This is a fantastically good record, and actually makes it into my top 10 albums of all time. This is surprising as, for example, “Liege & Lief” does not. Strictly speaking this is not the only LP recorded by this line-up, as “Rosie” claimed to be another. However, “Rosie” was a strange co-operative thing, typified by the title track depending for its worth on the guitar of Richard Thompson. For my money, the truth of the matter is that “nine” was the only LP done by this particular group of people. In many ways this is a bit of a shame, but perhaps it was better this way. The record can thus stand alone as the remarkable masterpiece it is.
Curiously, I am not alone in regarding this album so highly. There are several splendid books about the band, and they all relate similar opinions on this. There are a number of factors which lead to this result, but the main one is perhaps the choice of material, the musical talent of the chaps being a given. Trevor Lucas stars as the main vocalist, very strongly indeed, but Dave Swarbrick also contributes some of the best singing he ever did, on this record.
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