They were incredibly prolific and developed so fast. There were actually two years and one month between the release dates for the debut and Full House, with Holidays, Unhalfbricking and Liege & Lief in between, the departure of Judy Dyble, Ian Matthews and Ashley Hutchings, the arrival of Swarb and Peggy, the arrival and departure of Sandy Denny, as well as the fatal motorway crash which killed Martin Lamble. It almost defies belief that they could produce so much quality material, among such turbulence.
I don't listen to Fairport in general that much. I'm a Richard Thompson solo artist fan for the most part.
The basement tape songs were given to Joe Boyd by someone from Columbia Records. Boyd was the group's manager and producer.
The Trader Horne album is great and her singing sounds more confident on it. In a way it's a shame she retired from music after that, but there's also something good about leaving two interesting and very good albums, then totally leaving the scene. I the the Trader Horne vinyl reissue from a few years ago which has a very nice 12" x 12" booklet and and non album 7" as a bonus along with posters and other stuff. It's an elaborate reissue of only 500 copies and signed by Judy. She was involved with the reissue. It's the best vinyl reissue of a single album I've ever seen. The pressing and sound quality is perfect.
Yes, she left the music scene but became active again some years later and is still playing and recording. Check out her website if you're interested.
I am. I'll have to listen to what she's done more recently. I've read that she's released a couple of albums in the 2000s but they passed me by. I can imagine they aren't easy to get now.
She was actually involved with the nascent King Crimson. She advertised for musicians to sing for in 1968 along with boyfriend Ian McDonald and subsequently recorded several tunes with Giles Giles and Fripp. You can hear them on a release called The Brondesbury Tapes. They include a performance of I Talk To The Wind, a version of which was included on the first Crimso album. A few months later McDonald, Fripp and one of the Giles brothers recruited Greg Lake and they morphed into King Crimson.
Interesting that she was involved in the genesis of key bands (some might say the key bands) in British folk rock AND progressive rock!
I think I have more Fairport Albums than any other band. XTC would be the only other one that might come close. Of course, this is partly because they have released so many! I stopped buying around about the time of Red and Gold. I really liked Gladys' Leap, Expletive and In Real Time, but lost interest after that. To me they seemed to lose their edge. (As much as a folk rock band can have an edge!) I met Jerry Donahue a few years back - he was doing a talk at a musical instrument shop - so took along Nine, because that stands out head and shoulders to me as the best Fairport album. Jerry was surprised and said that most people prefer Richard Thompson era stuff! I'm sure thinking Nine is the best album is even less popular than thinking the first one is, but to me it has the best collection of songs and the production is good. Although I like the songs on Liege and Leif, and I think there is a fair claim for it being the best selection of songs, the production is shocking. Real recorded-through-a-sock sound that makes it hard for me to listen to it often. It's testament to the quality of the songs that Liege and Lief that the album stacks up in the face of such dreadful production. And much as I love Fairport's up-to-late-eighties stuff, I'm not sure I could rate them more than something like this: Nine In Real Time Everything Else (Maybe Rising For the Moon in the upper part of that). If L&L had been produced by Glynn Johns I think it could have been an amazing album. I'm not sure I could give a best line up because I like the massive variety in personnel. However, it would definitely have Mattacks drumming in it. He is a bit of hero to me, a quite brilliant drummer. Late '80s, I met them several times post gigs and they are lovely bunch of blokes. Their live shows were really special. Was very sad to hear about Martin Allcock dying recently. Here endeth the rambling.
Judy's been very active over the last fifteen years or so. No two albums are quite the same either so it's been fascinating stuff. She's currently making an album with David Longdon from Big Big Train. There are a few albums available on her website so it might be worth having a look there. She's suffered with a lot of ill health over the years. The last update on the news section of the website - from just before Christmas - says that she's undergoing chemotherapy, poor thing. Let's hope she comes through with flying colours.
Agree with you: IMHO they lost a bit of"edge" when Maartin Allcock left. He provided some "grit". Chris Leslie is a fine musician, and they've still produced some good enough albums, nothing bad exactly, but a bit too smooth/easy for me to really hit the spot. Still love the guys though!
I used to love "prog rock" Matty Groves live! Having said that, I love what the band are doing now A sort of cross between Show Of Hands and Simon's solo work. The new one, Shuffle And Go, is excellent.
O my gosh it is! No St. Patty's Day Parade, cancelled. Here in Maine, in Portland, all the pubs are closed and there is a curfew from 6AM today thru at 2AM tomorrow. Twilight Zone stuff.
He's great. I love the three Matthews Southern Comfort LPs and also have Journeys From Gospel Oak, which is also great stuff. I don't have two Vertigo swirl label solo albums. I wish they were on a different label!
Agreed, although when I first heard them years ago, it took me a while to love Simon's vocals. Enthusiastic was the word. How he developed into a great vocalist. When you look at those albums, and the quality of material, I am stunned they are not held in higher regard. Same with Angel Delight - I find this a stunning album, and yet rarely gets mentioned.
