Frustratingly, can't view this, at least in the van.
Very disappointed with the headline though...
Revisiting the past with Fairport Convention
Andy Coleman chats to folk rockers Fairport Convention about their upcoming tour
Something old, something new. That’s the theme of Fairport Convention’s current tour that visits Leamington Assembly on February 6 and Birmingham Town Hall on March 5.
The veteran folk-rockers will mark the 40th anniversary of their ‘‘folk opera’’ Babbacombe Lee by performing it in its entirety during the first half of the show.
The second half will then feature new material from forthcoming album Festival Bell.
‘‘Babbacombe Lee is something that we’re very proud of,’’ says bass player Dave Pegg. ‘‘When I think about it, I can’t imagine how it came about. We were 21 and 22-year-olds writing a folk opera. Most of it was written by Dave Swarbrick, our former violinist, but Simon Nicol, who’s still in the band, and I helped out quite a bit. Re-learning it has been fascinating stuff, it’s been really interesting.’’
The record tells the true story of 19th century murderer John ‘‘Babbacombe’’ Lee.
‘‘It was the first thing we did after Richard Thompson departed the band,’’ Dave, who was born in Acocks Green, Birmingham, recalls. ‘‘He and Dave Swarbrick had been the main songwriters and Dave finding this collection of old newspapers and suggesting we use it as the basis for an album really bought the four of us together because we immediately had subject matter that we could write about. It was a very unifying thing to do.
‘‘It was well received critically as a concept album at a time when The Who were doing Tommy and there were other types of conceptual albums around. But Babbacombe Lee wasn’t the most poppy story that you could have chosen. In typical Fairport commerciality it was a bit of a dark subject to make a musical album.
‘‘Over the past five years we’ve been taking individual songs from Babbacombe Lee and playing them during the set. It’s always gone down remarkably well but it’s quite difficult to take one song from the album and play it because it’s out of context.
‘‘But people have said we should have a look at it and do it again. We did once do it at the Cropredy Festival, around 15 years ago.
‘‘In 1970 albums only lasted 37 minutes so with extended bits we’re looking at around 45 minutes, which is always the length of our first half on the winter tour so it fits perfectly.’’
Fairport’s first line-up when they formed in 1967 was Richard Thompson, Simon Nicol, Ashley Hutchings, Shaun Frater and Judy Dyble.
Over the years personnel came and went, with the likes of Ian Matthews, Dave Swarbrick and Sandy Denny becoming part of Fairport history.
Dave Pegg was recruited in 1970 and has been a part of the set-up ever since.
He’s joined in the line-up by guitarist Simon Nicol, violinist Ric Sanders, multi-instrumentalist Chris Leslie and percussionist Gerry Conway.
Some of the new material, which will be showcased in the show’s second half, was inspired by the Fairport-organised Cropredy Festival which takes place every year in the Oxfordshire village.
‘‘The album’s title track, Festival Bell, is a song about a bell that was presented to the Cropredy church, St Mary’s,’’ Dave explains. ‘‘The church needed a bell renovating so a lot of people that come to our festival had a collection and we did a fundraising concert to boost the appeal.
‘‘The village kindly named the bell ‘The Fairport Convention Festival Bell’ so when our festival kicks off the bell is rung to signal the opening.
‘‘This year Fairport is going to be on the stage because we’re going to be opening the festival ourselves and when we hear the bell we’re going to sing Festival Bell.’’
Another new song, Albert and Ted, was penned by Dave and Solihull-born Ric.
‘‘Albert and Ted were the names of our fathers,’’ Dave reveals. ‘‘I first heard about Ric’s musical adventures when my dad, who was the caretaker at Hartfield Crescent school, met Ric’s dad, Ted Sanders, who was a teacher there. They got talking and it transpired that both their sons were musicians – and we finished up in the same band. The song is a little instrumental dedicated to our folks.’’
The album also contains a cover of Sandy Denny’s Rising For The Moon, which is the title track of Fairport’s 1975 LP.
Says Dave: ‘‘We like to occasionally do Sandy’s songs to help keep her memory alive, she was a remarkable singer and a great writer.’’
The Festival Bell album was recorded in a way that was new to Fairport Convention.
‘‘We’ve moved into modern technology, it’s a totally different way of working for us,’’ Dave laughs. ‘‘I’m 63 and I’ve been making records since I was 16 so we’re kinda old school in our approach to recording. The way we used to make records was to sit around, learn the song, then try and put it all down at the same time.
‘‘Now everything’s done separately and for Festival Bell we haven’t actually been in the studio at the same time. It was something I didn’t think would work but I’m amazed how successful it’s been.’’
