TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

After refusing to listen to Fairport Convention when I was a teen (Someone I really despise was telling me how wonderful they were) I rediscovered them a few years ago, and bought a chunk of the 60s/70s albums, closely followed by Sandy Denny and Fotheringay stuff.

Now I'm really getting into English Folk Rock in a big way. I would like recommendations for the top 20 interesting Fairport related albums (solo or Collaborative) This needn't include any of the Sandy Denny albums since I'll be buying the 19 CD box set in October anyway.

Thanks

Rich W

Hi Rich. Here's a few to begin with. Some of these don't have FC members on them, Little Johnny England for example, but are close friends with Fairport, or damn good folk-rock bands.

Rise Up Like the Sun - The Albion Band
Lark Rise to Candleford - The Albion Band
10 Years On - Little Johnny England
Smiddyburn - Dave Swarbrick
Flittin' - Dave Swarbrick

This is cheating a bit, but  is a really cheap way of buying nearly all of Steeleye Span's back catalogue.
The Lark in the Morning - first three Steeleye albums
A Parcel of Steeleye Span - next 5
Another Parcel of Steeleye Span - the next 5

Edit: Whoops, just read your other post. Ignore this bit!


Anything by Feast of Fiddles is worth listening to.

All Rogues and Villians - the Duncan McFarlane Band
In the Service of a King - Something Nasty in the Woodshed

That should keep you going for a bit!  :)

Yeah, sorry I should have said I just picked up a chunk of 'Steeleye Span' And yes it was kind of cheating, those box sets are a bargain. Hopefully Maddy and co get a decent royalty out of them.

I did also just order: 'No Roses' by Shirley Collins (based on the musicians on that album I'd be surprised if it wasn't good)

I was also considering: 'Battle of the Field' - Albion Country Band, and the 'Morris On' album I'd be interested to hear any opinions on those two albums.

Rich

Oh blimey, how could I forget those! Yes, Morris On is fantastic, as are Son of, Grandson of, and Great Grandson of. No Roses to me sounds more like early Steeleye than early Fairport, which is no bad thing at all. I got this album myself only a few weeks ago and love it. I've not heard Battle of the Field, but from what people say it is very good. In fact, anything that was made in the 70s and has the words Albion and Band in the title is worth getting.

If you have Spotify, I put together a playlist of folk rock stuff a while back - http://open.spotify.com/user/ollieking14/playlist/2uFKZU4w9GfUrKZMVbZicY

Indeed ... it is very very good!

The only drawback is that it is a bit on the short side ... the band split up just before finishing the recording. To get it up to a respectible running time when it was released (four years later?) an additional track was recorded which, while being good, wasn't in keeping with the rest of the album.

Still, I listen to it often even after all these years!

My top 3 Fairport related albums are:

Simon Nicol - Before Your Time
Martin Allcock - Maart
Vikki Clayton - In Flight

all well worth a listen

Maart... OX15.. is wonderful!!

"The Bones Of All Men" - Phil Pickett and his early music cohorts team up with Richard Thompson, Dave Pegg, Simon Nicol and Dave Mattacks - an all instrumental album, basically Fairport meets the Renaissance (not the band ;D ).  Right up there with my two or three favorite Fairport albums.

"The Bones Of All Men" is indeed great, and a favourite of RT.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned any of the Richard Thompson solo or with Linda albums.  Many of these feature past and present FC members.  While they are all worth having, if I was looking at them from a purely FC perspective, I'd go for:

I Want to See the Bright Lights
Henry the Human Fly
Hand of Kindness
Rumour and Sigh
Shoot out the Lights

As well as the albums mentioned above, the Albion Band "Happy Accidents" is pretty close to the contemporary FC style.

Thanks to your scratched out reply there Ollie I just became aware of (and ordered) the Steeleye Span Parcels!  Always wanted to give the band a go, I've long had Maddy Prior's album Woman In The Wings, being a Tull-fan a knowledgeable old-timer played me Gutter Geese and I had to have the album!  I've heard other tunes before but always seemed to put off exploring further, but at the insanely low prices they're available for I couldn't resist.