Fairport Convention: Discography 1968 - 1971 + Meet On The Ledge | Urbanaspirines

 Wow this is incredibly flattering name checked an all and Kostas pulls out all the stops here with a profile of Fairport Convention dedicated to yours truly this is indispensable if you don’t have anything or even that much. 

I think I first bought the single Si Tu Dois De Partir by them as a single and we loved it, playing it at house parties and the local youth club until mine wore thin! We scarcely knew it was a Bob Dylan number sold or pushed through Tin Pan Alley of the day. We simply didn’t care (then!) 

I think I followed them avidly ever since and certainly Unhalfbricking and What We did On Our Holidays fell into the vaults collection upon their first release. I caught up with Richard solo work around the time of Across a Crowded Room and Daring Adventures his solo outing thanks to fine artist Graham Dean who sang his praises and I have bought everything ever since. Cropredy is just a few miles away from where I live and we have been across a few times to the little (sic) festival there . . . . . . . Kostas tells us:

Widely accepted as being the first great English electric folk group, Fairport Convention is that and far more. It would be safer to say they are simply one of the greatest English groups of all. They began their career with a repertoire of traditional material, some originals and a veritable jukebox of American new folk, they soon developed their own niche as interpreters of murder ballads, sly tales of yore and deeply thought out, planned and executed concept pieces. . . . . . read on

Seven (count ‘em!) official first albums and the compilation double album Meet On The Ledge!  THE CLASSIC YEARS 1967 - 1975 released in 1999

Superb effort from Kostas here and once again I have no idea how he masters such output so fast and so thoroughly frequently daily! This is most welcome and doubtless sorts my playlist for the next few months!

Here . . . . . .

Albums That Should Exist | Richard Thompson (feat Zara Phillips) Home Concerts the last one

Richard Thompson - The Fairport Convention Era - Home Concert, London, Britain, 9-27-2020

Paul says : In 2020, the worst year of the Covid pandemic, Richard Thompson performed a few home concerts that were broadcast over the Internet. I could be wrong, but I believe I've already posted all but one of them at this blog. Here, finally, is the last one. 

Richard Thompson was a member of Fairport Convention from 1967 to 1971, the most celebrated years of the band's long musical history. For this solo acoustic home concert, he decided to perform just songs from his Fairport Convention era. I'm not aware of any other concert where he had this exclusive focus, this this is a special treat for both Richard Thompson solo and Fairport Convention fans.

The reason I've never posted this before is because when the concert happened, it was one of those "pay to view" deals. I don't want to deny Thompson of a revenue stream, especially considering it's become increasingly hard for musicians to make a living. But I figure enough time has passed, and I checked the download page for this, and it's defunct. There's no way to pay for it. (By the way, if anyone has any more of these types of "pay to view" shows from artists that are also expired, please let me know so I can help share them.) 

Thompson performed the concert with just his acoustic guitar. Because it was in his home, there was no audience. However, his girlfriend Zara Phillips, who is a talented musician in her own right, joined him near the end of the concert to sing song harmony vocals. He largely played the songs in chronological order of the years the songs were recorded. However, he saved up some harmony one for the end with Phillips.

This concert is especially interesting because Thompson only sang on a minority of songs when he was in Fairport Convention, since the band had other sings, especially Sandy Denny. But in this concert, he sang some songs in public for the very first time that were sang by Denny and others, in order to show off a full picture of the band in that era. He also played a few songs from his first solo album, "Henry the Human Fly" from 1972, apparently since he linked that with the Fairport years in his mind.

There's a lot of interesting banter between songs. In recent years especially, Thompson has an annoying habit of coughing quite a lot when he's on stage. (I'm guessing this is related to a stuttering problem he's had his whole life.) So I edited out most of the coughs.

This album is an hour and 28 minutes long.

01 talk 
02 Jack O'Diamonds
03 talk 
04 One Sure Thing
05 talk (Richard Thompson)
06 She Moves through the Fair 
07 talk 
08 Who Knows Where the Time Goes 
09 talk 
10 Reynardine
11 talk 
12 Matty Groves
13 talk 
14 The Deserter
15 talk 
16 Crazy Man Michael
17 talk
18 Sir Patrick Spens
19 talk
20 Sloth 
21 talk
22 Now Be Thankful 
23 talk 
24 Roll Over Vaughan Williams
25 talk
26 The Poor Ditching Boy 
27 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
28 I Still Miss Someone (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
29 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
30 Gone, Gone, Gone (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
31 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
32 Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
33 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
34 Genesis Hall (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
35 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
36 Meet on the Ledge (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
37 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)

I paid for mine but as Paul explains it is now unavailable so we figure it’s fair game