Box Sets Part 3: Fairport Convention Live at the BBC

For me I could talk about Fairport Convention all the time.  I could talk about the awesome musicianship that the band had.  I could talk about the awesome guitar playing of Richard Thompson.  I could talk about the lead vocals of Judy Dyble or Sandy Denny.  Were they like anybody else?  That is a tough question.  They certainly changed and molded into some bands we know very well, but Fairport was much different.  Not only did they do folk music with an Electric backbeat, they at one point and then after these recordings became a band who took old English and Irish traditional songs and amplified them.  They did these songs so well that you swear that they wrote these beautiful tunes.

In 1987 Hannibal records gathered a forty minute album of their BBC sessions.  It did not make a dent on what they did for the BBC, but it sure gave a glimpse of what they were doing and evolving into.  Only one of those songs on the sessions was their own.  The rest of the songs were what made Fairport tick.  It was music of Dylan, Cohen, and the like that showed the colors of what Fairport loved about what they were doing.  Sadly forty minutes barely scratched the surface with what they were doing.  These sessions were from 1968-69 and in two years they put out four albums.  Three alone in 1969 and these are among their best.  These three will be talked about in the future, but each could be a desert island album for me.

Judy Dyble in the middle in the 1968 line up of Fairport Convention

Fairport had the strength in their early years the presence of Richard Thompson an awesome and gifted guitar player and also had the gift of two great female vocalists.  Judy Dyble was the first.  Her signature voice could make anyone turn their head.  Her strong vocal presence was what start the legendary Fairport into the path of historical status.  It was Sandy Denny who got the band to be legends of their time and now one of the best band of the 60's and beyond.  Sandy Denny was not only a great singer, she was a great songwriter.  She was so good at what she did, she got her bandmate Richard Thompson to write.  The rest was history and let me tell yea what great history it was.  When Sandy wrote "Fortheringay" you could tell that this song was made for them.

Sandy Denny with Fairport in 1969

Sandy's strong vocal presence carried a band to such great heights that no other British band was like. This paved a new path of great followers that could not come close on what trail Fairport blazed.  While The Beatles were the turning Rock N' Roll upside down, Fairport Convention was turning their own genre on it's head and trying something new every time they played on the BBC.  A lot of these songs on the BBC were well chosen covers and well chosen originals.  The BBC sessions gave Fairport a chance to time to experiment and also find their audience that like myself was hooked at the same time.

When Fairport decided to get traditional on us even those songs, they made them sound like their own.  If you dig deep Fairport Convention did the tradition proud.  Listen to "Tam Lin" or "Reynardine" and you can hear the force that they did with these songs.  I still love the studio versions, but the BBC versions really give the identity of what Fairport's music is all about.

So if your into Fairport Convention like me this is the perfect box set.  If your a novice it's a great way to hear them when they were broadcasted on the BBC.  Fairport Convention was a great band, and there is so much more to talk about with them.  Don't worry in a future post I will talk about how much I think they are one of the best artists of the 60's.  Fairport Convention where one of the bands that I love to talk about and be happy to tell you more and more.