House Full: Fairport Convention Live at the LA Troubadour [Import, Original recording remastered]

Fairport Convention | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 15, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import, Original recording remastered
• Label: Island UK
• ASIN: B00005NILF
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #46,112 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #82 in Music > Imports > Folk

Track Listings

1. Sir Patrick Spens

2. Yellow Bird

3. Banks Of The Sweet Primroses

4. Lark In The Morning Medley

5. Sloth

6. Staines Morris

7. Matty Groves

8. MEDLEY: Jenny's Chickens/Mason's Apron

9. Battle Of The Somme

10. MEDLEY: Bonnie Kate/Sir B. Mckenzies

Editorial Reviews

UK remastered reissue of the 1986 album for Hannibal. Includes 2bonus tracks, 'Bonnie Kate/Sir B.McKenzies' & 'Yellow Bird' which are taken from the album Live At The Troubadour (1977).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fairport Rocks LA - and it's all here for us to enjoy, January 4, 2006

By 

Daniel Hedquist (St. George, UT, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: House Full: Fairport Convention Live at the LA Troubadour (Audio CD)

Here we find Fairpoint Convention supporting their latest release "Full House" - which solidified their move towards traditional British isles material while at the same time moving towards a harder-rocking sound. The jigs are performed at a breakneck speed, which is perphaps unnecessary, but they work well anyway with new bassist Dave Pegg laying down solid, rockin' lines. Gone are the haunting and beautiful vocals of Sandy Denny, replaced by the simpler, rustic vocals of Richard Thompson and Dave Swarbrick. The highlight may very well be "Sloth" off of the new album - this live rendition brings even more emotion and power to the tune than the studio version. Also,look to get a kick out of the final tune on the disc- "Yellow Bird" It'll make you laugh - not because it sucks - but rather because it immensely entertains. If you dig 'Liege & Lief' and 'Full House'- you must check this out

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nearly the best live Fairport disc ever, May 5, 2007

By 

coca-ebola (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: House Full: Fairport Convention Live at the LA Troubadour (Audio CD)

The best, in terms of musical diversity and live atmosphere, is of course "AT2/The Boot" - but you'll have a tough time finding a copy of that!
This is certainly the most historically valuable of all the live Fairport discs - given that so far all the Sandy-era shows in circulation have been unsatisfying documents from her declining years. The Full House lineup is increasingly almost as revered as the 1968-9 edition, both for their compositions and arrangements (for which see that particular album) and their live performances (for which see this disc).

Humble opinions: I'm not entirely satisfied with this version of "Sloth" as the band seem to fall asleep for two minutes toward the end (there are better 1970 live takes on this song if you know where to look!)
Here, it's not the improvisations that excite but the compositions which are attacked with tremendous enthusiasm throughout. The energy level never lets up, from the first guitar and fiddle breaks of "Sir Patrick Spens" to the "Sir B Mackenzie" medley (differently constituted to the version we all know). The slower numbers, the medieval-sounding "Staines Morris" and the stately lament "Battle of the Somme" are no less powerful (although "Sweet Primroses" still sounds incomplete to me). Richard sings "Matty Groves" in his youthful "rustic" voice (which is...different, I suppose) but largely cedes solo space to Swarb, who's on-fire throughout. Speaking of which, the fiddle tunes medleys are definite highpoints - you'll never hear ballsier versions of "MacKenzie" or the Liege & Lief medley than on this disc...and then there's the album's metaphorical centerpiece, the stunningly fast and loud "Mason's Apron" medley, which suggests they could have become the Ten Years After of the folk-rock world!

This album features just a fraction of the repertoire played by the Full House line-up - but it's a pretty brilliant setlist (with one obvious exception) and in the absence of a more thorough official-bootleg type release, this will do.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amamzing Live Fairport at the Height of Their Powers, April 13, 2010

By 

Connecticut Yankee (The Southland) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: House Full: Fairport Convention Live at the LA Troubadour (Audio CD)

This Island remaster of the 1970 Fairport live album adds improved sonics and a couple of tunes to the earlier Hannibal release (Sir B. MacKenzie, Yellow Bird). Sloth, Matty Groves, Staines Morris, Mason's Apron are all highlights, and some other reviewer somewhere in some other forum once wrote that this album features some of the "fastest jigs and reels in captivity."

But this is not speed-freak Fairport. It is a crack five-piece band in full mastery of its craft, overflowing with relaxed camaraderie and self-effacing charm. After the 1969 departure of founding bassist Ashley Hutchings and peerless vocalist Sandy Denny, guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, along with newer members-named-Dave (fiddler Swarbrick, drummer Mattacks, and bassist Pegg) made two crucial decisions: passing the singing duties around instead of seeking a new star singer, and delving deeper into the project of electrifying the British folk tradition. The fruits of their labors are to be found on the studio album Full House, animated by powerful songwriting collaborations between Thompson and Swarbrick, and this live document of their subsequent American tour, drawn from a stint at the LA Troubadour (opening for Rick Nelson).

While legendary guest performances by Linda Ronstadt and various Led Zeppelin members are not included on the official release, this will do nicely. It captures a confident, exuberant Fairport building on its folk-rock strengths and breaking new ground. Thompson left the band shortly after this tour, bringing an end to an era, if not the legendary Fairport itself, which has jigged on, in one form or another to the present. They never made an album like this again, but then again, no one else did either. Catch classic Fairport Convention in their full resplendent glory on this disc.