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Heyday: BBC Radio Sessions, 1968-1969

Fairport Convention - Heyday: BBC Radio Sessions, 1968-1969 Audio CD

A fair review of the Fairport Convention "Heyday: BBC Radio Sessions, 1968-1969" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Fairport Convention reviews here, or go back to the Fairport Convention tabs.

Band: Fairport Convention
Title: Heyday: BBC Radio Sessions, 1968-1969
Rating:

Release Date: 2002-03-11
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Close the Door Lightly When You Go 2: I Don't Know Where I Stand 3: Some Sweet Day 4: Reno, Nevada 5: Suzanne 6: If It Feels Good, You Know It Can't Be Wrong 7: I Still Miss Someone 8: Bird on a Wire 9: Gone, Gone, Gone 10: Tried So Hard 11: Shattering Live Experience 12: Percy's Song 13: You Never Wanted Me [*] 14: Nottamun Town [*] 15: Fotheringay [*] 16: Si Tu Dois Partir [*] 17: Cajun Woman [*] 18: Autopsy [*] 19: Reynardine [*] 20: Tam Lin [*]

Fresh Air from Long Ago. Very Nice Listening

My first impression on hearing the album is that even with the great original members, especially Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson, this is a very lightweight album. `Heydey' by the original Fairport Convention (thus the title) is a CD of recordings done by the group on the BBC in 1968 and 1969, about the time the group released their attention-grabbing album `Unhalfbricking'. Of the two heaviest numbers, one `Percy's Song' is available on `Unhalfbricking' and Leonard Cohen's `Suzanne' has almost become a clich�, as it has been recorded so many times since Judy Collins brought it to light on one of her albums around 1967. Most of the other numbers are pretty light, some recalling the style of `The Fifth Dimension'.

But then I listened to it a bit more. My opinion on `Percy's Song' and `Suzanne' does not change, but my take on the rest of the album mellows to the point where I really like this artifact from my beloved / hated 1960s. Instead of `The Fifth Dimension', I start to get wiffs of `The Byrds' and Richard and Mimi Farina.

As I happen to be listening to a CD of Fairport Convention which comes 30 years later, with but one original band member (Simon Nicol) in place, I get no sense that I am listening to `Fairport Convention' until they do their old chestnut `Matty Groves' for the 3000th time.

Recommended, if you can get it at a good discount!
.

No American band can do these songs equal justice
"

Indeed. The Amazon reviewer neglected to mention what else producer Joe Boyd said in his liner notes: "And of course, now I am forced to admit it is hard to find an American band who can do these songs equal justice. Anything Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson did during their brief association is worth hearing, particularly their work together in Fairport--they really did have a kind of Billie Holiday/Lester Young sympatico thing going. Fairport was famous in it's early days for it's eclectic taste in covers, and this CD was released partly to show that off. Lots of highligts, among them the slightly bizarre acid-rock version of Joni Mitchell's I Don't Know Where I Stand; Denny singing Leonard Cohen, although she only gets to sing half of each song, sharing the lead vocal with Ian Matthews-- her contribution to Bird on a Wire is especially great, she really has a feel for Cohen's sensibility; Denny's gorgeous a cappella intro to Percy's Song; the beautiful harmony singing of Matthews and Denny on Cash's I Still Miss Someone, the Everly Brothers Gone Gone Gone, and ex-Byrd Gene Clark's Tried So Hard, to name but a few. Reno, Nevada shoulda been a Top of the Pops hit.

This "Extended" version includes material from the entire span of the Denny-Thompson edition of Fairport, including--in addition to songs that never appeared on an official Fariport release--live versions of two songs from What We Did on Our Holidays, four songs from Unhalfbricking and two songs from Liege and Lief. The latter were a bit of a disappointment to me--Raynardine is good, although very much like the version on Leige and Lief, but on Tam Lin they sound a little stiff compared to the record version, that is up until the very end, when they start jamming (Ashley Hutchings warns in the liner notes that these were "very early outings for these traditional songs"). Still, well worth having if you like this sort of thing.

For fans of Fairport's singer-songwriter period
The recordings were made for BBC radio broadcasts. This is a pleasant but non-essential souvenir of Fairport Convention's early days, when a large part of their repertoire was covers of American singer-songwriter material. Ten of the twelve songs are cover tunes, of which two (Dylan's "Percy's Song" and Joni Mitchell's "I Don't Know Where I Stand") have previously appeared on Fairport albums. There's some Leonard Cohen, some Everly Brothers, a little Byrds. . . A highlight is "Some Sweet Day". Of all the Fairport albums, this one has the least connection to the band's later folk-rock sound.

(1=poor 2=mediocre 3=pretty good 4=very good 5=phenomenal).

An absolute must for all Fairport fans

The value of this album is the live versions of the songs that the band recorded on their studio albums and which have not been generally available. I have just traded my original copy of Heyday in now that I have this one.

Fairport Convention in performance have often been an entirely different animal to the studio band and I can testify to that having seen them in such disparate venues as Fusion, Sunderland and Newcastle Poly.

Tracks 1 through 12 sound good but the style does not suit the band in retrospect. Importing new and upcoming songwriters' songs certainly brought a breath of fresh air to the British scene and served an important purpose in reawakening our own roots but despite the beauty of the singer's voices, the approach is still borrowed and although sounding authentic does not really gel. Please don't mistake me, I love those songs and the performance but I prefer the later material.

My greatest joy in owning this CD comes from having a live version of Tam Lin which I have always preferred to the crowd favourite of Matty Groves. It is a little different to the studio version but is awesome. Other standout tracks are Autopsy and Reynardine. Later period Fairport with probably their most powerful lineup is a joy to listen to even when they are playing their Top of the Pops Si Tu Dois Partir. The playing is a delight, the singing amazing and the tightness of the band and their empathy with the other band members is clearly evident.

An excellent album and an absolute for all Fairport fans.

You can see a complete list of all Fairport Convention discography, or go back to the Fairport Convention tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.