The CD notes continue:
“Completely the work of Fairport Convention’s 15th line up: “Nicol (guitar, vocals), Dave Pegg (bass, vocals who joined in 1969 when founder member Ashley Hutchings went off to form Steeleye Span and then played in The Albion Band), Bruce Rowland (drums, who joined in 1975 after having played at Woodstock as a member of Joe Cocker’s Grease Band), and Dave Swarbrick (fiddle, vocals, who joined a few months before Pegg, after becoming a legend of British folk music in partnership with Martin Carthy) this was one of the group’s best albums of the 1970s, although it featured neither of the group’s most famous alumni, the late and still mourned Sandy Denny, who tragically died in 1978, and acclaimed guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Richard Thompson. [Yes, that is all one long sentence! I should add here that these notes were penned by one John Tobler in 1992]. In fact, Thompson was there in spirit, as writer of “The Poor Ditching Boy”, while another notable songwriter whose work is much admired, Ralph McTell, is represented by ” Run Johnny Run”. However, the epic here is the title track, a 12 minute plus arrangement of a traditional song about the defeat of Napoleon in the early 19th Century. An archetypal Fairport album, this has been overlooked in the past decade, but is now back to fulfil the desires of Fairport fans old and new all over the world.” [Yes, it is one long paragraph!] John Tobler, 1992
Next time, on to the music on this splendid album, which is not, however, as good as “Full House”. “Angel Delight”, “Nine”, or “Rising For The Moon”; these were most of the previous LPs of the decade, for all which see above. I concede it is better than “Fairport Live Convention”, and indeed the final LP of the 1970s which was also a live one; and of course it is much better than the unique 1976 “Fairport” album, but then most things are.
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