Fairport Convention

Fairport Convention were, along with Pentangle, the most precious fruit yielded by the sprawling tree of English folk-rock. Baby-faced guitarist Richard Thompson (just sixteen years old) and bassist Ashley Hutchings formed Fairport Convention in 1966; at first the band moved along decidedly folk lines and was even compared to Jefferson Airplane, mostly because of the presence of a singer, Judy Dyble, whose timbre resembled that of Grace Slick. The turning point came in 1967, with the arrival of the exceptional vocalist Sandy Denny. With their new singer, Fairport recorded "What we did on our holidays" and the excellent "Unhalfbricking", which showed a marked shift towards folk-rock, especially across the 9 spectacular minutes of "A sailor's life". But tragedy was lying in wait: in June 1969 drummer Martin Lamble died in a car accident; Fairport Convention responded to this misfortune by hiring drummer Dave Mattacks and releasing "Liege & Lief", the veritable bible of British folk-rock.

Before any musical consideration, it must be said that "Liege & Lief" is an album made with heart and soul, oozing an infinite love of music from every groove, and one of the very few records to have brilliantly withstood the test of time. With "Liege & Lief", Fairport Convention complete the transformation begun on "Unhalfbricking", drawing generously on the wealth of English traditional music: as many as 5 of the 8 tracks on the album's tracklist are "traditionals" that Fairport rework in a folk-rock vein, with magical interplay between violin and electric guitar and a sturdy rhythm section always kept in the foreground. Rising above it all is the angelic voice of Sandy Denny, one of the greatest English singers of all time, who paints the songs with divine intensity.

It opens with the crackling gallop of "Come all ye", an original composition by the Denny/Hutchings tandem, marking the first of the epic duels between Swarbrick's inventive violin and Thompson's hard-rocking guitar. The solemn "Reynardine" hovers between dream and reality: Denny's evocative singing carries us towards distant horizons, perfectly set within the hazy instrumental backdrop of delicate guitar chimes, Swarbrick's lyrical violin lines and faint percussion. "Matty groves" is the album's manifesto, the track that best showcases how Fairport Convention treat traditional material; the song is a traditional rearranged by the band in a strongly rhythmic key and steeped in an obsessive mood: guitar and violin chase each other without pause, the solid rhythm section allows no let-up, and Sandy Denny delivers a striking display of her immense talent, proving perfectly at ease even on the album's toughest tracks.

On "Farewell, farewell", an ecstatic lullaby carried by Thompson's poignant six-string arpeggios, Sandy Denny's voice, brimming with feeling, is a punch to the heart: an angel gently taking us by the hand and leading us towards enchanted worlds. Fairport Convention's art reaches its sublimation on the overwhelming "Medley", an extraordinary collage of traditionals that magically blend into one another, held together by the remarkable work of the rhythm section: the lion's share goes to Swarbrick's violin, but the whole band is running at full tilt and shows they have achieved an almost perfect chemistry. The tightly-wound "Tam Lin" is unusually hard-edged, with Thompson's near-hard-rock guitar to the fore, plunging the piece into a mood of mounting tension. The crystalline melody of "Crazy man Michael" is a fitting epitaph for an album born of magical astral alignments, one that, more than thirty years on, still continues to steal our souls.

After the release of “Liege & Lief”, Hutchings and Denny both leave, the former joining Steeleye Span, the latter forming Fotheringay alongside Trevor Lucas. Left thus maimed, Fairport Convention would go on to record the excellent “Full House” and would continue, heedless of fashion and the passing years, to release records right up to the present day, but never again reaching the divine heights of “Liege & Lief”.

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29/10/2006