TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

Well I was surprised. I thought it was one of the most informed and balanced music documentaries I have seen.
It didn't deserved to be hidden away on Sky Arts. Let's hope it's pirated.

I missed the first 20 minutes.   >:(

What I saw was great.  Some terrific archival footage.

Jules

I suppose that without the luxury of a 22-part series, there were bound to be huge gaps and omissions. Some kindnesses were also observed and let's leave that there.

All-in-all, enjoyable. Well worth watching if you get the opportunity.

Enjoyed it enormously, recorded and kept to be watched again.

Seen the beginning now.  Really good.  Yes it skips over the 70s and 80s, but the focus on the first 4 years is really well told.

Jules

I really liked the cut between the French TV footage of the original line up and the 'survivors' at Cropredy this year.

Fingers crossed it does turn up on YouTube.

You Tube will find it hard to host as Sky will claim copyright.

I thought Simon's post on Facebook might clarify a few things, so have copied it below.

Simon Nicol
14 hrs

Hello.
The Sky Arts documentary on Fairport screened last night has naturally spawned discussion and critique. Many of us have focussed on what was emphasised and what was 'glossed over', but trying to present an fully comprehensive overview in the format of an 70-minute TV show is equivalent to squaring a circle. So I thought it might help to remind us all of Charlie Thomas' own outline of his mission statement, which I hope will cool some unnecessarily heated responses.

"Our aim is to explain to viewers outside the established fan base how important Fairport's influence has been and continues to be - in other words, why the band matters.

"We examine Fairport's pivotal role in the evolution of British folkrock; how it fostered so many talents (Sandy, Richard, Swarb, and so on) and spawned notable bands (Matthews Southern Comfort, Steeleye Span, Fotheringay et al); and we link that historical perspective to the still-evolving band that we see today.

"We have not set out to make a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to FC (which has been done before). The film concentrates on two periods - the first four years and the band today - so there are no expositions of the many 70s line-ups or the 1980s reformation and its consolidation in the 90s.

"Fairport's present is in part illustrated by the band's creation of one of the UK's best-loved and longest-lasting festivals. So the film shares its focus between the pioneering days and Fairport's fiftieth anniversary at Cropredy this year. The thrust is chronological and the film concludes by looking forward from Cropredy 2017 - past, present and future are linked as the film cuts back and forth between these bookends of the story.

"The documentary combines an introduction for the uninitiated, a celebration of a very British institution, and an assertion of Fairport's relevance today with the band and friends telling the story in their own words rather than through a scripted narration."

Me, I'm looking forward to viewing it myself at some point.

Dan Ogus has posted the following on FB for those without Sky that wish to see this documentary.

Dan Ogus

Just finished watching, nice documentary, lovely interviews with everyone !

As I'm Sky-less, I've watched it on Now TV. You can take out a 14 day trial for £7.99 (apparently refundable, we shall see) here : http://watch.nowtv.com/watch-entertainment/fairport-convention-folk/899bd192a8eef510VgnVCM1000000b43150a____/seasons/1/episodes/1

The blurb across the photo on that link says £7.99/month, no contract.

So looks like you get a month's viewing for that price, rather than 14 days

Ahhh, possibly only refundable within 14 days. Thats standard with distance buying anyway

Now TV are Sky.

Jules

Indeed, but they have a 14 day FREE offer.

OK, I get it.

Jules

Soylent green is people!

I'm going to cancel Now TV at the end of the trial period - don't really need it as I have Netflix and Amazon Prime subscriptions, however if the £7.99 offer appears too good to be true and non-refundable I'll have had my money's worth from watching some of the other excellent concerts and rockumentaries on offer.

I get some sky 1,2, Sky arts as part of my Talktalk TV :)

Won't have that as it still gives money to Murdoch....

I'm sure that it will be available outside of the Sky universe one day....

its the only money i do give and i only just realised I had access to those sky channels..... Did you know he owns HarperCollins publishers?

Yep....

quite hard to totally avoid him....... >:( just about all the best authors are published by them!

Bugger.  I didn't know that.

Jules

There is absolutely NO problem with the above link. Whilst it is not my link I used it and it works perfectly. SERIOUSLY!



Edit: Bad link removed Colin

I’m afraid there is, Keith, as it seems to lead to a number of porn pop ups.  I have removed the original post.

Barry

Something has hacked you then... it came up as porn stuff...  i’ve Made several urgent attempts to notify admin, but keep getting timed out....  

I got three notifications from you and, after checking, took the action above.

Good, something went wrong with the iPad and I really wanted to get this notified.

Phew!

Please do not post links to suspect servers putting up pirated material.

If it appears on the likes of YouTube and isn't taken down, then fair enough.

I've finally got around to seeing it.

Overall, a lovely introduction.  I realise it ain't meant for me at all, but I do wonder how many people were drawn to the documentary that weren't already aware of the band?

My personal negative issues with it included:
Wakeman gave a very odd interview (I thought) and added little to the mix.  Some of it didn't make a lot of sense...Fairport moving out of the folk clubs in '69 for instance?  Really?!  

Some of the footage didn't match what was being discussed - DM talking about how it was immediately he joined and them playing some FH footage in the background.  Things like that...there were several.

Watching that documentary you'd have been convinced Simon left in '71 and rejoined in '85 (the way his interview is cut makes it look like that is what Peggy is telling us)

I thought the screen image with "over the next decade the band had lots of members and were ready to call it a day" or whatever, was naff and disingenuous.  I know this wasn't meant to be a full blow by blow history, but we could have had a little bit of contextualising that needn't have taken up more than a minute or two.

On the positive side all of my favourite members interviewed beautifully and were modest and generous and kind.  I was very pleasantly surprised by Ralph and Winwood's interviews.  Ultimately, the conclusion moved me greatly, and made me sad that I (to at least some degree) no longer feel part of the gang.

I'm really glad it exists, and I hope new people did see it and did start delving around.  As a documentary record I'd give it about 5 or 6 out of 10...but as a representation of some of what makes this band so important to so many people it has to score 1 or 2 higher than that.

All just my honest opinions - no axes to grind.

He also seemed to think that the band were called "Fairports".   ;D

Jules