TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

Calm down - it's not happening - yet!

As they've done Sandy Denny and John Martyn sets,there's a chance they might.

Do you think they will?
What extras do you want/think will be in it?
Would you buy it?

Oh bloody hell.  Now you've said it, it's going to happen, isn't it?  More records to buy all over again.

If they put the 1970 Gold Star studio sessions in it, then I won't be able to help myself.   :'(

Jules

Ha ha ha ha ha...can you imagine them agreeing on who to write the sleeve notes?   ;D

That's a really strange co-incidence. I was tracking down my Dylan CD cases today ahead of the new Complete Albums box set appearing next month so that I can donate them to a charity shop. They were sharing a storage box with my Fairport CD cases. The storage box is now half empty and I thought to myself that it would be really useful if someone would put out an equivalent box set for Fairport and save me some space!

So I guess the answer is, yes I would but I don't think it will happen. Universal see Sandy as the saleable commodity, not the band and they have flogged that particular horse nearly to death.

Sorry to double post but it has just occurred to me that as Universal now also own the rights to both the Polydor and Vertigo back catalogues, the box could cover the entire period from 1967 - 1979.

I want to say dont give the bastards the chance to fleece the fans again, but i fear it will only spur the grasping gits on.
 I wonder how the John Martyn box is selling? They are still pushing it like a clapped out lada on fb

When I was talking to a friend about my purchasing the new Bob megabox I mentioned my desire for a 67-79 Fairport completo one.  I'd love it of course, but it won't happen.

I've still got the FC 25th Anniversary Island Box Set. And what a sad effort that was. 4 perfectly normal Island CDs in a box! Catalogue number FCBX1. Even that was a bit lame. And I've just got it down from its home on the top shelf and I can't even open it:it seems to have locked itself solid. I remember that the adverts at the time promised some sort of leaflet history with it, and Island couldn't even get that together, so they went out leafletless.

But you have all of those albums, David!

Jules

And isn't that the same box where all the CDs got disc rot?

Jules

Probably. But as I might need a chisel to open the cardboard box, they'll probably be well mullered, rot or no rot!

A good point, well made (actually, I have all the music, of course, but some of it electronically)...still one can never have too many copies of Gottle...

Yup. It was the only way to get hold of those albums at the time. They were only released independently subsequently. I have subsequently replaced three of the four with later reissues.

I picked that 4cd set at the time and was mightily pleased, but less so now because they definitely have bronzing as Al discussed/informed me awhile ago :-( All are in line to be replaced soon in my case

The thing is - and I know we're only talking about a hypothetical box set of previously released Island albums with possible 'extras' - but (and particularly in the case of the Sandy and JM sets where 'new' stuff just keeps on cropping up) what is definitive? Fairport's an ongoing concern, after all, and, in the long run, won't 1979/the end of their Island tenure (or whenever...) be regarded as just another date in their chequered history..?

And which 'extras' do we really need? Surely the bottom of the barrel's already been scraped. I have a b*****g  :-[  :) of the first Fairport gig I ever attended and it means a lot to me but I'm sure it wouldn't be of much interest to anyone else, yet lo-fi recordings form an important part of expensive box sets...

I'd love the John Martyn box but I could buy a new stair carpet for that price!

There's the Gold Star sessions,as Jules mentioned,and the Manor Sessions,that we know about that would be better than lo-fi,but why the record companies can't release them as they are,or in a stand alone rarities only box is beyond me....apart from the obvious expoit the fans who already have everything reason.
I believe every previously unreleased track from Sandy's Who Knows...box is now available elsewhere,even if you don't include the mega box,it's ridiculous.
The sooner record companies die the better.
 

Not really.  The Island Years are still seen as the band's essential core discography, I think.



The 1970 Gold Star Sessions!  So, that's a 'no' from me.

Jules

I have that box and am happy to say all 4 of the discs are okay.

Last time i looked al the discs were ok, but they have all been superceded by newer remasters and i play most of my stuff in mp3 nowadays so when the cd gets put away it rarely comes out again

Ashamed to say I'd never heard of these sessions until now  :-[ (Surrenders Fairport badge; folk-rock licence revoked...)

The version of Bonny Bunch Of Roses on the expanded Full House is from those sessions, and they're mentioned in the liner notes too.

Jules

So if Island have an ongoing reissue programme, now they've done Anthrax, surely it's only a matter of time before a Fairport box is forthcoming  :) :


[Photo over 400 days old. Removed by Admin.]

Which songs did they record during those sessions?

Most probably much the same material that ended up on Full House.Why the sessions were abandoned is not known in any depth,as far as I know.

Versions of Dirty Linen, Sir Patrick Spens, Walk Awhile and The Bonny Bunch of Roses.

Jules

So the plan was to record the Full House album in the US but, as Mike wrote, abandoned for unknown reasons. It would be interesting to hear what the recordings sound like in comparison the ones recorded in England.

According to Richard Thompson, Staines Morris ws one of the tracks.

I have that box set too...all the CD's contained within had that 'CD cancer'...the Cd's are deceased...all brown and flakey...but the box still works.

Indeed it would.  I believe that the London recordings were done first, so the LA versions must have been an attempt to better them.  The band must have felt that they hadn't achieved this.

Interesting though that when Poor Will was dropped from the album that nobody seems to have thought to substitute one of the Gold Star cuts.

Jules

Out of interest Jules,as you can compare at least the two versions of Bonny..,which,if any,do you prefer?

The 1970 Gold Star one has the edge for me.  It's a little ragged, but it has a spirit and a tension lacking from the later version.

Jules

I guessed that might be the case,same here.
I have Tippler's/Bonny Bunch on a twofer,and tend to skip it.If I let it run,my mind drifts off elsewhere,and I find myself shouting at the stereo when another verse starts and I think the songs finnished.Sometimes I enjoy it ,though.Depends on the mood.I don't have those problems with the Full House version,probably because I'ts less familiar,so I pay more attention.
I'm of the mind that to include Bonny Bunch on the original 40 minute Full House would have made for a pretty 'down' experience with quite a few slow paced and sombre songs already on there,(and I'd rather have Sloth covering the subject of war,thank you very much!)

I like the 1977 version better. The Goldstar version is always flat for me, without any moving. Can't tell exactly, but it just goes on and on.
The 1977 version on the other hand keeps it interesting. The only thing I skip on that record (regulary!) is The last waltz. I my opinion this is by far the worst and boring song they ever recorded.

Alex

I Googled the Manor sessions to see what I could find about it and the first site to come up was a bootleg site. There is a bootleg album and I recognised 5 of the 9 songs, but they did not use these but rerecorded them.

I had a look to see if they had anything by Steeleye Span, there are four and one of the albums were recordings they made for the John Peel show in 1971 but I could not believe my eyes when I saw the cover, it was one of my own pictures, one I had taken in the Queen Elizabeth Hall in 1971.

I have been thinking about this (instead of getting on with the work that I should be doing) and it seems to me that there must be a wealth of live material that could be included, much like the John Martyn box. At the very least, Island must have recorded more of the Troubador material than made it onto the House Full/Live At The LA Troubador albums (even in expanded form) and presumably the entire show was recorded that was edited down for the single disc Live Convention (A Moveable Feast).

A box containing remasters of all of the albums from Fairport Convention to Tipplers Tales, plus all of the bonus tracks released to date plus the Gold Star & Manor sessions plus the unreleased live material from shows that were recorded for for release would be an enticing prospect.

In my case, at least half of the albums are the original CD releases and are suffering the ravages of time and inept manufacturing processes so such a box would be most welcome.

You couldn't of course call it The Island Years as, although all this material is now owned by Universal, at the time it was recorded for three different labels.

Although they may do just that and also stick In Real Time in there as well.

Jules

I did consider that In Real Time and a DVD/Blu Ray of It All Comes Round Again (which is also owned by Island) might make for further good bonus material.

There you go then,Universal.
We've done the research,there's at least some suckers eager fans who would be willing to be ripped off invest in it,you know what you could include.

Get on with it.

_{(Although not yet...I have to go see my bank manager and move to a bigger house first.)}

...or download it from Amazon for £1.19!  ;)

Amazon have killed that offer!

As long as Addie's on the case, we only need a day!

Jules