Heydays was released in 1987. I believe that the live House Full album was released at the same time, so I was going to post those Fairport albums last.
"Genesis Hall" is afforded to June Tabor on the absolutely-fantastic-all-the-way-thru 1995 Richard Thompson tribute compilation 'Beat The Retreat'. If you don't have 'Beat The Retreat', please get it! The REM rendition of 'Wall Of Death' is out of this world - as is Dinosaur Jr's "I Misunderstood" [try also Mary Black's]. Graham Parker's "The Madness Of Love" is a must-listen. Probably my favourite on 'Beat The Retreat' is Shawn Colvin and Loudon Wainwright III's "A Heart Needs A Home". Sticking with the pace of the thread - June Tabor with "Genesis Hall":
Unhalfbricking, more like Unhalfbrilliant. We get the brilliant: Genesis Hall Autopsy A Sailor's Life Who Knows Where the Time Goes and 3 Dylan songs and Cajun Woman.
I have never actually met anyone who feels the same way as me on that album. 4 stunning classics marred by substandard covers and one of the worst songs RT ever did (although Amazon Queen gives it a good run for money) I though I'll Keep It With Mine was magical....but quite frankly I could live without all the other Dylan covers Fairport did. Trevor Lucas (and Sandy) was partial to them as well.
I think it's more of a case of the lessor songs being so overpowered by the great ones. But Dylan doesn't float everyone's boat, so that may be a factor as well.
I mentioned on another thread that I love Dylan but I'm generally not a fan of cover versions of his songs. My dislike of The Byrds versions of his songs are well documented on this forum. But I do also agree with you. It feels like they had some very strong songs, but maybe an element of rushing to get an album out they fell back on covers to fill the gap. Swarbrick is not even in the band when they first try A Sailors Life live and already we see Richard pushing ideas the Swarb would embellish as they worked together
And oddly enough, not being a fan of Dylan's voice, I prefer any cover versions. Lol. But that's what makes music so interesting and personal. It would be a dull world if we all liked or disliked the same things. Luckily, we come close enough to enjoy these discussions.
I like the Dylan original and I like the covers as they are different enough to have their own charm. Unhalfbricking still has one of my favourite album covers of all time.
A&M changed the covers of both What We Did.. and Unhalfbricking for the U.S.. In the case of Unhalfbricking they decided elephants were a better idea than the parents photo.
The blame has to lie with the M1 crash as the album was still work-in-progress at the time. It's not so much a case of rushing it, more that everything was suddenly brought to a halt by the accident and Joe Boyd was left to compile the album from what they'd completed by that point. We'll never know but I assume it would have been a slightly different, and probably even stronger, album if they'd all lived to complete it and had a bigger pool of material to choose from.
Ashley has confirmed it in interviews: "We had recorded these tracks - not for a specific album - we were just recording tracks at that stage. Then we had the crash and while we were in hospital Joe said the tracks are great, I'm going to put them out on a record". It's an excellent album but I think it could have been an even better one if circumstances hadn't intervened. Luckily Joe had enough material...just, I don't think there was anything unused except Dear Landlord - yet another Dylan cover - and that wasn't finished anyway as Sandy wasn't happy with her vocals. Sandy brought in Now and Then at the same time as Autopsy but I don't they took it any further. It's interesting to think that at this stage the band hadn't decided whether to carry on or not after the deaths of Martin and Jeannie. Joe is of the opinion it would have been released anyway even if they'd decided not to continue, so this could have ended up being their swansong.
I think it is safe to say there won't be a followup memoir. For another memoir with Fairport/RT content there is White Bicycles by Joe Boyd and he also stopped it early, in this case when he moved to the U.S. in the early 70's.
I picked up a copy of White Bicycles from a public library years ago and was disappointed when reading it. There was really nothing Boyd said that wasn't known about Floyd, Fairport, Sandy and Fotheringay and Boyd's UFO club. Liner notes by Boyd and others in CDs defeated the purpose.
I remember Boyd's book was entertaining and there were some interesting things about other artists I like (Incredible String Band and Nick Drake) - I don't remember if there was anything special about Richard or Fairport. Boyd talked to Humphries for his RT book as well.
Liege And Lief - 1969. Island Records. 1. "Come All Ye" Sandy Denny, Ashley Hutchings 4:55 2. "Reynardine" Traditional; arranged by Fairport Convention 4:33 3. "Matty Groves" Traditional; arranged by Fairport Convention[30][31] 8:08 4. "Farewell, Farewell" words: Richard Thompson; tune: Traditional[32] 2:38 Side two No. Title Writer(s) Length 5. "The Deserter" Traditional; arranged by Fairport Convention 4:10 6. "Medley" I. "The Lark in the Morning" II. "Rakish Paddy" III. "Foxhunter's Jig" IV. "Toss the Feathers" Traditional; arranged by Dave Swarbrick 4:00 7. "Tam Lin" Traditional; arranged by Dave Swarbrick 7:20 8. "Crazy Man Michael" words: Richard Thompson; tune: Dave Swarbrick 4:35 Sandy, Richard, Simon and Ashley with the addition of Dave Swarbrick and Dave Mattocks (who takes over for the recently departed Martin Lamble.) This album is musically phenomenal and well deserving of it's reputation. I'm quite impressed with Richard's songs on this album. Farewell, Farewell being a lament for his girlfriend Jennie killed in the M1 crash along with Lamble, and his lyrics for the absolutely haunting "Crazy Man Michael" (music by Swarb), which Simon Nicol has come to own and often performed live in the last 30 years. Of course, never as good as what Sandy did on it.
