knows? 1975 |
2007 | On the Ledge (2-CD set, 35th Anniversary Concert) |
2008 | Live at Cropredy '08 |
January 2012 | Babbacombe Lee Live Again |
August 2013 | Live at the LA Troubadour (live album featuring Sandy Denny issued on the Rising For the Moon Deluxe Edition) |
2018 | What We Did on Our Saturday |
2021 | Off the Desk 2020 |
January 2023 | Full House For Sale |
January 2024 | A Live Recording – UK Tour October 2023 |
Release date | Title |
---|---|
1972 | The History of Fairport Convention |
1975 | Tour Sampler (UK Only issue) |
July 1976 | Fairport Chronicles [2] USA Only A&M Records SP3530 |
1983 | Folk With Poke (Instrumentals And Sloth) Studio / live (Australia-only compilation) |
1991 | The Woodworm Years (includes solo material from Dave Pegg, Simon Nicol, Martin Allcock, and Ric Sanders) |
1995 | A Chronicle of Sorts 1967 – 1969 |
1998 | Close to the Wind (Various songs taken from Red and Gold, The Five Seasons, and the bonus track on the 1995 re-release of Red & Gold) |
1999 | Meet on the Ledge: The Classic Years 1967–1975 (2-CD set) |
1999 | Fiddlestix: The Best of Fairport, 1972–1984 |
2001 | Some of Our Yesterdays |
2002 | Fairport Convention (2002 compilation) |
2002 | Then & Now 1982 – 1996: The Best of Fairport Convention |
February 2003 | Rhythm of the Times (1985–1990) |
2003 | Shines Like Gold (3-CD set) |
2003 | Across the Decades (2-CD set) |
2006 | The Classic Collection (2-CD set) |
January 2009 | Fame and Glory |
2017 | The Essential Fairport Convention: Who Knows Where The Time Goes? (3-CD set) |
2017 | Come All Ye: The First Ten Years (7-CD set) |
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, and Matthews later left during the recording of their third album.
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".
Dave Pegg is an English multi-instrumentalist and record producer, primarily a bass guitarist. He is the longest-serving member of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention and has been bassist with a number of folk and rock groups including the Ian Campbell Folk Group and Jethro Tull.
David Cyril Eric Swarbrick was an English folk musician and singer-songwriter. He was one of the most highly regarded musicians produced by the second British folk revival, contributing to some of the most important groups and projects of the 1960s, and he became a much sought-after session musician, which led him throughout his career to work with many of the major figures in folk and folk rock music.
Iain Matthews is an English musician and singer-songwriter. He was an original member of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention from 1967 to 1969 before leaving to form his own band, Matthews Southern Comfort, which had a UK number one in 1970 with their cover of Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock". In 1979, his recording of Terence Boylan's "Shake It" reached No. 13 on the US charts.
What We Did on Our Holidays is the second studio album by the English folk rock band Fairport Convention, and the first of three released in 1969. It was their first album to feature singer-songwriter Sandy Denny. The album also showed a move towards the folk rock for which the band became noted, including tracks later to become perennial favourites such as "Fotheringay" and the song traditionally used to close live concerts, "Meet on the Ledge".
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.
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".
Full House is a 1970 album by British folk rock group Fairport Convention, their fifth since their debut, Fairport Convention in 1968, and their first without a female vocalist.
Unhalfbricking is the third studio album by the English folk rock band Fairport Convention and their second album released in 1969. It is seen as a transitional album in their history and marked a further musical move away from American influences towards more traditional English folk songs that had begun on their previous album, What We Did on Our Holidays and reached its peak on the follow-up, Liege & Lief, released later the same year.
Simon John Breckenridge Nicol is an English guitarist, singer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He was a founding member of British folk rock group Fairport Convention and is the only founding member still in the band. He has also been involved with the Albion Band and a wide range of musical projects, both as a collaborator, producer and as a solo artist. He has received several awards for his work and career.
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.
"If You Gotta Go, Go Now" (sometimes subtitled "(Or Else You Got to Stay All Night)") is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1964. The first released version was as a single in the US by the UK group the Liverpool Five in July 1965, but this did not chart in the US despite receiving much airplay, particularly in the Pacific Northwest. Another British band, Manfred Mann, then issued the song as a single in September 1965 and had a number 2 hit. Fairport Convention also had a chart hit, with a French version, in 1969.
"Meet on the Ledge" is a song written by British singer-songwriter Richard Thompson and recorded by British folk rock band Fairport Convention in 1968 on Island Records. It was their second single.
The History of Fairport Convention is the first compilation of tracks by Fairport Convention, released in 1972.
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.
Expletive Delighted! is a 1986 album by British folk rock band Fairport Convention, their fifteenth studio album since their debut in 1968. It is the band's only album consisting solely of instrumental tracks, despite the claim "Lyric sheet enclosed" on the album cover.
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.
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.