TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

I just received the Newsletter and they seem to be working on a new album.

May I be excited? Are you? Do you have expectations?

What would you like them to record?

I certainly would like Simon to play electric guitar on a couple of songs....

Honestly?

I liked about two thirds of the last two studio albums, considerably less of the previous two or three.

My expectation is that they will continue in a similar vein to recent records and the album will be enjoyable in parts but unspectacular and with a couple of cloying tracks thrown in which undermine it.

You may absolutely be excited. I hope you are. I however can no longer reach those heights with Fairport. I was excited about every release up to The Wood & The Wire but that album and most of those which have followed did not really live up to my hopes.

I think a band like Trad Arrr are probably doing what i would like to hear from Fairport at this point in their career but I don't think the current line up have that dynamic. They favour a somewhat conservative acoustic approach.

"What would you like them to record?"

Folk rock.

I prefer mine hyphenated.

There is folk rock out there....
I have already expounded on the Willows but check out Phantom Voices , from Blackpool and the John Palmer Acoustic Band from Otley ,great songwriting ...
John and his Fiddle player , Wendy ( Magna Carta) are playing field 8 as a duo I think. Well worth seeing.

Undoubtedly so. It is just that our favourite band are not recording it any more.

I would like an album with great songs and playing, I would be happy with an acoustic album as long as the songs were  of good enough quality avoiding the twee / novelty stuff for a more traditional sound.

DW

Ive heard it already, its the same as the last few "new" albums and every bit as indistinguishable from those records as they all are from each other, 3 CL originals, 2 instrumentals by Ric, 3 from the pen of folky writers, one cover of a vaguley folky song and a new version of an old favourite, probably recorded live.
      They need to bring in an outside musician/producer to shake it up and breathe a bit of life into their recording process.

Oh.

In the newsletter it said:


"We have booked time in the studio later this year to record a brand new album which we hope to have ready for the Wintour 2020. We are currently writing and gathering material and we’ll let you know more as it happens."

They didn't lose any time then....

LOL  ;D

There is folk rock out there....
I have already expounded on the Willows but check out Phantom Voices , from Blackpool and the John Palmer Acoustic Band from Otley ,great songwriting ...
John and his Fiddle player , Wendy ( Magna Carta) are playing field 8 as a duo I think. Well worth seeing.

[/quote]
Both great bands, and as Dave says , catch the wonderful Jon Palmer on field 8...

Let's not forget the Offa Rex album Queen of Hearts either. If anybody here hasn't heard it, they really should. Saw the vocalist on the album, Olivia Chaney, live in Manchester last night as it happens.

From the current line-up, albums not made in a major anniversary year (ie ending in 5 or zero):

Wood And The Wire
Over The Next Hill
Festival Bell
Myths And Heroes

Albums made in an anniversary year:

XXXV
Sense of Occasion
By Popular Request
50:50@50

Given that its not an anniversary year I'd expect and hope for something of the same standard as the first four rather than the last four(actually, I quite like By Popular Request - the other 3 not so much but they have their moments). As such I'll be buying it. Myths and Heroes was the first album in a while not to have a cover of an existing song - I'd hope for this to continue.

Less reliance on Chris Leslie's writing, bring in some outside writers, not the usual suspects, and maybe an outside producer?
Far too much reliance on the twee, about 20% of recent FC output has been decent, the rest smacks of filler.

This is not meant provocatively to those who love the current band (of whom I know there are plenty), but where is this "20%" to be found?  Genuine question.

I think it is an interesting question. I would personally but the proportion higher than 20% on the last couple of albums but probably no higher than 50 and to get there I think you have to suspend your expectations or preconceptions of what you (i don't mean you specifically David) think Fairport should sound like based on their history. This is a completely different band and they have to be assessed on their own merits, which is of course down to personal taste. So I can appreciate and enjoy songs like Man In The Water, Weightless, Home or Reunion Hill for example as well crafted, well recorded, well performed songs without mentally comparing and cross referencing with earlier incarnations. I enjoy them for what they are without feeling the need to lament that they are not Sir Patrick Spens and they are not groundbreaking, neither of which they aspire to be.

And thats the problem in a nutshell.  Fairport dont sell records to anyone apart from their fans now, but when their fans stop buying new music by them it is just because they used to be ground breaking, but its nearly 30 years since any FC recording sent a shiver up the spine, like that cowbell at the start of The Lark, or the guitar, bass and fiddle interplay on dirty linen, the fun on Si tu dois and even up to Jams O'Donnells and The bonny bunch of roses.  They used to knock out groundbreaking as a matter of course and it was wonderful to behold. The new records are just dull and uninspiring, and that makes me sad because i loved FC like no other band for 45 years. Then suddenly i realised i never played the new cds more than once so i didnt buy 50/50 or myths and i never missed them. Since the wood and the wire they are formulaic retreads of each other esp since they went down the re-recording of classic material for new records.

It sounds perhaps like 'decent' is being translated, even by those who support the recent material, into 'really quite nice'?  I fully understand it will be beautifully played, well recorded and highly efficient, but my 'decent' is rather different to that, I'm afraid.  Like Jim, I'm looking for some magic...and its (perceived, by me at least) absence continues to upset me.

Would Richard ever write anything for them? He has written some stuff in recent decades which many would call 'groundbreaking'.

One of the great things about their return in the 80s/90s was having a female singer unashamedly doing the 'Sandy Spot'. I must say that I just about tolerated Simon singing WKWTTG but, after hearing Fotheringay a few years ago, I have never been back.

I think my interpretation of "decent" in this context would be closer to "enjoyable". I do enjoy those songs. There are also plenty that I don't enjoy but overall I think the last two studio albums have been a marked improvement over anything since Who Knows Where The Time Goes, with a willingness to experiment at least to some degree but they make no attempt to be the pre 1979 band or indeed the pre 1997 band.



I don't disagree but I think that is less true of the last two full studio albums than those which preceded them. Yes they are patchy but songs like Weightless & Man In The Water don't sound like anything that went before. They may also not sound the way people wish from Fairport either but I appreciate the attempt to do something a bit different. Of course the same observations could be made about Ukelele Central and not in a good way.  ;D And 50:50@50 really was a bit of a waste of time. I will certainly want to try before I buy on any new product after that one.