TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

Can't find anywhere to put this.

Is it news? Is it official?

Whatever, it seems to be coming out.

It's a well known radio broadcast boot.  The copy I have isn't a very good recording (from memory) so it will be interesting to see what emerges.  If the band earn anything from this, I'll eat my hat.

Looks grey market to me. I can't find any details about the label, Unicorn. I'm still getting it!  8)

I remember the drive to that gig, we were all a little nervous....

I think I'm going to buy it. I don't have a lot of that era, it could fill a few gaps.....

I'll probably get it. Must get the live in Finland cd too...

I was warned off this- brickwalled sound.

I think one still wants it in one's Fairport armoury though...

Wouldn't brickwalling be an unavoidable artifact of FM broadcasts?

If it were taken off air yes, as everything is compressed for broadcast. If one had access to the tapes it might be a different story. As I understand it.

Makes sense.

The finland released cd sounds exactly like the old boots, it doesnt seem like an awful lot of remastering/tweaking goes on with any of these legit releases of old broadcasts.

The only reason i can think of for getting the chicago cd is the cover is class, i expect the contents will be no different from the bootlegs

Gareth Williams has kindly responded to an enquiry I made today , in the hope that the band were involved in the decision to release this recording.....
"I'm pretty sure the band haven't even heard of it. This happens. There is soon to be released a 1980's show from Notts Rock City that some company have bought from whatever radio station owned the rights too it at the time. The band will receive some payment for this but we still haven't heard it. I suspect the Chicago CD will be a similar radio recording."

I'm pleased if they receive some money , but Col Tom Parker or Peter Grant would be turning somersaults at this happening to their artists ,


If you have any information on it, please by all means send it through to me and I'll see what I can find out.

I just listened to the 86 Notts RocK City release on Spotify and will probably not listen to it again - very tinny.

I presume that is being released by AngelAir who seem to have bought the rights to a load of radio broadcasts from the local station in Nottingham. I have the Richard Thompson one which sounds fine (to my non audiophile ears). I am never convinced that Spotify or straming generally is the best way to assess these things.

Well, I thought I'd give it a punt.  Quality certainly indifferent - was it copied from a vinyl LP?  Band also slightly shambolic at times (which is why we love them) and also seemingly under-rehearsed.

I got this show from Dimeadozen a few years back. Bit of a variation between my track listing...

01. Walk Awhile 7:38
02. Lark in the Morning > Rakish Patty > The Foxhunter's Jig > Toss the Feathers 4:11
03. Matty Groves 14:08
04. The Deserter 7:17
05. Dirty Linen > Paddy on the Railroad > Drops of Brandy > O'Carolan's Concerto 5:09
06. Sloth 11:43
07. Drum solo > Lucy > Flatback Caper 10:52
08. Tam Lin 11:27
09. Sir Patrick Spens 4:56

Total time = 77:27

...and that listed on the Amazon entry for the Chicago 70 CD (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chicago-1970-Fairport-Convention/dp/B08BR89R4J/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=fairport+chicago&qid=1603728647&s=music&sr=1-1):

01. Walk Awhile 4:34
02. Lark in the Morning/Rakish Paddy/The Foxhunter's Jig/Toss the Feathers 4:39
03. Matty Groves 9:44
04. The Deserter 5:50
05. Dirty Linen/Paddy on the Railroad/Drops of Brandy/O'Carolan's Concerto 5:40
06. Sloth 9:27
07. Flatback Caper 8:55
08. Tam Lin 9:27
09. Sir Patrick Spens 4:46
10. General Taylor/Mason's Apron 8:16

If my adding up's right, that comes to 71:18, so the inter-song banter must be missing, especially if there really is an additional number at the end.

Oh, and the sound quality of my version isn't great, either. But it was at least free.

Speaking of Dimeadozen, there's a new 1975 show (http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=710211&viewcomm=8663557#comm8663557) up there at the moment: seeder's notes follow.

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Fairport Convention
University of Nottingham
Sports Centre
Nottingham, UK
25 October 1975

01. Rising For The moon
02. One More Chance
03. The Brilliancy Medley and The Cherokee Shuffle
04. The Hexamshire Lass
05. Restless
06. Stranger To Himself
07. Sloth
08. Iron Lion
09. John The Gun
10. Sir B Mackenzie
11. Pick Me Up
12. Lark In The Morning Medley
13. Who Knows Where The Time Goes

FM master: Radio Trent broadcast>Unknown tuner & casette deck>'Happy Sound' C90 Cassette>Technics RS-B305 cassette deck>Soundforge>iZotope>Flac

Just under a year after their November 1974 concert, Fairport were back in Nottingham. This time at the higher capacity University sports centre, rather than the usual Portland Building. Dave Mattacks had left during the Rising For The Moon sessions, and was replace by Bruce Rowlands. I was one of the organisers for this concert, my memory is a bit dimmed with time but I do remember manager David Denny telling me that I was the only one there who knew what I was doing. What a nice man!
I knew a friend had taped the Radio Trent broadcast of the show, but I lost contact with him - something to do with him going to work abroad for 20 years. I remade contact with him a year or so ago, and he remembered making the tape, but thought he might have thrown it away when he cleared out a load of cassettes. Eventually he found it in a box of VHS tapes in his loft. I finally got hold of it a week ago. I wasn't sure what to expect, quite a few of my tapes from this time stick and no longer play. However, it played fine. However, it's not the best fm recording I have heard. It was somewhat murky, and despite being recorded about half a mile from the transmitter, has some background noise. I have manually removed dozens of pops, there are still some crackles, and a burst of static that I could not get rid of. I also took out an ad break and a couple of station idents. After some eq & channel balancing it sound a lot better. Samples below. The recording starts two songs into the set. Whether this the way it was broadcast or my friend missed them, I don't know. But good to have previously uncirculated Sandy era recording finally seeing the light of day.

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Tasty!  Not my favourite era but I'll definitely be grabbing that.