| Full House | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | July 1970 | |||
| Recorded | February – April 1970 | |||
| Studio | Sound Techniques (London) | |||
| Genre | British folk rock | |||
| Length | 35:08 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer | Joe Boyd | |||
| Fairport Convention chronology | ||||
| ||||
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.
The album was their first without a female vocalist, as Sandy Denny had left to form Fotheringay. Founder member Ashley Hutchings had also left for Steeleye Span, and Dave Pegg had joined on bass. Richard Thompson was to leave the band for a solo career early the following year. [1]
As their previous album, Liege & Lief , had reinterpreted a number of traditional folk tunes, so did Full House. Many were sewn into two medleys, "Dirty Linen" and "Flatback Caper". The album also featured the nine-minute track "Sloth", which remained part of the group's live set for many years and has been described as "haunting, moody, dazzling". [1]
The original issue of Full House was intended to comprise the following tracks:
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Walk Awhile" | 3:57 |
| 2. | "Doctor of Physick" | 3:37 |
| 3. | "Dirty Linen" | 4:17 |
| 4. | "Sloth" | 9:19 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 5. | "Sir Patrick Spens" | 3:30 |
| 6. | "Flatback Caper" | 6:24 |
| 7. | "Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman" | 5:31 |
| 8. | "Flowers of the Forest" | 4:04 |
Test pressings were made following this sequence, but before the album was officially released, Richard Thompson requested that "Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman" (written by Thompson & Swarbrick) be removed, since he was not happy with his lead vocal; this removal was done at such a late stage that the first LP sleeves had already been printed with the song shown on the track listing. A black block had to be printed over the original list with the revised track listing overprinted in gold, but a few sleeves were issued to the public without the overprinting and with the incorrect track listing. All subsequent printings had the corrected track listing despite the fact that the sleeve notes still referred to the missing track. [2]
The album cover was a non-laminated gatefold sleeve featuring notes by Richard Thompson; these take the form of descriptions of spoof folk-games in which various characters participate, completed by a round-up of eventual scores. For example:
AT MAIDS MONEY: Some of the hottest dice-throwing for years. The Doctor's Druids egg stood him in good stead. Later protests by 11,000 Virgins of Cologne against cruel sports. Wandering Jew killed in brawl with Hangman, hacked in two with a ploughshare. [3]
| Chart (1970) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian (Kent Music Report) | 16 [4] |
Full House entered the British album charts on 18 July 1970, where it stayed for 11 weeks, peaking at number 13. [5]
Rolling Stone magazine's reviewer was enthusiastic, describing the album as "... an English equivalent to The Band ... they have soaked up enough of the tradition of their countryfolk that it begins to show all over, while they still maintain their roots in rock". [6]
Allmusic describe the album as "actually more viscerally exciting than its predecessor, Liege and Lief, if not quite as important as that record". [7]
At Fairport's Cropredy Convention 2022, the album’s line-up of Richard Thompson, Simon Nicol, Dave Mattacks, Dave Pegg (with Chris Leslie filling in for the late Dave Swarbrick) took to the Cropredy stage to perform the entire album. On January 3, 2023, the album was released to the public as a CD. fairportconvention
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Walk Awhile" | Richard Thompson, Dave Swarbrick [8] | 3:57 |
| 2. | "Dirty Linen [9] " | Traditional; arranged by Swarbrick | 4:17 |
| 3. | "Sloth" | Thompson, Swarbrick | 9:19 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4. | "Sir Patrick Spens" | Traditional; arranged by Fairport Convention | 3:30 |
| 5. | "Flatback Caper [10] " | Ronald Cooper, Turlough O'Carolan, Traditional; arranged by Fairport Convention | 6:24 |
| 6. | "Doctor of Physick" | Thompson, Swarbrick | 3:37 |
| 7. | "Flowers of the Forest" | Traditional; arranged by Fairport Convention | 4:04 |
In 2001, Island Records re-issued an expanded edition of Full House that included the 8 tracks of the original intended track ordering and included four additional tracks:
"Now Be Thankful" and "Sir B. McKenzie's..." were originally released as a 1970 Island, UK single, WIP-6089. Both songs were recorded on 22 July 1970 at Sound Techniques, London.
Fairport Convention's studio recording of "Sir B. McKenzie's..." consisted of "Biff, Bang, Crash" (Trad.), "The Kilfenora" (Trad.), and "Boston Tea Party" (Dave Swarbrick)". By the time the single was issued, the band was playing the medley as "Bonny Kate" (Trad.), "The Kilfenora," "Boston Tea Party," and "Biff, Bang, Crash." Within a few years, "Sir B. McKenzie's..." consisted of the amended medley followed by "Tail Toddle" (Trad.). By the late 1970s, the medley also included the traditional tune "Up The Chimney."
The title "Sir B. McKenzie's Daughter's Lament For the 77th Mounted Lancers Retreat From The Straits of Loch Knombe, In The Year of Our Lord 1727, On The Occasion of the Announcement of Her Marriage to the Laird of Kinleakie" was the band's attempt to get into the Guinness Book of Records for the longest song title.
"Bonny Bunch of Roses", recorded one month after the Full House sessions at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, was finally mixed 18 years later, for the release on the Fairport Convention compilation Meet on the Ledge: The Classic Years (1967–1975), issued on A&M Records in 1999.
The stereo mix of "Now Be Thankful" (an entirely different mix from the one that appears on Richard Thompson's Watching the Dark compilation) was created by Lee Hamblin and Frank Kornelussen and previously released on Island Life, 25 Years of Island Records in 1988.
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.
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.
(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).
Smiddyburn is a 1981 folk album recorded by Dave Swarbrick and named after the farm in Aberdeenshire where Swarbrick lived at the time. The tracks are mostly renditions of traditional folk tunes, and Swarbrick is assisted by his erstwhile colleagues from Fairport Convention as well as his early mentor, Beryl Marriott.
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.
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.
"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.
The Bonny Bunch of Roses is the twelfth studio album by Fairport Convention.
Live at the L.A. Troubadour along with its reissued counterpart House Full are the only live Fairport Convention albums recorded while Richard Thompson was a full-time band member. It was recorded in 1970 on the Full House tour and was reissued in 1986 and again in 2007, with modifications. Seven of the eight tracks are available on the House Full album with one being found only on this album.
House Full: Live at the L.A. Troubadour not to be confused with its earlier counterpart Live at the L.A. Troubadour is the only currently available live Fairport Convention album to feature Richard Thompson as a band member.
Moat on the Ledge: Live at Broughton Castle, August '81 is a live folk rock album by Fairport Convention. The album was produced by Simon Nicol and Dave Pegg.
Angel Delight is the sixth album by the British folk rock band Fairport Convention, released in June 1971. This was the first Fairport Convention album without guitarist Richard Thompson, and the lineup consisted of Simon Nicol, Dave Swarbrick, Dave Pegg, and Dave Mattacks (drums).
Nine is a 1973 album by the British folk rock group Fairport Convention. It is their ninth album since their debut in 1968, and the second to include Trevor Lucas and Jerry Donahue. No original members of Fairport Convention were involved in making the album. According to AllMusic, it is the band's most uneven album.
Rosie is a 1973 album by British folk rock band Fairport Convention, their eighth album since their debut in 1968.
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.
The Cropredy Box is an album by Fairport Convention recorded at their annual live concert in Cropredy, Oxfordshire, England to celebrate the band's thirtieth anniversary in 1997. Featuring many songs for which the band had become noted, the set also features performances from many former members including violinist Dave Swarbrick, original vocalist Judy Dyble, and Ralph McTell. Commentary is provided by their first manager, Joe Boyd, and Ashley Hutchings.
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 USA, 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.
In Real Time: Live '87 is a 1987 album by British folk rock band Fairport Convention. Although appearing to consist of recordings of concert performances, the album was largely recorded at The Mill studio, Farnham, Buckinghamshire, with audience responses dubbed on later, reputedly taken from a recording of a John Martyn concert.
Live at the BBC is a compilation album by English folk-rock band Fairport Convention released in 2007. It includes tracks recorded for the BBC for various radio programmes between 1968 and 1974 and consists of four CDs in a fold-out package with a fifty-page booklet including song lyrics and numerous contemporary photographs.
