There were some very talented people around the Fairport Convention scene. It's a band that's still going to this day, and is seen as the true heart of the English folk/folk rock world, though the most celebrated members haven't been in the band for over 40 years.
This is, as far as I know, their most acclaimed album, and it's particularly celebrated for stepping back from the Americanisms of the late 60s and making an album of electrified English folk, full of the weirdness and the history of British indigenous music.
I'm not going to lie to you, it's not all easy going, but it's stunningly accomplished and very entertaining.
The two most celebrated members of whom I spoke, Richard Thompson and singer Sandy Denny, were shortly to lead the band on their own paths, and there is actually more by both of them away from Fairport that I love.
Richard Thompson is still making great music to this day. He's one of the masters of British music and seeing him live at Green Man a few years ago, I have never seen one man with one instrument (his guitar) fill a stage with sound so utterly. He released acclaimed albums with his then wife, Linda Thompson, and they bore a son, Teddy Thompson, who has sung some very nice songs himself.
Linda Thompson had one of the finest, purest folk voices you'd hear, but not the finest, which belonged to Sandy Denny, who left Fairport Convention to form her own band, Fotheringay, but led a tragic life and was dead at 31. She was, I sometimes think, the finest singer of the last 50 years. 'Who Knows Where The Time Goes?' and 'Listen Listen' are perhaps the greatest evidence of this.
Anyway, this record, Liege and Lief, is viewed as hugely influential, as the cornerstone of British folk-rock, so if that's a genre you're the slightest bit interested in, and one way or another, it's tentacles have reached pretty far, you should give it a listen.
My honest view is that there's more to lose your heart to in the two Richard and Linda Thompson albums 'I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight' and 'Shoot Out the Lights', albums which are a bit more rock-folk than folk-rock.
This is my compilation of all the strands ...
Who Knows Where the Time Goes?
Listen, Listen - Sandy Denny
Meet on the Ledge
Dry My Tears and Move On - Richard Thompson
I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight - Richard and Linda Thompson
No More Sad Refrains - Sandy Denny
Walking On A Wire - Richard and Linda Thompson
Another Small Thing In Her Favour - Richard Thompson
Calvary Cross - Richard and Linda Thompson
Fotheringay
Tam Lin
When I Get to the Border - Richard and Linda Thompson
Just the Motion - Richard and Linda Thompson
I'm a Dreamer- Sandy Denny
I understand that you're not pickiung 'great albums' so much as 'major artists', but out of curiosity, would you recommend 'liege & lief' in and of itself, as opposed to a compilation or playlist?
ReplyDeleteAlso, Wikipedia tells me this was the third FP album released in 1969. Does anyone still have that kind of crazy work ethic/release schedule?
Good question. It is a major album, an important album, so I've always been told.For me, it's not quite my thing. It's too folk. It's mainly traditional songs arranged in an electric/band style. I think I always prefer the folk filtered through a more modern singer-songwriter idiom. I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight is an album I'd really recommend. And no, I don't think anyone else has that kind of schedule, but i think some folk would do if they were allowed. It's just the business, innit?
ReplyDeleteAh yes, the business. Relevant to that, I am watching and loving Nashville at the moment. (The current TV series, not the Altman film, sadly, which remains curiously innaccessible on UK DVD and legal internet means).
ReplyDeleteBased on my current love of the Inside Llewyn Davis soundtrack, this album might actually be the best Fairport for me. Certainly Matty Groves is my favourite song (after 'who knows', obvs) from the best of that I have.
Have you seen the film 'Nashville'? I had it on my skybox for ages, but not any more. Have you seen 'Llewyn Davis'? I loved it, if ever there was a film made for me!
ReplyDeleteMaybe, maybe not, i kind of love US folk more than English, and i think the point about Liege and Lief is that it's a real reconnection with Englishness. There's a lot of fiddlin on Liege and Lief. My feelings are middlin' bout excess fiddlin'
I've a high tolerance for fiddlin, even for flute solos. In these days of reclaiming the 80s I'm even beginning to reconsider my hatred of the sax solo. Which is perhaps a more pertinent comment for the George Michael post.
ReplyDeleteHaven;t seen Nashville, have seen and loved Davis. It has lingered well in the mind, too.