Yes, I know. The featured album is 'Unhalfbricking' but the photo is 2 different records. Bear with me.
'Unhalfbricking' used to belong to me. It was lost along the way, but there was a very good reason for owning it. The group included 3 Dylan tracks on this, their third album. One of the songs was based on Dylan's "If You Gotta Go, Go Now" but was sung in French and retitled "Si Tu Dois Partir" - literally 'If you have to go'. It was their one and only chart single, peaking at #21. Like many people, they had managed to hear bootleg Dylan songs from 'Great White Wonder' etc that included early Basement Tapes tracks, so they also recorded 'Million Dollar Bash' and 'Percy's Song'. Despite that, critics call this a 'transitional' album moving more towards English folk than the previous American influenced stuff they'd been doing.
As mentioned above, my record collection (and music collection in general) has been gathered and lost a few times over the years and that is evident by the 2 albums shown here. Both 'Fairport Live Convention' (1974) and 'Rising For The Moon' (1975) have a retailer stamp inside the sleeve saying "The Record Finder - Rare Records & New" in Fremantle, Western Australia. That means I know with certainty that I rebought these in 1990.
The personel behind Fairport Convention has changed dramatically over the years, with 5 current members still performing and 20 previous members who made contributions over the years. Sandy Denny joined the band early but came and went, having two bites at the cherry, 1968-1969 and again 1974-1975. Funnily enough, all the albums I have feature Sandy. To me, she is the 'voice' of Fairport Convention, much the same as Maddy Prior is the 'voice' of Steeleye Span. Talking of Steeleye Span, I thought it was very odd that the inside sleeve of 'Rising For The Moon' was a full ad for the Span .. friendly rivalry perhaps. (see photo).
A number of groups have taken English Folk to a commercial level, not only Fairport and Steeleye but others such as Pentangle and Fotheringay (which was a Sandy Denny off-shoot band) - even Jethro Tull had shades of the genre. When prog rock/psychedelic/jazz rock group Traffic released their 1970 album 'John Barleycorn Must Die (reviewed in Vinyl Vault on July 28 2020) Steve Winwoods arrangement of the traditional title track was likened to the style of Fairport Convention.
They are not to everyone's taste. As mentioned, the line-up, form and feel of the group has changed, but I still prefer the 60s/70s Sandy Denny years.
Sandy died very young and if you were being brutally honest it could almost be said she was the reason behind her own demise. Spiralling into drug and alcohol abuse, depression and manic behaviour, she also had a history of throwing herself downstairs or off bar stools in the pub. Despite having a child, her behaviour didn't improve and she passed away in a coma in 1978 aged just 31.
Early in the life of Fairport Convention, as shown on 'Unhalfbricking' they covered many Dylan songs. In 2018 a compilation CD was released and the title speaks for itself - "A Tree With Roots - Fairport Convention And The Songs Of Bob Dylan". Oddly, one of the 17 songs included is 'Ballad of Easy Rider' which is attributed to Roger McGuinn. Dylan is not listed as co-writer but it has sort of been acknowledged that he had some input. Regardless, it's been added to my collection. Worlds collide !
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