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Browsing Tags Fairport Convention

Fairport Convention – “Heyday” (29)

August 27, 2015 · by listentomusicanywhere

[[Buying the albums sampled on “You Can All Join In”.]]

Yes, double brackets today as we stray into stuff too far removed from the current main theme.

Track 16 is “Si Tu Doir Partir”, recorded on 18 March 1969 in the Playhouse Theatre, Northumberland Avenue for Top Gear/John Peel, and broadcast on 6 April 1969, exactly the same details as for Track 12. As noted above, this is the “Unhalfbricking” line-up with Ric Grech guesting on violin. Just as Sandy Denny counted in Track 1, this one has her announcing at the start “Un, deux, trois”. This is a fairly good copy of the studio track, but the violin playing is obviously noticeably different, and of course there is no tinkling of broken glass. Generally, there is a more comic feel to the thing than in the studious studio version.

Track 17 is “Cajun Woman”, details as for Tracks 12 and 16. This is distinctly different from the studio recording on “Unhalfbricking”, mainly in two respects. Firstly, the “Bah Wums” at the beginning are conspicuous by their almost total absence here. Secondly, Ric Grech’s violin is very different indeed from Dave Swarbrick’s on the studio version. Otherwise, it is faithful to the “Unhalfbricking” take.

Track 18 is “Autopsy”, details as for Tracks 12, 16and 17. It is a noble attempt at this complex, slightly jazzy number from “Unhalfbricking”. It manages to stay very close to the studio recording, there being no violin part in this song.

Tracks 19 and 20 were both recorded by the “Liege & Lief” band on 23 September 1969 in Studio 4, Maida Vale for Top Gear/John Peel, and broadcast on 27 September 1969. They are respectively “Reynardine” and “Tam Lin”, and are both virtual clones of the studio versions, with one exception. “Tam Lin” is a few seconds longer than that found on “Liege & Lief, due to slightly extended instrumental at the end, which is faded out.

Here we leave “What We Did On Our Holidays”; the next post will concern a different group altogether.

Finally, I learned today that my hours of paid employment will shortly be increased significantly. Sadly, this means that the frequency of my posting to this blog is likely to decrease in a few days time.

Fairport Convention – “Heyday” (28)

August 26, 2015 · by listentomusicanywhere

[Buying the albums sampled on “You Can All Join In”.]

Track 14 is “Nottamun Town”, recorded on 29 May 1968 in Studio 1, 201 Piccadilly for John Peel’s Top Gear show, broadcast on 2 June 1968, precisely the same details as for Tracks 1 and 13. This is another perfectly faithful rendition of the song from “What We Did…”, but this does have Ian Matthews on vocals with Sandy Denny, unlike Track 12.

Track 15 is “Fotheringay”, recorded on 4 February 1969 in Studio 1, 201 Piccadilly for Symonds on Sunday, and broadcast on 9 February 1969, precisely the same details as for Track 11. This recording is notable by the DJ talking over the introductory guitar, and also similarly over the instrumental cadence. I had this on some other record or two, and had always thought it was Alan Freeman. I must admit I cannot now recall how David Symonds sounded, so it could have been him “doing” an Alan Freeman; or maybe Alan freeman was standing in for him that day. Apart from these spoken additions, again this is a faultless clone of the studio recording on “What We Did…”.

The remaining tracks comprise 3 from the “Unhalfbricking” line up, with Ric Grech on violin on two of them, and finally 2 from the “Liege & Lief” combo. We therefore stray in the next post from the main theme of buying the albums sampled on “You Can All Join In”.

Fairport Convention – “Heyday” (27)

August 25, 2015 · by listentomusicanywhere

[Buying the albums sampled on “You Can All Join In”.]

Track 13 is “You Never Wanted Me”, which I had first come across in 1987 as Track 2 on Side 4 of the lovely 4 LP box set “Who Knows Where The Time Goes?”

There are many recordings of the song as performed by Sandy Denny, but this one was different. It was simply marked “BBC Recording 1968 – Fairport Convention”. It is notable in particular by virtue of an entrancingly magical middle 8 where Ian Matthews joins in, in harmony. On hearing it for the first time, it immediately became a serious contender for my favourite song ever.

The “Heyday” credits show that the song was recorded on 28 May 1968 in Studio 1, 201 Piccadilly for John Peel’s Top Gear show, and broadcast on 2 June 1968, exactly the same details as for Track 1.

Written by Sandy Denny’s one-time boyfriend Jackson C. Frank, this Fairport Convention “What We Did…” line-up performance is truly exceptional, an amazingly brilliant song. It has a gentle, insistent, laid back beat, splendid lyrics, and a beautiful tune. The vocals are just perfect, and the backing is sublimely faultless. The only song which challenges this on for the best ever is “Who Knows Where The Time Goes?” from “Unhalfbricking”.

In the next post we come to the last two bonus tracks on the expanded CD which are by the “What We Did…” ensemble.

Fairport Convention – “Heyday” (26)

August 22, 2015 · by listentomusicanywhere

[Buying the albums sampled on “You Can All Join In”.]

Track 11 is “Shattering Live Experience”. The title apparently comes from a description of a gig by the band from a member of the audience, and this one was written by the young Simon Nicol. It was recorded on 4 February 1969 for the Symonds On Sunday programme, and broadcast on 9 February 1969. It is a fantastic, laid back gem, and the quieter arrangement allows the sound of the vocals and Richard Thompson’s guitar to be heard much more clearly than one the other bits.

Track 12 was the one which closed Side 2 of the LP, and is “Percy’s Song”. This was recorded on 18 March 1969 at The Playhouse Theatre, Northumberland Avenue, for John Peel’s Top Gear Show, and broadcast on 6 April 1969, the first day of the tax year then. It is a faithful rendition of the “Unhalfbricking” version, but for some reason has Richard Thompson on support vocals, and not Ian Matthews This is a little odd, as the studio version seems to have been the first track put down for “Unhalfbricking”, as it is the only one to feature Ian Matthews on that record, the rest apparently recorded after he had quit the group. Somewhere earlier in this blog, a few years ago, I know I tried to work out as exactly as I could when Ian Matthews left, and I think I had narrowed it down to some time in the first two weeks in April, but maybe he had left before 18 March; or else he was ill, otherwise disposed, or indeed in the throes of leaving.

Fairport Convention – “Heyday” (25)

August 21, 2015 · by listentomusicanywhere

[Buying the albums sampled on “You Can All Join In”.]

Track 8 on the CD is “Bird On A Wire”, recorded on 2 December 1968 in Studio 2, Aeolian Hall for the Stuart Henry Show broadcast on 8 December 1968. This is an electrifying treatment of another Leonard Cohen song, with Ian Matthews on lead vocal, and with Sandy Denny on the very purest of support.

Track 9 is “Gone, Gone, Gone”, recorded at the same session as Tracks 5 and 6 (see above), and broadcast on John Peel’s Top Gear show on 1 September 1968, the same show in which Track 6 was broadcast. This is an up tempo romp, sung with immense and intense enthusiasm with both Ian Matthews and Sandy Denny in fairly close harmony throughout.

Track 10 is “Tried So Hard”, recorded at the same session as Tracks 4 and 7 (see above), and broadcast on the David Symonds Show on 8 January 1969, the same show as saw the broadcast of Track 4 (see above). This is another heavily rocked up country and western song, as were Tracks 1 and 7. The performance is unadulterated ecstasy to listen to, with soaring harmonies and dazzling guitar work.

Fairport Convention – “Heyday” (23)

August 19, 2015 · by listentomusicanywhere

[Buying the albums sampled on “You Can All Join In”.]

Track 4 is another one from the Judy Dyble days, and while not on the first LP, a version of it does appear as a bonus track on the expanded deluxe CD release of the first album:

This is “Reno, Nevada”, which was recorded on 27 December 1968 at Studio 4, Maida Vale for the David Symonds show broadcast on 10 January 1969. It is a racy minor key thing loosely based on a card game, and it has to be said that this version with Sandy Denny is much more appealing than the Judy Dyble one. It is slightly jazzy, but actually sounds great as performed by the “What We Did…” line up.

Similarly, Track 5 is from the early days, and appears as a bonus track on the expanded CD version of the first album (see above). This is Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne”, recorded on 26 August 1968 at Studio 1, 201 Piccadilly for John Peel’s Top Gear show broadcast on 29 September 1968. This is a truly entrancing rendition of the song. Ian Matthews is at his ephemeral best on lead vocal, with Sandy Denny on outstanding support, especially on a magical “call and response” middle 8.

Fairport Convention – “Heyday” (22)

August 18, 2015 · by listentomusicanywhere

[Buying the albums sampled on “You Can All Join In”.]

Track 2 on the LP has the same recording and transmission details as Track 1, and is “I Don’t Know Where I Stand”, a song written by Joni Mitchell. This appears on the first album, where of course Judy Dyble had sung the lead vocal. It is a splendid song, and instrumentally it is a duplication of the studio version. However, this BBC version features absolutely spellbinding vocals, with Sandy Denny taking the lead, with superb and subtle support from Ian Matthews. This I think is the only track from my record collection which is used by my elder daughter in her DJ business, which majors on indie stuff. It really is an exquisitely beautiful work of art.

Track 3 also has the same recording and transmission details. This one is “Some Sweet Day”, a country and western song well rocked up, with Ian Matthews on lead vocal. Richard Thompson is on top form playing slide guitar, and the whole thing is a classic, worth its weight in gold.

Fairport Convention – “Heyday” (20)

August 7, 2015 · by listentomusicanywhere

[[Buying the albums sampled on “You Can All Join In.]]

This time, we look at the very last paragraph of Ashley Hutchings’ notes in the insert that came with the expanded CD, where we deviate in this post only from the current long discussion of “What We Did On Our Holidays”:

“The original CD release of this album featured songs recorded by the What We Did On Our Holdays line-up only. This re-release adds extra tracks from the Unhalfbricking and Liege and Lief groups. The latter tracks, recorded at the end of the ‘sixties, feature the radical change of style to traditional British folk-rock. The session from which they came was produced by the other legendary figure, John Walters. Don’t start me off on Walters stories though or I’ll never stop and you’ll never get round to listening to this album [quite!].

ASHLEY HUTCHINGS May 2001.”

Indeed, next time we turn at last to the extraordinary, outstanding, brilliant music on this record.

Fairport Convention – “Heyday” (19)

August 6, 2015 · by listentomusicanywhere

[Buying the albums sampled on “You Can All Join In”.]

Today we see the penultimate section of Ashley Hutchings’ notes in the insert which came with the expanded CD:

“The sound engineers too had an important part to play. Perhaps theirs was the hardest job because they had to produce top quality recordings in a limited amount of time, usually with out-dated equipment. Also these recordings had to be comparable to the latest releases by the musicians present. They were often great characters and some, like Pete Ritzema and Jeff Griffin, unsurprisingly went on to become producers themselves. It was these guys whom I would corner at a session and blag a tape copy from. Strictly speaking this went beyond their job description but I must have been pretty persuasive and they must have been pretty responsive as I was able to gather together quite a large collection of little tape boxes containing spools of 1/4″ tape. It was these that formed the basis of this compilation.”

Next time we have the final paragraph of these notes, at which singular point we briefly stray even further from the main current theme.

Fairport Convention – “Heyday” (18)

August 4, 2015 · by listentomusicanywhere

[Buying the albums sampled on “You Can All Join In”.]

More today from Ashley Hutchings’ notes in the insert which came with the expanded CD, where he is discussing the BBC studios where the recordings were made:

“The daddy of them all was Maida Vale. It was the biggest but was nevertheless quite a low building. This perhaps contributed to its elusiveness. No matter how many times you visited it you found it hard to locate the next time you had a session camouflaged as it was amid the identical mesh of roads within those tall, elegant Edwardian houses that are so prevalent in Maida Vale. How incongruous it must have looked unloading our van of its contents outside this majestic building.”

More next time.

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