TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

During the Wintour, there were hints of a JBL Live album; anyone know/heard any more about it?

OK, I give up.  Been looking at this post for a few days now -- what's JBL?

(John) Babbacombe Lee.  :)

And I am not sure that there were hints as such, just speculation that the new interpretation would be nice to have. With a new studio album in the racks I don't see it happening any time soon (if at all).

On Facebook, the powers that be at Fairport headquarters announced that there will hopefully be two new CDs of Fairport Convention material out by Christmas 2011.  One is the "old songs re-recorded by the current lineup" project.  Perhaps the other will soon be officially announced as a live set featuring the B. Lee material?

Mentioned on Twitter too

there's been rumours of an "off the desk 2" for a while now and maybe this is it

That would be nice, especially if the 'old songs' CD is as underwhelming as it sounds as if it might be (I hope it won't be, but I could have hoped for a more interesting set of songs for them to choose from).

I can't seem to find the Facebook announcement. Can somebody point me in the right direction please?

25th June (at 11.25, if that helps)

Thanks Will. No denials about the JBL live disc so fingers crossed.

Seems odd to be putting out two seperate CDs. It would make more sense to put it out as a two disc set I would have thought, one live, one studio if indeed this is the plan.

I'd agree if it were a straight live disc of general material.

THe JBL is quite differenmt, and would seem odd packaged with the other studio disc, IMO

I disagree. If the intention is to put out a 45th anniversary package of reworked material, one disc of studio re-recordings complemented by a contemporary live reinterpretation of BL makes perfect sense to me.

Oh, the 45th connection - fair comment.

Won't prejudge - but the JBL album, perhaps more than any other FC album was very much of its time and for some reason I think it's the best one from that lineup - maybe not in terms of songs, but certainly as a rounded presentation.

Might not have the same charm now - even with a more dynamic live sound. Would reckon however will get a chance to find that out at Cropredy !

Although there were only two with that lineup,Angel Delight and JBL. It was the first time that there were two consecutive albums with the same lineup.

The live performances on the winter tour were very impressive (though I did miss the guitar solos but that would have required Simon to split himself in two).

If the winter tour performances are anything to go by, your fears should be allayed. For me it was far and away the best performance of anything by the current line up. By a very, very long way. Chris's singing was astonishing and the whole thing had much more edge than either the original album or anything else this current band has done.

Yes, that does sound like it would make sense - and would probably encourage some of the doubters in the first disc to buy it too!

Agree 100% - JBL was so, so good... you shouldn't be disappointed on Aug 13th... 6 weeks tomorrow!

Are they palying the whole thing again?

I'm betting not.

I'm betting so.

I'm siding with Mr Leslie

I think they will, which is ok by me, but I can understand if some think it's gone on long enough.

I'm a bit puzzled by this. No-one said that Liege & Lief had "gone on long enough" did they?

Not really - he could have just switched from rhythm to lead.

Jules

i'm surprised about the guitar as Simon did  all the guitaring on the original lp and he played it all live on the subsequent tour

Could be a lack of nerve or a lack of practice.

Bottom line is that for the past 25 years, either Ric or Chris have done all the soloing.

Jules

A JBL live album would get me to part with the cash - the other fills me with dread.

As much as I'd love to hear Babbacombe Lee played by the original Line-up, I don't think it's going to happen at Cropredy. The current Line-up do it enough Justice, and it definitely would not work with all seven musicians on stage. Ric and Swarb would have to alternate solos, and as much as the 'double-drum' thing works with Gerry and DM, I think it would be too much for the whole set. I think that if they do it, it will be with the current members of the band.

I don't think anyone was actually suggesting otherwise.

Personally I don't think they will play it at all other than as extracts. They will feel they did that on the Wintour and will want to take a broader approach to their Cropredy set, depending on who the guests are of course.

No one was suggesting it, but it's something they quite often do with particular eras of Fairport's history (Liege and Lief, Full House and the Maart era stuff they did in 2007 for example), it just wouldn't work in this particular instance.

And as you said, whether they do the whole thing is down to which guests they bring on, but it's possible for JBL to be the central part of the set (as in recent years: Sandy '08, Yusuf '09, Excalibur '10).

What I mean is they had the JBL section in the Winter tour before the latest and at Cropredy. We then had the full JBL set in this Winter's tour and it's possible we could have it this year at Cropredy.
I'm happy with that but I could understand it if some felt it had been a main feature of the live act for too long.

I wish Swarb had the resiliance to sing lead on the Croppers version.

Jules

There's been fiscal issues in the past. Not saying that'll occur again, just saying....

who said Swarb and DM would be at Cropredy this year?

No one. I had speculated myself, and then realized why my speculation was wrong.  

Sorry - what was it exactly that you realised?  Am I missing something here?

Jules

Basically, I had previously just assumed that Swarb and DM would join them for JBL, but I have since thought it out and realised why they probably wont be.

And that is....?

Jules

See above (very top of the page)

Ah right.  I thought you were meaning some other factor...something more along the lines of inter-band (and ex-band) politics.

Jules

I'm sorry I'm really not bothered about a live version of JBL.

To be honest I'm fed up with all the JBL stuff now.

I don't think it's just me - not one song from the album made the top 20 in the songs voted for by people visiting the website.
I'm looking forward to hearing the new studio album versions of the songs from the top 20 picked by the band. If JBL was that popular surely one song would have crept into the top 20.

Don't get me wrong they made a great job of the JBL songs on the winter tour, but personally I enjoyed the second half of the show far more.

This doesn't mean I wouldn't want to hear a live version of a complete album in the future but I think would enjoy  "Nine" "Rising For The Moon" "Tipplers Tales" or "Bonny Bunch of Roses" far more than JBL.

My first choice though would be for the usual mix of songs from the whole of their career - there is so much good stuff to choose from and lots of songs that haven't been played live for years.

This may be because the album is seen as a piece not a series of songs. Those songs always seem a little orphaned when performed alone.

The top 20 songs seem a little safe to me which says quite a lot about fans not necessarily the band. Anyway, I am always interested in the new stuff even if a little cautious at times especially when revisiting old material, curiously the JBL performance has it seems had less criticism than other revisited song with the exception of Reynardine.

Neil

how disappointed are you, and all the others youve volunteered fed up with JBL, going to be on the saturday night

Nice gloating. Thanks very much.

I see from the "tour dates" section in fRoots that Swarb has gigs with Martin Carthy right through the Cropredy weekend - nowhere near N Oxon, so I guess we can dis-count a guest appearance.