'Fairport by Fairport'

[GubGub (Al)]

I am now a little more than three quarters of the way through (& will take advantage of being off work sick to finish it today). For the most part I am quite enjoying it and I think Andy is being a ittle harsh, though not totally innacurate. It is a bit of a book of two halves though. The first half which is pretty much the story up to 1979 is pretty decent but the second half is a bit muddled & frustrating. There are certainly flaws:

Coyness in dealing with certain events i.e. DM's departure during the Rising For The Moon sessions and the cancellation of the Vertogo contract are glossed over in a couple of sentences with no testimony from the band.

Sins of omission. Swarb's objection to Gladys' Leap are discussed in depth but Swarb's own view is never sought.

Jarring jump cuts in the narrative. We go straight from Sandy's death in April 1978 to the Farewell Tour a year later. Then suddenly it is Cropredy 1982 and then Cropredy 1985. Some of the gaps are filled in later but you want them there and then.

Repetition both of fact and opinion. The author seems to forget what he has written about in the second half. The circumstances and assertion of the planting of "the seeds of Fairport's future" are recounted at least three times.

Poor proof reading. Peggy's statement that the band made four albums for Vertigo is left unchecked.

Florid and self indulgent editorialising by the author, presenting his subjective view of events as "history".

But as I say, there is much to enjoy. I have learned a few things and the first hand testimony is a treasure trove. It probably is the best book on Fairport that we are likely to get but it could have been so much better.

[Dan O.]

Ok, so what's the bottom line ? Over the years, I've bought and enjoyed Meet On The Ledge, The Woodworm Years, Kingsley Abbott's Fairportfolio, Fairport Unconventional, the relevant sections of AH : The Guvnor, RT : Strange Affair, and Heylin's No More Sad Refrains. Add to this some wonderful net-based resources such as this very forum and my own first-hand experiences and observations of the current FC over the last 12 years. With all the above, how essential is Fairport By Fairport ?

[Mister Keith]

My wife bought me a copy for my birthday.  So it has her name in it rather than mine...  

Haven't read it yet though.

[RobertD]

I am now a little more than three quarters of the way through (& will take advantage of being off work sick to finish it today). For the most part I am quite enjoying it and I think Andy is being a ittle harsh, though not totally innacurate. It is a bit of a book of two halves though. The first half which is pretty much the story up to 1979 is pretty decent but the second half is a bit muddled & frustrating. There are certainly flaws:


Jarring jump cuts in the narrative. We go straight from Sandy's death in April 1978 to the Farewell Tour a year later. Then suddenly it is Cropredy 1982 and then Cropredy 1985. Some of the gaps are filled in later but you want them there and then.

Repetition both of fact and opinion. The author seems to forget what he has written about in the second half. The circumstances and assertion of the planting of "the seeds of Fairport's future" are recounted at least three times.

Poor proof reading. Peggy's statement that the band made four albums for Vertigo is left unchecked.

Florid and self indulgent editorialising by the author, presenting his subjective view of events as "history".

Interesting points Al, and though I haven't gotten a copy yet (and despite the critiques I still will be buying it), I am inclined to agree with your points about the author, including the proof reading. Listen, I'd love to have had the access he has had with all the box sets and now this book...it would be a dream, but I felt in the box set books he lost the narrative at some point-either make it a fans view of Fairport, or make it a neutral view, and stick to the facts. Slight thread drift here, but for the Hutchings box set I felt he really missed the mark-from Ashley's own scrupulous notes and diaries, Schofield really had an oppurtunity to present a thorough (almost) day by day account of Ashley's career and all the musicians he has played with. Instead, he did things 'thematically' and IMHO that was really unfortuante. Seems like the skipping around in the book is akin to that in some respects.

[hendo (Dave)]

Ok, so what's the bottom line ? Over the years, I've bought and enjoyed Meet On The Ledge, The Woodworm Years, Kingsley Abbott's Fairportfolio, Fairport Unconventional, the relevant sections of AH : The Guvnor, RT : Strange Affair, and Heylin's No More Sad Refrains. Add to this some wonderful net-based resources such as this very forum and my own first-hand experiences and observations of the current FC over the last 12 years. With all the above, how essential is Fairport By Fairport ?

Dan you would learn very little new. In fact there is stuff in the publications you have listed not in F by F. The strength of F by F is the quotes but probaably not worth the investment for a few new quotes. As Andy L said it isn't Fairport by Fairport. As a present I am glad I have it,.Would I buy it at full price? No.

[David W]

Not seen the book, may pick it up at some time if I can get it cheap enough, but I if it isn't a full on glossy coffee table book - and I suggest using phrases like deliuxe and lavish in Humpries' review suggest it may be - just what is it? A standard size hard back, an oversize hardback - is it of good enough quality to merit the £40 price tag for an aalveit interesting bioggaphy of the band?

DW

[Philip W]

I found this book quite useful but grossly overpriced. I'm pretty certain there are publishers who could have turned out the same product for half the retail price. My two penn'orth:

I suspect the reviewers were reviewing from proofs, so they weren't in a position to judge the finished product.

The photos are disappointing; for that price I expected far more of them, and sprinkled generously through the text.

Errors. I spotted a couple. Byfield is in Northamptonshire, not Oxfordshire. And he repeats the old canard about the Spice Girls singing about Sandy. Wasn't it established aeons ago that that was a transcription error by their record company?  A reference to "Sandy and Danny" (Grease) spectacularly garbled.

On the plus side there were lots of quotes from Sandy I didn't recognise. He must have interviewed her. Wonder if he still has the tapes?

David W: the format is 24 x 16 x 3.5 cm.

[leahdon (Donna)]

One point about the cost of the book in relation to the print run... (which I don't think I've mentioned before, although I know I considered mentioning it, so apologies if I am repeating myself).

I recently had occasion to look to buy an academic book of about 80 odd pages, so very slimline - cost £65, due to the small print run. I got it via the library instead. The FbyF book has a very nice, solid cover and I think is bigger than standard and is 400+ pages but again would have a very small print run - mine was only ordered a couple of weeks before Christmas and I got a signed flyleaf which is only in the first xxx? (2000?) copies. So, for me, having been bought it as a present, £40 seems reasonable... although I was disappointed by the lack of more photos.

As for the content, I haven't had time to start reading it yet, but I am disappointed it isn't chronological (order wise) and 'hides' from the more interesting stories (content wise), but as a currently working band and as an authorised book, I probably shouldn't have expected anything else in the latter case... Maybe Nigel S has the appropriate content lined up for an appendix to be sold in the future...:-)

[Poor Will (Bill)]

I've nearly finished the book and I totally agree with GubGub's comments. All goes well in the first half (more or less up to where the disappointing pictures are placed) and then it just seems to lose it somewhat.

Overall, I'm still happy I bought a copy.

[Jules Gray]

I'd buy it for £20.  I have no intention of paying £40 for it.

Jules

[David W]

I'd buy it for £20.  I have no intention of paying £40 for it.

Jules

That's kind of where I am.

DW

[GubGub (Al)]

I'd buy it for £20.  I have no intention of paying £40 for it.

Jules

That's kind of where I am.

DW

...which is fine, except I suspect that if it wasn't for the folks named in the Roll Of Honour stumping up the full price months in advance, sight unseen, the book would not exist at all.

I have just finished it and have to admit that the penultimate chapter tried my patience, being stodgy, pointlessly academic and infuriatingly opinionated and tonally out of kilter with the rest of the book. The author's preference for the trad over the original and the folk over the rock in Fairport's music reveals itself slowly throughout. However, the final brief chapter on Meet On The Ledge redeems things considerably, being both revealing and moving.  

[David W]

I'd buy it for £20.  I have no intention of paying £40 for it.

Jules

That's kind of where I am.

DW

...which is fine, except I suspect that if it wasn't for the folks named in the Roll Of Honour stumping up the full price months in advance, sight unseen, the book would not exist at all.

And would we really be any the poorer? It is a well used business model, part of the £40 is to be named in book, get first dibs on the info etc. Once achieved the value lessens, typically a subscription lead publication will soon be available for a least 30% less a couple of months later as demand drops.

DW

[GubGub (Al)]

I'd buy it for £20.  I have no intention of paying £40 for it.

Jules

That's kind of where I am.

DW

...which is fine, except I suspect that if it wasn't for the folks named in the Roll Of Honour stumping up the full price months in advance, sight unseen, the book would not exist at all.

And would we really be any the poorer?

I'm not sure that I understand the question. If the book didn't exist, you couldn't buy it for £20 or £40 or any amount of money.

[Pat Helms]

I didn't know what they were talking about with that honor roll so I stayed clear of it.  

While I am not unsympathetic to the argument of a limited run justifying a premium cost, the publisher was pretty darn niggardly with the ink distribution - very, very light density.  

Knowing my way around presses, that was kinda irritable.

   

[Jules Gray]

I'd buy it for £20.  I have no intention of paying £40 for it.

That's kind of where I am.

...which is fine, except I suspect that if it wasn't for the folks named in the Roll Of Honour stumping up the full price months in advance, sight unseen, the book would not exist at all.

Fair point, well made.

Jules

[Staffan]

Ok, so what's the bottom line ? Over the years, I've bought and enjoyed Meet On The Ledge, The Woodworm Years, Kingsley Abbott's Fairportfolio, Fairport Unconventional, the relevant sections of AH : The Guvnor, RT : Strange Affair, and Heylin's No More Sad Refrains. Add to this some wonderful net-based resources such as this very forum and my own first-hand experiences and observations of the current FC over the last 12 years. With all the above, how essential is Fairport By Fairport ?

Dan you would learn very little new. In fact there is stuff in the publications you have listed not in F by F. The strength of F by F is the quotes but probaably not worth the investment for a few new quotes. As Andy L said it isn't Fairport by Fairport. As a present I am glad I have it,.Would I buy it at full price? No.

I agree with Dave that you learn very little new. It is nice to have a thorough history of Fairport but, as I´ve mentioned earlier, I wanted "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but..." so from that point of view the book did not satisfy me. My - and others - questions (see above) are still unanswered. Also, as mentioned, the photo section was ....hrrmmm...uninspired? I think many like myself thought that the text would be interfoliated with lots of photos, like the blog examples, which would have been nice.
I like to support "my band", so I take lightly on the £65 I paid to get it, but on the other hand I got a place in the roll of honour. :-)
So, Dan.O, my conclusion is that you have knowledge about most facts in FbF from your mentioned sources. It is more about how much the author and sources talk about them.

[GubGub (Al)]

Ok, so what's the bottom line ? Over the years, I've bought and enjoyed Meet On The Ledge, The Woodworm Years, Kingsley Abbott's Fairportfolio, Fairport Unconventional, the relevant sections of AH : The Guvnor, RT : Strange Affair, and Heylin's No More Sad Refrains. Add to this some wonderful net-based resources such as this very forum and my own first-hand experiences and observations of the current FC over the last 12 years. With all the above, how essential is Fairport By Fairport ?

Dan you would learn very little new. In fact there is stuff in the publications you have listed not in F by F. The strength of F by F is the quotes but probaably not worth the investment for a few new quotes. As Andy L said it isn't Fairport by Fairport. As a present I am glad I have it,.Would I buy it at full price? No.

I agree with Dave that you learn very little new. It is nice to have a thorough history of Fairport but, as I´ve mentioned earlier, I wanted "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but..." so from that point of view the book did not satisfy me. My - and others - questions (see above) are still unanswered. Also, as mentioned, the photo section was ....hrrmmm...uninspired? I think many like myself thought that the text would be interfoliated with lots of photos, like the blog examples, which would have been nice.
I like to support "my band", so I take lightly on the £65 I paid to get it, but on the other hand I got a place in the roll of honour. :-)
So, Dan.O, my conclusion is that you have knowledge about most facts in FbF from your mentioned sources. It is more about how much the author and sources talk about them.

The only caveat I would put on that is that the book does at least cover the last 20 years in some detail which none of those other sources do, as does the accompanying DVD rather nicely. For all of the skirting around certain issues (Maart's & DM's departures, Peggy's issues in the US and temporary departure from the band etc), there is a fair amount of insight in the interviews. Just avoid the turgid penultimate chapter!

[davidmjs]

I like to support "my band", so I take lightly on the £65 I paid to get it

The band will only have got whatever the deal on the 2000 signatures was which I'm pretty damned sure wasn't very much.

[davidmjs]

Just noticed this on the Rocket 88 FB feed...posted by Tim Moon

You can hear an interview with Fairport book author Nigel Schofield on my programme 'Folk Us!' by going to www.bcbradio.co.uk and looking at the Listen Again (Look at specialist programmes, 9pm Monday 21st January). Be up for 30 days.