Most musically adventurous

[Neil]

All this talk of past albums who likes what which is better and how wierd is Gottle 'O' Geer has me trawling through the back catologue.

The question of the day is which lineup, and there have been so many, has been the most adventurous musically.

My vote would be for the band that recorded Nine. Great singing, great songs and live a tour de force and once Sandy came along for the ride all the pieces were in place. There was a magical moment before Rising for the Moon was recorded when everything was right. The versions of Sloth and Bring 'Em Down alone are worth the effort of digging them out. Swarb and Jerry were on fire and all things were good. There are hints of country in the sound but it's still definitely Fairport.

It's a shame there are no available recordings of this lineup before Sandy rejoined, as far as I know, but we can all hope.

[Chris]

The question of the day is which lineup, and there have been so many, has been the most adventurous musically.

Got to be the first, surely? - without whom....

[greglin (Gregg)]

Liege & Lief will take some beating for being adventurous.........

However, what about Babbacombe Le Big chance taken on the subject matter & some of the songs are really good "straight" songs with no obvious folkie leanings. Also the use of effects on some songs is great. Most underated album certainly..............

[Alex Lyons]

My vote would be for the band that recorded Nine. Great singing, great songs and live a tour de force and once Sandy came along for the ride all the pieces were in place. There was a magical moment before Rising for the Moon was recorded when everything was right. The versions of Sloth and Bring 'Em Down alone are worth the effort of digging them out. Swarb and Jerry were on fire and all things were good. There are hints of country in the sound but it's still definitely Fairport.

It's a shame there are no available recordings of this lineup before Sandy rejoined, as far as I know, but we can all hope.

There are - the Howff gig that's split over the 'Rosie' and 'Nine' reissues, and quite a bit of the 'Live' album is actually the 'Nine' line-up (with a few songs from a later Sandy gig included to update it).

Overall I think I agree though, in many ways it's a shame that Sandy rejoined when she did as that line-up deserved at least another album. As it is, all we have are the sublime reunions at Cropredies 82 and 85, regulars on my playlist.

[Dr Monk]

Hmm,

Whilst the Liege and Lief, Full House and Nine line-ups, for me, provided the musical peaks the most adventurous surely has to be the Unhalfbricking+then-part-timer-Swarb lineup that recorded Sailors Life. Though the form later evolved, that was surely the bold step into pastures new?

Dr M

[Speleologist (Robin)]

If by musically adventurous we mean pioneering and different, then there are several contenders. Mine would be:

1st Album - very different fromn what most new bands were doing at the time
Unhalfbricking - The first strong suggestion of "folk-rock"
Liege & Lief - folk-rock established
Babbacombe Lee - A step forward in the thematic album concept

[Pat Helms]

As much as I dearly love the NINE line up, with its ability to turn on a dime and all around "crunch", I have to pick UNHALFBRICKING, simply because it showed a band with soooooo many possibilities - all of them very promising.

[MarkC]

I am going to go out on a limb here and say the "Gladys' Leap" line up...simply because they had the guts to re-start the whole thing---successfully!---at a time when I don't think anyone thought they pull it off. Look at what that line up and record lead to!

[david stevenson]

Reading back through this thread, it occurs to me that, after all the adulation which is rightly given to Liege and Lief, there's a very consistent recognition that Unhalfbricking, even with the profusion of interim male vocalists, points more than tentatively in the new direction and has all the premonitory rumblings of what was to come.

It's a trite comparison I know, but it appears to have exactly the same place in the FC canon as Revolver has for the Beatles, as the precursor to Sergeant Pepper.

[Paul]

I am going to go out on a limb here and say the "Gladys' Leap" line up...simply because they had the guts to re-start the whole thing---successfully!---at a time when I don't think anyone thought they pull it off. Look at what that line up and record lead to!

I'll agree with that Mark. Probably my favourite line up, and came up with some of the best numbers in the Folk Rock genre.

Paul

[Jack O Diamonds]

WWDOOH by a mile... She Came Through The Fair, I'll Keep It With Mine, Fotheringay, Tale in Hard Times.... not to mention Meet on the Ledge... Focus out of the eclecticism of the first album... Way paved in gold for Unhalfbricking, L&L etc.