Fotheringay live album

[Philip W]

Philip's liner notes are very well written (as always) and the booklet has been done very well.  

Thanks for that, Jules. I should say that the paragraph near the start about the Strawbs was inserted, without my knowledge, by the record company. It's a translation into none too idiomatic English of part of their German text -- not my words, and certainly not my opinions.

I agree with the general opinion about the disappointing sound quality.

[Jim]

Talking heffalump have the cd for £15 and for those of you who like scratches and pops the vinyl version is a mere 23 dabs
a tad expensive doncha think?

[John From Austin]

I grossly overpaid for this item due to impatience.  I ordered it from Amazon.de and wound up paying about $50 USD.  Definitely not worth that much.  I think Talking Elephant is offering it for much less right now.

If you must have it, hold out for the lowest possible price.  The sound quality straddles the border between an audience recording and an extremely low-fi professional recording.  I haven't listened with headphones, but it sounds like mono to me, recorded by remote microphones, with little separation between the instruments and voices.  This artifact is essential only for the song selection - where else can I get live versions of Eppie Moray and The Way I Feel?

Will we ever get the balance of the Rotterdam concert?  The bonus tracks on the CD reissue of the first album are gorgeously performed and recorded.  

[Philip W]

Will we ever get the balance of the Rotterdam concert?  The bonus tracks on the CD reissue of the first album are gorgeously performed and recorded.  

Their whole set was on disc 14 of the monster box that came out last year.

[Chris]

So its on itunes then?

[Philip W]

So its on itunes then?

Yes, but only in the UK, which isn't much help to John from Austin:
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/sandy-denny-complete-edition/id399636518

[John From Austin]

Here's the Rotterdam material on the box set (Mrs. John From Austin gave it to me for Christmas):

8. The Sea (Live Holland Festival, Rotterdam 1970) (Previously Unreleased)
9. Two Weeks Last Summer (Live Holland Festival, Rotterdam 1970)
10. Nothing More (Live Holland Festival, Rotterdam 1970)
11. Banks of the Nile (Live Holland Festival, Rotterdam 1970)
12. Memphis Tennessee (live Holland Festival, Rotterdam 1970)
13. Trouble (live Holland Festival, Rotterdam 1970) (Previously Unreleased)

Was this really the entire set?  Six songs?  Boohoo.

[Andy B]

Hello, Andrew Batt of SD boxset 'fame' here

I must say I'm really surprised at some of the negative responses to Essen 1970, and do advise fans to give this release a chance as in my opinion the band are on great form, and Sandy sings beautifully- indeed i would go as far as saying that on tracks like 'Nothing More' she comfortably surpasses all other released versions. Sandy's phrasing throughout is wonderful and much more intricate than on other performances, and she sings with real intensity, particularly on tracks like 'The Sea' and 'John the Gun'.

This concert knocks spots of the Rotterdam performance from earlier in the year (just compare the versions of Memphis Tennessee, Nothing More and The Sea- there really is no contest!), Although Rotterdam was recorded on 6 track, (whereas Essen is only two track), I still think Essen is the superior more essential recording- Aside from the bands performance being less good at Rotterdam, the recording suffers from being outdoors and the audience sounding a mile away- even with the less good audio quality to my ears the Essen performance has more concert atmosphere.

The sound is obviously a bone of contention, but Jerry D has really worked wonders with it, and I think that the scarcity of Fotheringay live performances means this release is a must for Sandy collectors and justifies its release. I suppose it comes down to taste, but i think this is quite an important release for Sandy fans, particularly as it gives us our first commercially available live versions of some songs. Granted this is not a BBC audio quality broadcast, but the sound is far from gruesome and i find it quite satisfactory and well worth investing in. Fans familiar with the Fairport releases 'Who Knows?' and 'Many Ears to Please' will find this recording of a similar audio quality, where interesting concerts recorded in the auditorium or of the desk have been spruced up for release. Every effort was made to make this a quality release; Aside from Jerry D's mastering magic, Philip Ward wrote some excellent sleeve notes and effort the release has a good cover and a booklet with some interesting photographs.

The CD and LP should be available more widely in the coming months, and therefore cheaper to ship. Talking Elephant have it for sale now here: http://www.talkingelephant.co.uk/titles/htd_title.php?Title_Ref=232009&Genre_id=&Artist_Ref=22169&HTD_Store_id=12&Search_id=2&Letter=F

'Nothing More' from Essen 1970 can be heard at the Fotheringay MySpace page here: http://www.myspace.com/fotheringaytheband

best

A

PS someone mentioned about the other tracks from the Rotterdam performance- Only the songs that Sandy sang appeared on the boxset, also recorded were Trevor's songs Too Much of Nothing, Way i Feel (Trevor on solo vox) and The Ballad of Ned Kelly.

[Tony F]

Hello, Andrew Batt of SD boxset 'fame' here
onths, and therefore cheaper to ship. Talking Elephant have it for sale now here: http://www.talkingelephant.co.uk/titles/htd_title.php?Title_Ref=232009&Genre_id=&Artist_Ref=22169&HTD_Store_id=12&Search_id=2&Letter=F

best

A

PS someone mentioned about the other tracks from the Rotterdam performance- Only the songs that Sandy sang appeared on the boxset, also recorded were Trevor's songs Too Much of Nothing, Way i Feel (Trevor on solo vox) and The Ballad of Ned Kelly.

Thanks, Andy, for the perspective, the link, and the Rotterdam info.  I'm going to obtain this for sure and I can't believe how easy it is through Talking Elephant's site even from the USA (checkout takes you straight to Paypal, no need to become a T.E. member or anything).  Alas, still weighing the cost.  

Of course it's quite reasonable in the event this goes out of print after awhile.  And it's got about my favorite three Trevor tunes on it:  Eppie Moray, Too Much of Nothing, and Ned Kelly.

[Dave Brzeski]

For the Lost Broadcasts set, Amazon UK has it as 'Out of stock'.  

I got an e-mail from them yesterday saying they couldn't supply it. I ordered it on 6th May & am not impressed that they took this long to tell me they couldn't supply it, as this seriously hampers my chances of getting a copy elsewhere. That's assuming it ever got realeased at all of course.

Dave

[Chris]

No copies were pressed, I'm hearing

[Andy B]

Hi Dave,

RE: The Lost broadcast CD/DVD i can confirm that sadly this won't be coming out; it looked like it would for awhile but now it is definitely cancelled. The back story is that the company involved planned a whole series of issues from the archive of 'Beat Club' and they neglected to clear any publishing rights- faced with a massive bill they ended up pulling the plug on the whole series; negotiations went on for awhile but a financial settlement couldn't be reached hence the delay in suppliers letting people know- they simply didn't know themselves as the release date kept getting delayed whilst a resolution was sought.
The Fotheringay release never got as far as production, so there aren't even any 'promo' copies around.

best

Andrew

[davidmjs]

Having lived with Essen 1970 for the last week or so (thanks to the very kind generosity of one of this parish, someone standing not exactly a million miles away from the release) I can say the following:

-It's a very strong performance, although imho more from Trevor's point of view, than Sandy's.
-The sound is on first listen, disappointing for an official release, although it has been well tweeked into as much shape as possible. Having said that, if it had just been uploaded to Dime or elsewhere one would be leaping around the place pontificating about a wonderful recording that had just appeared on the scene.
-How young they all are!
-Great notes, Philip...
-Fave tracks - TWIF, Ned, JtG.

Recommended  

[Jim]

Having lived with Essen 1970 for the last week or so (thanks to the very kind generosity of one of this parish, someone standing not exactly a million miles away from the release) I can say the following:

-It's a very strong performance, although imho more from Trevor's point of view, than Sandy's.
-The sound is on first listen, disappointing for an official release, although it has been well tweeked into as much shape as possible. Having said that, if it had just been uploaded to Dime or elsewhere one would be leaping around the place pontificating about a wonderful recording that had just appeared on the scene.
-How young they all are!
-Great notes, Philip...
-Fave tracks - TWIF, Ned, JtG.

Recommended  

way too dear though and still tough to track down

[davidmjs]

way too dear though and still tough to track down

Until you said that I had no idea actually, Jim.  Yes, clearly that's an, er, issue...

[Jim]

Talking heffalump are advertising it as £15 amazon only have it on the marketplace at £22
mind you TH sent me an email with horslips cds for £9 but when you order them they are still £11
they need to sort themselves out

[Chris]

With TH, you have to click on the email packshot to get those prices - going direct to website doesn't show those prices!

[Jules Gray]

-It's a very strong performance, although imho more from Trevor's point of view, than Sandy's.
-The sound is on first listen, disappointing for an official release, although it has been well tweeked into as much shape as possible. Having said that, if it had just been uploaded to Dime or elsewhere one would be leaping around the place pontificating about a wonderful recording that had just appeared on the scene.
-How young they all are!
-Great notes, Philip...

Recommended  

I agree with most of this - about Trevor, and about how if it was a boot I'd rate it higher than I do as an official release....yet I still can't bring myself to use the "recommended" word.

Jules

[Kurt]

I wish these video's would be full length.It's nice to see them but they kind of make me angry cause there just snippets.
http://youtu.be/RfQmRTZYVrE

[suffolk steve]

This is full length but not sure if its that Beat Club video, certainly worth the visit though:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00hpupoh4eU&feature=related