History of Fairport Convention

Artist: Fairport Convention
Label: Polygram Int'l
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Import
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 042284608329
EAN: 0042284608329
ASIN: B000026FPM

Release Date: 1995-06-29

Related Categories:

British Folk

| Traditional British & Celtic Folk | Folk | Styles | Music

General

| Folk | Styles | Music

Traditional Folk

| Folk | Styles | Music

General

| Pop | Styles | Music

Folk Rock

| Rock | Styles | Music

General

| Rock | Styles | Music

Folk

| Imports | Stores | Music

Rock

| Imports | Stores | Music

Tracks:

Meet On The Ledge
Fotheringay
Mr Lacey
Book Song
Sailor's Life
Si Tu Dois Partir
Who Knows Where The Time Goes
Matty Groves
Now Be Thankful
Walk Awhile
Sloth
Bonny Black Hare
Angel Delight
Bridge Over The River Ash
John Lee
Breakfast In Mayfair
Hanging Song
The Hen's March/The Four Poster Bed

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Liege & Lief
Unhalfbricking
Action Packed: Best of the Capitol Years
Heyday: BBC Radio Sessions, 1968-1969
What We Did on Our Holidays

Customer Reviews:

The Best Place To Start.......2005-07-09

Fairport isn't Fairport without both Richard Thompson and Sandy Denny, which is why this is the best place for a beginner to tap into this amazing band. Other compilations such as "Meet on the Ledge" include too much of their less-productive years (which by the standards of most other groups would be considered fertile). It's a coin toss as to whether their best album is "Unhalfbricking" or "Liege and Leif." I prefer the latter because I'm a folkie, but if you're into rock you might like the former (or you just like it for its great title). But those two albums alone don't give you enough of an introduction to Fairport, because you miss many great tunes like "Just A Roll." You would think that, because what made them so special at the time was their unique blend of British folk and rock, that they wouldn't age well as that genre has been done to death. You would think wrong.

A solid one-disc compilation of Fairport's greatest period.......2002-03-24

This Island compilation covers seven albums from 1968 to 1973, when Fairport Convention recorded most of its best work. Strictly speaking, it's not a "Greatest Hits" album, because Fairport never really had any hits. But this is probably the best place to begin for any newcomer to Fairport. The album touches all the bases: Fairport classics "Meet on the Ledge", "Si Tu Dois Partir", and "Matty Groves", singer-songwriter material like "Who Knows Where the Time Goes" and "Book Song", songs that seem to exist outside of time like "Fotheringay" and "Now Be Thankful", the musical interplay of "Sloth", and electrified traditional songs like "A Sailor's Life". The only things that keep this from being fully representative of Fairport's career are the lack of drinking songs and songs about lost maidenheads. The oft-neglected "Babbacombe Lee" album is represented by three songs. There are a few quibbles in the song selection--for example, why is the "Rosie" album represented by the average "Hen's March/Four Poster Bed" instead of the exceptional title cut? Why "Mr. Lacey" and "Book Song" instead of "I'll Keep It with Mine", "Come All Ye", or "Tam Lin"? This version of the CD adds "Crazy Man Michael", which was not originally included. Fairport's first, pre-Sandy Denny, album is not included because it was put out by Polygram and not Island.

Good things last............2001-08-22

Vinyl wears, no matter how careful you are, but certain music lasts because it lodges in the heart.

To hear the purity of Sandy Denny's voice, pre-empting Eva Cassidy by nearly 30 years; to listen to the poetry of her words in her lover's song "Who knows where the time goes", seeing that deserted shore in our minds eye - this was one of the greatest ballads of the last century.

Yet there is laughter and merriment here too. The English folk tunes tumble over one another with the violin getting your feet tapping in tunes like "Four Poster Bed; Hen's March or Toss the Feathers".

You must feel sorrow for poor "Matty Groves", who found himself in such an awkward position and such an unfair fight! Never did a young man need to learn the value of saying "No thanks" to such a tempting offer.

Fairport Convention was a band that experienced both the cruel and carefree sides of life and put their experiences into their music. There is something for all moods in this excellent compilation.

But most of all there is Sandy's haunting, clear voice. It is worth buying these recordings for that alone..

Music CD:

Music CD

Music CD

Music CD

Life In The Folk Lane, Vol. 2 ~ Various Artists

Blinding Darkness ~ Pallas

Vixen ~ Vixen

De l'Amour le Mieux ~ Natasha St. Pier

Sessions Radio Hasselt ~ Jacques Brel

Sacred Songs from Women of Fez ~ Various Artists

God Bless America ~ Various Artists

Osmonds-Best of

Kiss Me Guido ~ Original Soundtrack

Very Best of Boney M ~ Boney M