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Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 4:21 pm

Last week, I picked up a film dvd on a Brit folk/rock band called Fairport
Convention (great band still playing btw!). As I went to the interview with Tony Palmer (a highly respected UK filmmaker) who filmed it, he mentions in passing that the film of the band got made simply because of Stanley's money. Mr. Palmer noted Stanley was a very competitive guy and wanted to do the film to show he was "with it" musically with his contemporaries. Not sure if Stanley made a many pounds on the film but I enjoyed it.. Cool

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Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 11:13 am

Ah, Rich... Welcome to the ranks of Fairport Convention fans, of which I'm not only the president without portfolio but a charter member. Odd coincidence too that I was humming "Life's a Long Song" from their Cropredy Festival DVD just now as I booted up the computer (I was watching it only yesterday) . The DVD you're talking about doesn't sound like the readily available "Beyond the Ledge" but rather more like the older documentary "It All Comes Round Again", which I only have on VHS. Is it available on DVD now? If so, where in Heaven's name did you find it?

You probably know that Fairport's annual weekend long Festival at Cropredy has become a monster event and is attended by tens of thousands of fans each year . Sadly I've not been to it, but I'm sure several other members of this site have. And if you get a chance, catch one of Richard Thompson's solo gigs next time he plays down in your area. He's not only an outstanding performer and songwriter, but one of the finest guitarists of all time as well!

Oops, just looked it up and discovered that it was The Maidstone Concert film that Baker produced! I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't know that. Probably the best lineup Fairport ever had although Sandy Denny was conspicuously absent by that time. Pegg, Mattacks, Thompson, Nicol and Swarb--that roster was occasionally equaled but never bettered.

Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 1:17 pm

Ah Saw, you have taste!!! Like you I've been a Fairport fan since their inception (many many moons!). I think no doubt you're a big Brit folk/rock fan too. Steeleye Span is another group that I equate with Fairport. i just love their music. Unfortunately one of their founders who was an excellent musician, Tim Hart, has died recently. When he passed, I kind of did an inventory of my Fairport and Steeleye records and noted that I wanted to fill in some for my collection. I was just browsing in a store looking for their albums and the Fairport dvd just popped up. yes, I was surprised too. I guess I just got lucky since there aren't many stores here that carry their music anymore. I think what i have to do is troll the web or fly to the UK! Besides Fairport, Ian Matthews' Southern Comfort also was on the dvd doing some songs. Loved Gordon Huntley's steel in that group....it's English country music!

Re: the Fairport music festival....You know sometimes I rue the fact that I live here. I never was there. Maybe one day! I don't know how long fairport will be doing it but I hope i can make it in the next few years.

The lineup you noted..I thought it was the best too and finally...

Your best Fairport record is...???

Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 3:19 pm

Rich, as you're no doubt aware, Matthews Southern Comfort is something of a Fairport spinoff band in that Ian Mathews was the lead singer (among the lead singers rather) on the first two Fairport Convention albums although credited (on my vinyl at least as Ian MacDonald). The second album, "What We Did On Our Holiday", is a great album and features Sandy Denny as well as Matthews and introduced the anthem "Meet on the Ledge"-- and probably the best version of it at that. Maddy Pryor certainly can sing and Martin Carthy is a terrific musician, but I gather Steeleye Span was partially a product of Ashley Hutchings (AKA "Tyger Hutchings") who was also a charter member of Fairport as well. "Storm Force Ten" is an amazing album. Pentangle was another fine band in that same idiom as was Denny's other effort "Fotheringay" whose long awaited second album "2" was only recently released almost forty years after it was recorded!

My favorite FC album? Probably "9" with Jerry Donahue replacing Thompson and Trevor Lucas. "Movable Feast', a rare live Fairport album, is definitely in my top five choices although it had a different title in its limited UK release. If you don't have it already, try to get the boxed sets of the Cropradey concerts (which has just about everybody still around on it and live performances by almost every one of FC's incarnations) and the BBC set called something like "The Early Years".

Imagine, two Yanks trading pointless and rambling English Folk/Rock band anecdotes and critiques on an Anglo-Zulu War forum. You gotta love the Internet! Sorry about the digression...

Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 5:27 pm

Matthews Southern Comfort....You hit it good there. I also have their records plus some of Matthews' solo work. Loved that English "country-shire" sound with Comfort. One of the few who actually had a pedal steel in their band I think. Today, I see Matthews is still recording. He seems to be into jazz nowadays!

For me, Brit folk/rock is the best. I love how bands like MSC, Fairport and Steeleye mix up the "rock" with the "traditional". They've come up with some beautiful songs, "Dancing at Whitsun", "Rising for the Moon" and a bunch of really great instrumentals like 'Hens Marching Through the Window, is that the title, eh? Culturally, that's the weay to go and they're doing their country a good thing by keeping up that heritage like "Black Jack Davy"!

For me, Steeley's "Parcel of Rogues" is a great one plus, like you, Fairport 9. Love "Possibly Parson's Green!". "Rosie" and "Rising for the Moon" have some fine songs too.

OK now I'm going to put on some Irish ceili music and mix in some olde tyme Welsh folk songs!..... Very Happy

....

..rich...on the hunt for the records!