Fairport Convention [EXTRA TRACKS] [IMPORT] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Fairport Convention

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 10, 2003)
• Original Release Date: April 15, 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Import, Original recording remastered
• Label: Universal UK
• ASIN: B00007J35I
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #58,432 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Remastered reissue of 1968 debut album includes four bonus tracks, 'Suzanne', 'If I Had A Ribbon Bow', 'Morning Glory', 'Reno, Nevada', & a slipcase with the first pressing. Includes sleevenotes by co-founder Ashley Hutchings. 16 tracks. Polydor. 2003.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fairport's First, January 5, 2005

By	Laurence Upton (Wilts, UK) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Long out of print, as I discovered after trading in the Polydor vinyl album some years ago, this re-mastered reissue includes bonus tracks including their first single, a cover of Maxine Sullivan's 1940 recording of If I Had A Ribbon Bow. The best track is probably the Dylan-influenced and rather psychedelic It's Alright Ma, It's Only Witchcraft.

Among the other original material, some of it dating from Richard Thompson's previous band, is a fair smattering of well-chosen songs from contemporary performers. Joni Mitchell was virtually unknown and unreleased on record in 1967 when this album was recorded and her own versions of the two songs here did not appear until her second album, Clouds, in 1969. The Fairports knew her as she had been in the UK at the invitation of their producer, Joe Boyd, and she had played some British dates supporting the Incredible String Band. Emitt Rhodes was still performing in the obscure group the Merry-Go-Round when they recorded Time Will Show The Wiser to open the album.

Dylan's Jack O'Diamonds was actually a poem which turned up on the liner-notes of Another Side Of Bob Dylan. He had given it to an actor friend called Ben Carruthers at the Savoy, who had used it in a TV play called A Man With No Papers, and subsequently recorded it with his group Ben Carruthers And The Deep, aided by Jimmy Page and Nicky Hopkins, on a flop single. One Sure Thing was a cover of a little-known duo called Jim and Jean (Jim Glover and Jean Ray).

There is no clue from this eclectic mix of songs featuring Ian Matthew and the very underrated Judy Dyble that they were to virtually reinvent folk-rock with Sandy Denny just a couple of years later. I saw the band a couple of times around the time of this album and, much as I enjoyed their later albums, rather miss these styles of playing in their music.

Their version of Suzanne used to feature alternate verses sung by Ian Matthew and Sandy Denny but the May 1968 version here sadly falls between Judy Dyble leaving and Sandy Denny joining, but you can hear the dual-vocal version from their August 1968 Top Gear session on Heyday

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fairport's 1st, pre-Sandy Denny, album was very good, November 29, 2003

By	woburnmusicfan (Woburn, MA United States) - See all my reviews

Before Sandy Denny came along, a very young Fairport Convention recorded this lovely album full of warmth and open-hearted innocence, with Judy Dyble and Ian MacDonald (later known as Iain Matthews) on vocals. It's full of the singer-songwriter material found on "What We Did on Our Holidays". The album starts with the rocking single, Emmitt Rhodes' "Time Will Show the Wiser." Dyble sings a pair of Joni Mitchell songs, including a fantastic arrangement of "I Don't Know Where I Stand," while MacDonald does Bob Dylan's "Jack o'Diamonds." Richard Thompson's prolific recorded career began on this album, with five co-written songs, including the sad but lovely "Decameron", wistful "Sun Shade", and blues-rockers "If" and "It's Alright Ma, It's Only Witchcraft". Dyble's voice isn't as strong as Denny's, but she provides a variety of musical touches, like the recorder solo on "Jack o'Diamonds", autoharp riff on "The Lobster", and piano that frames the instrumental "Portfolio". Throughout the album, the band is experimenting with dynamics, tempos, and sound textures.

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

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At Last--Mark I, Complete!, February 16, 2004

By	T. A. Shepherd "tas50l" (Palmdale, Ca. 93550) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

CD buffs can rejoice now that the first Fairport album is re-issued as it should have been done in the first place. The original 12-track album is here in all its spledor, but the real treat is the first single, "If I Had a Ribbon Bow". It is a vibe-driven jazz number with Richard Thompson's Wes Montgomery-style guitar running throughout. Judy Dyble's deft vocal is triumphant. An amazing throw-back to summer '67 Frisco sound in a British context, the rest of the album simply shimmers on songs such as Decameron, It's Only Witchcraft, The Lobster and a rare Harvey Brooks (Electric Flag) tune, One Sure Thing. This album is a preview to what Judy would do a year or two later with Trader Horne. Let's hope that one comes out soon.