---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <s3raphita@...> wrote:
Fairport are the only name I recognise. Like you I was a big fan of the Liege
and Lief album.
What grated with me is that "Fairport Convention" weren't a band but a *label*
under which different personnel produced albums which could have no continuity
with earlier works.
My fave Liege and Lief track was "Crazy Man Michael".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t2-wUPo7Oo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t2-wUPo7Oo
Or really just anything with Sandy Denny IMO
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <turquoiseb@...> wrote:
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "TurquoiseB" wrote:
>
> Fairport Convention
>
> This one's an English band, but I associate it with Californica because
> that's where I was living when I discovered it. Like Tracy Nelson, Sandy
> Denny died too young, and
> we were deprived of where she would have gone, be it with the phenomenal
> Fairport Convention or solo.
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8_eFRZP1uQ
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8_eFRZP1uQ
I don't think I got this one wrong; Sandy Denny *did* die too young. But before
she did, she recorded a great body of work, both with the seminal group
Fairport Convention (generally credited with being the most important in the
history of English folk-rock), and on her own.
I therefore post one one more, a song that for me captures the magic of what
Fairport Convention was. What an incredible blend of talents was there --
Richard Thompson on guitar, Dave Swarbick on violin, Sandy Denny, and all of
the others. Their strongest contributions to theconcept of "folk rock " were,
IMO, their renderings of long, long, truly epic folk ballads, performed almost
as "sonic art pieces." One of the only performers I can think of who does this
is Loreena McKennitt.
Anyway, their recorded works do not do justice to the magic of these long,
extended onstage jams, with the possible near-exceptions of their recorded
versions of "Tam Lin" and "Matty Groves." Oh. And this one, "A Sailor's Life."
Up to the 6:30-minute mark, it's just an electrified folk song. But at that
point it changes into something far more, especially for those of us who got to
see this song performed live. It turned into SERIOUSLY ELECTRIFIED FOLK SONG. I
remember one live performance in which their version of this song went on for
over half an hour. Not a person in the audience was bored and waiting for the
next song. It was as close as I've ever seen another band get to the Grateful
Dead's live magic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szrGtFxtWXUhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szrGtFxtWXU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szrGtFxtWXU
