Can i ask a really hard FC question here?.........

[Dan O.]

Love lots of albums, but particularly Angel Delight and Nine. The 1st album has a charm all of its own too.

[Jim]

if i could only have one FC lp  for the rest of my time then it would be liege and leif but if i didnt have a choice and one was picked for me i wouldnt mind if it was anything pre angel delight

[Dr Monk]

Full House for me.

Great Musicanship and great Swarbrick-Thompson compositions.
And to go against my usual 'albums are best appreciated in their original form' approach, I would add that I came to Full House as the remaster which included the restored 'Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman' as well as Bonny Bunch of Roses and Now be Thankful by the same line-up, all of which I think really augment the album.

[tullist/raymond]

Got to admit I am surprised at the amount of responses that are not Liege and Lief, always be hands down my favorite FC album, and very possibly my favorite album period even after 40 years, or probably more like 39 in my case. Their compilation albums, still short of a box set, are well worthwhile, my first was the double vinyl Fairport Chronicles. Other than that a fairly predictable assortment, save one, of Full House, House Full, Unhalfbricking, Nine, Red and Gold, whatever that live one from 87 is called mentioned earlier in the thread, Old New Borrowed and Blue, XXXV has several fine moments but I probably should not include amongst best, but one I certainly would, from the Maart lineup that I adore is From Cropredy to Portmeiron. Probably forgetting one or two.

[John From Austin]

What We Did On Our Holidays - it starts with Fotheringay, ends with Meet On The Ledge (plus a nifty Simon Nicol acoustic number), and has a bunch of amazing songs in between.

I'm also a fan of Iain's and Sandy's blended voices, which makes Live at the BBC/Heyday particular favorites as well.  That said, I listen to everything, all the time.

[Greg]

The Angel Delight/Babbacombe Lee pairing have long been favourites of mine.  I love Simon's guitar playing.  But every album up to Rising For The Moon I could listen to for hours to be honest!  

Tipplers/Bonny Bunch I love the songs on but I tend to prefer live versions rather than the actual recordings.  Love Jewel In The Crown and Over The Next Hill as well.

That said, if I was pushed to pick one: House Full.  Utterly brilliant.

[Sir Martin]

Nine

Its not the 'best' fairport album, but its my favourite and the one I listen to the most.

[davidmjs]

Got to admit I am surprised at the amount of responses that are not Liege and Lief, always be hands down my favorite FC album, and very possibly my favorite album period even after 40 years, or probably more like 39 in my case.

It carries too much weight with it for me.  It's a momentous and wondrous work, but I' not entirely sure I can enjoy it anymore.  But every note of it is in my sub-conscious playing away each and every day. And, although I play it considerably less than each of the other in the 'first 5', I still put it on every few months.

[Jamie73]

For me - Unhalfbricking is the one - great cover, great mix of serious and fun, and probably has three of my favourite Fairport tracks on it (Autopsy, Who Knows & Sailor's Life).



J

[Jules Gray]

Full House for me.

Great Musicanship and great Swarbrick-Thompson compositions.
And to go against my usual 'albums are best appreciated in their original form' approach, I would add that I came to Full House as the remaster which included the restored 'Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman' as well as Bonny Bunch of Roses and Now be Thankful by the same line-up, all of which I think really augment the album.

Yes indeed.  In fact I'd go so far as to say that Full House with those extra tracks may well be the most essential Fairport CD.  Without those tracks, ie in its original guise, I'd have felt short-changed.

Jules

[GubGub (Al)]

If push comes to shove I'm with you on Full House Ady but it would be closely followed by Angel Delight and Babbacombe Lee, as indeed it was chronologically!

But there are albums I love either side of that triptych from 67 to 97.

[Edthefolkie]

I'd go for Unhalfbricking, with Liege & Lief coming up strongly on the rails.

Unhalfbricking because it's a bunch of young people producing flashes of lightning which come from lots of directions - Dylan, the English tradition, who knows where? Hits you from track one - Genesis Hall - how could you get better than Richard Thompson composing, Sandy Denny singing, Martin Lamble on drums? As for A Sailor's Life and Percy's Song......  

And that lovely back cover shot with those same nicely brought up kids sitting round a table after lunch. I'm looking at my vinyl copy now, and there's something about that picture which I don't pretend to understand. Magic? Hindsight? Sadness? I dunno. But hopefully, it all comes round again.

[Staffan]

I'd go for Unhalfbricking, with Liege & Lief coming up strongly on the rails.
[....]
And that lovely back cover shot with those same nicely brought up kids sitting round a table. I'm looking at my vinyl copy now, and there's something about that picture which I don't pretend to understand. Magic? Hindsight? Sadness? I dunno. But hopefully, it all comes round again.

Though Unhalfbricking never made that strong impression on me, even though I love several tracks, I can fully understand what you mean about that back cover shot. It has haunted me for decades. As you say, hopefully it all comes round again.

[PLW (Peter)]

Unhalfbricking.

But then it was the first one I bought. I'd only vaguely heard of the band, and I couldn't believe what I heard. The first time I saw the band was Autumn 1970, and I bought Full House immediately afterwards. So I guess that's my next favourite.

Most of the above posts seem to relate back to peoples' first experiences of the band.

[Ady]

wow cheers for replys good people.......yeah i guess the first time you hear an album by a certain band that can be the one that does it for ya.....i've got a few fave bands whose albums i change with favortism often.

[Axel Ostermann]

I'd go for Babbacombe Lee.  Definitely not the first FC album I heard, but it is a good'n.  Almost like prog-folk, sort of... (it's folk Jim, but not as we know it)  

[Pugwash]

Cause and effect cause and effect... I had to get the 25th Anniversary Pack to check out Nine before posting and have enjoyed listening to Rising For The Moon and Rosie.

I realise we don't actually play stuff from this period very often, shame!

[Pat Helms]

It is a hard question, but requires a simple answer:

A nonhomogeneous system, that is, a particular band line up, which is linear apart from the presence of a function of independent variables, as can be defined by particular albums, is nonlinear according to a strict definition, but such systems are usually studied alongside linear systems, such as Liege & Leif with Wood & Wire, because they can be transformed to a linear system of multiple variables.

Therefore, one can only conclude that the perfect album has to be What We Did On Our Holidays........or its nonlinear counterpart, Nine.