New 7 CD box set

[GS (Graham)]

For me the big attraction to this set is Disc 6 - the 'Nine' line-up live.  I saw them on that tour a couple of weeks earlier in Edinburgh & I have extremely happy memories of that gig - they were on fire & absolutely at the top of their game.

Also the tracks on Disc 5 which are taken from TV shows both coincidentally made & aired in Scotland in 1976.  I had an off the set cassette recording of the STV show & the version of Flowers of the Forest is fantastic.  On the same show they played an early version of Jams O'Donnell's Jigs which is radically different to the version released on Bonny Bunch of Roses & could have been included.

Oh & like several others above I've not heard the Manor sessions - apart from the couple of tracks which emerged on Fairport Unconventional.

[StephenGiles]

I wonder whether it will be available on the music-streaming service of one's choice?

As all of our money currently goes on my wife's healthcare, it'll be file sharing for me.

[Andy B]

Hi All,

I compiled this set, so i'm pleased to read so many positive comments! it certainly wasnt a cut and paste job, but a real labour of love. Some may know the work ive done on all the Sandy Denny re-issues over the years, so know that i take these things seriously! This boxset was concieved as a 'best of' for fans, bringing together the best of the studio work, BBC recordings, unreleased material and live performances. As always when doing these things, one has a wishlist, but there arent as many session reels surviving as you might think, but i worked hard to find new material from every era.The boxset is also handsomley designed and contains many rare photographs- not easy to do at this stage of the game as most have been seen!

Thought i'd just address a few things that have come up in the earlier posts:

The Manor album sessions, have been mixed from the original masters so are in far superior sound to anything that has emerged from them before, on the bootleg or other official releases- some are also different versions. They would not have been given a release as a set in themselves- so this box is the best place for them, and including this short-lived line up in a set looking back at all the line ups of the first decade is appropriate. Some of these recordings are pretty good i think, and stand up to their Rosie counterparts, and the Manor version of Althea is just lovely. But the whole point of a set like this is to make things available and fans can make up their own minds. With the bootleg, the band get nothing- making these recordings available officially in the best quality possible is a good thing all round i think. Swarb actually released a couple of the bootleg recordings, and had thought about making the whole thing available.

Yes disc 7 duplicates the LA Troubadour concert I issued on the Rising deluxe, bar an alternate performance of Down Where the Drunkards Roll. The principal reason for this was that I was on such a tight deadline on the Rising set that there were several things in mixing and mastering that i was never happy with- the version on this boxset is superior in quality, and is perfect! Overall its such a good performance that it deserves to be heard again, so forgive the duplication. It also works well alongside The live concert on disc 6 of the Nine line up, which is simply sensational (its one of my fave things on this set)- amazing to think that these concerts are barely a month and a half apart. Both concerts contain rare meaterial that either never appeared on a studio album or was never performed again, so i wanted both included here, to show the breadth of material covered by the band in this period.

The box is intended to act as a great overview and each disc has been sequenced to flow perfectly, so its still a pleasure popping one of the cds on and listening from beginning to end hearing the recordings you do know in amongst those you dont!

enjoy

Andrew

[Brendan]

Hi All,

I compiled this set, so i'm pleased to read so many positive comments! it certainly wasnt a cut and paste job, but a real labour of love. Some may know the work ive done on all the Sandy Denny re-issues over the years, so know that i take these things seriously! This boxset was concieved as a 'best of' for fans, bringing together the best of the studio work, BBC recordings, unreleased material and live performances. As always when doing these things, one has a wishlist, but there arent as many session reels surviving as you might think, but i worked hard to find new material from every era.The boxset is also handsomley designed and contains many rare photographs- not easy to do at this stage of the game as most have been seen!

Thought i'd just address a few things that have come up in the earlier posts:

The Manor album sessions, have been mixed from the original masters so are in far superior sound to anything that has emerged from them before, on the bootleg or other official releases- some are also different versions. They would not have been given a release as a set in themselves- so this box is the best place for them, and including this short-lived line up in a set looking back at all the line ups of the first decade is appropriate. Some of these recordings are pretty good i think, and stand up to their Rosie counterparts, and the Manor version of Althea is just lovely. But the whole point of a set like this is to make things available and fans can make up their own minds. With the bootleg, the band get nothing- making these recordings available officially in the best quality possible is a good thing all round i think. Swarb actually released a couple of the bootleg recordings, and had thought about making the whole thing available.

Yes disc 7 duplicates the LA Troubadour concert I issued on the Rising deluxe, bar an alternate performance of Down Where the Drunkards Roll. The principal reason for this was that I was on such a tight deadline on the Rising set that there were several things in mixing and mastering that i was never happy with- the version on this boxset is superior in quality, and is perfect! Overall its such a good performance that it deserves to be heard again, so forgive the duplication. It also works well alongside The live concert on disc 6 of the Nine line up, which is simply sensational (its one of my fave things on this set)- amazing to think that these concerts are barely a month and a half apart. Both concerts contain rare meaterial that either never appeared on a studio album or was never performed again, so i wanted both included here, to show the breadth of material covered by the band in this period.

The box is intended to act as a great overview and each disc has been sequenced to flow perfectly, so its still a pleasure popping one of the cds on and listening from beginning to end hearing the recordings you do know in amongst those you dont!

enjoy

Andrew

It looks like you have done a great job based on the track listing, and considering I have all the other fairport related boxed sets and I intended to purchase this one you must have doen something right. Only one question is this the first of five for each ten years of fairport's existence?

[Alan2]

Hi All,

I compiled this set, so i'm pleased to read so many positive comments! it certainly wasnt a cut and paste job, but a real labour of love. Some may know the work ive done on all the Sandy Denny re-issues over the years, so know that i take these things seriously! This boxset was concieved as a 'best of' for fans, bringing together the best of the studio work, BBC recordings, unreleased material and live performances. As always when doing these things, one has a wishlist, but there arent as many session reels surviving as you might think, but i worked hard to find new material from every era.The boxset is also handsomley designed and contains many rare photographs- not easy to do at this stage of the game as most have been seen!

Thought i'd just address a few things that have come up in the earlier posts:

The Manor album sessions, have been mixed from the original masters so are in far superior sound to anything that has emerged from them before, on the bootleg or other official releases- some are also different versions. They would not have been given a release as a set in themselves- so this box is the best place for them, and including this short-lived line up in a set looking back at all the line ups of the first decade is appropriate. Some of these recordings are pretty good i think, and stand up to their Rosie counterparts, and the Manor version of Althea is just lovely. But the whole point of a set like this is to make things available and fans can make up their own minds. With the bootleg, the band get nothing- making these recordings available officially in the best quality possible is a good thing all round i think. Swarb actually released a couple of the bootleg recordings, and had thought about making the whole thing available.

Yes disc 7 duplicates the LA Troubadour concert I issued on the Rising deluxe, bar an alternate performance of Down Where the Drunkards Roll. The principal reason for this was that I was on such a tight deadline on the Rising set that there were several things in mixing and mastering that i was never happy with- the version on this boxset is superior in quality, and is perfect! Overall its such a good performance that it deserves to be heard again, so forgive the duplication. It also works well alongside The live concert on disc 6 of the Nine line up, which is simply sensational (its one of my fave things on this set)- amazing to think that these concerts are barely a month and a half apart. Both concerts contain rare meaterial that either never appeared on a studio album or was never performed again, so i wanted both included here, to show the breadth of material covered by the band in this period.

The box is intended to act as a great overview and each disc has been sequenced to flow perfectly, so its still a pleasure popping one of the cds on and listening from beginning to end hearing the recordings you do know in amongst those you dont!

enjoy

Andrew

Can we know what the packaging is like yet??

[Shane (Skirky)]

Hi All,

Thought i'd just address a few things that have come up in the earlier posts:

Thanks Andrew. Always nice to hear from the source.  

[Andy B]

Hi Brendan, I Would love to do more Fairport sets! Actually one of the hard things on this boxset was avoiding previously released bonus material whilst still covering all bases, and making it a comprehensive journey through the first 10 years.

Hi Alan,
The packaging was designed by the redoubtable Phil Smee, and is based around a woodcut design with a different one on each cd cover inside- with so many line-ups a photo wasnt appropriate. The booklet is a hard back with a faux leather binding, beatifully laid out- lots of nice pics, and i asked some photographers to go back to their negs for new scans etc so their will be some great unknown images for fans.

best

Andrew

[Jules Gray]

The Manor album sessions, have been mixed from the original masters so are in far superior sound to anything that has emerged from them before, on the bootleg or other official releases- some are also different versions. They would not have been given a release as a set in themselves- so this box is the best place for them, and including this short-lived line up in a set looking back at all the line ups of the first decade is appropriate. Some of these recordings are pretty good i think, and stand up to their Rosie counterparts, and the Manor version of Althea is just lovely. But the whole point of a set like this is to make things available and fans can make up their own minds. With the bootleg, the band get nothing- making these recordings available officially in the best quality possible is a good thing all round i think. Swarb actually released a couple of the bootleg recordings, and had thought about making the whole thing available.

Yes disc 7 duplicates the LA Troubadour concert I issued on the Rising deluxe, bar an alternate performance of Down Where the Drunkards Roll. The principal reason for this was that I was on such a tight deadline on the Rising set that there were several things in mixing and mastering that i was never happy with- the version on this boxset is superior in quality, and is perfect! Overall its such a good performance that it deserves to be heard again, so forgive the duplication. It also works well alongside The live concert on disc 6 of the Nine line up, which is simply sensational (its one of my fave things on this set)- amazing to think that these concerts are barely a month and a half apart. Both concerts contain rare meaterial that either never appeared on a studio album or was never performed again, so i wanted both included here, to show the breadth of material covered by the band in this period.

The box is intended to act as a great overview and each disc has been sequenced to flow perfectly, so its still a pleasure popping one of the cds on and listening from beginning to end hearing the recordings you do know in amongst those you don't!

Sounds great, Andrew.  I'm really looking forward to it.  I may even end up forgiving you for not including Now Be Thankful.  

Jules

[Alan2]

Thanks again Andrew.

Alan.

[Will S]

Thanks Andrew.  It's really good to hear from the compiler with reasoning behind the choices, etc.  We're such nerds (well, some of us anyway ) that we always have questions about these sets, and what really is new, and what has been heard before.

[Delfini (Diane)]

Thanks from me too. It's good to know the reasoning for the selections. You sound like a perfectionist!

[Alan2]

It all comes round again.

https://www.spincds.com/coming-soon/live-salinas-california-1983-cd-53531

This I already have from 1997. In the proper 3CD jewel case the first release came in. (If it's the same set, which I think it is). I rather like the part where Ashley tells the story of the group.

[Andy B]

Hi Alan, this is a different boxset, this one is the best of the first decade including studio recordings, outakes, live recordings and BBC material.

Hi Diane, yes that word has been mentioned  

Another point of interest for the collectors out there; the recordings from The Man They Could Not Hang programme, are not off-air, like those issued on the expanded Babbacombe Lee CD but sourced from the BBC master in their archive - The Olympia live recordings are also from the masters in the INA archive.

best

Andrew

[Jules Gray]

Hi Alan, this is a different boxset, this one is the best of the first decade including studio recordings, outakes, live recordings and BBC material.

I think he knows that.

Wrong thread, Alan!  

Jules

[Alan2]

Hi Alan, this is a different boxset, this one is the best of the first decade including studio recordings, outakes, live recordings and BBC material.

I think he knows that.

Wrong thread, Alan!  

Jules

::
Yes, thankyou i do know that. It's a bit off topic in this thread, I agree. Should have been in the Reissues of Interest thread, really. I was just thinking boxed sets.  

[Greg E]

Can you do the same with Steeleye please ?

[Hexhamshire Lad]

The forthcoming box set seems to have once again not found room for the BBC radio version of 'Mr. Lacey' that originally graced Richard's '(Guitar, Vocal)' compilation in 1976. It wasn't on the Live at the BBC set either. That's a shame, as it's a storming version.

[Jules Gray]

The forthcoming box set seems to have once again not found room for the BBC radio version of 'Mr. Lacey' that originally graced Richard's '(Guitar, Vocal)' compilation in 1976. It wasn't on the Live at the BBC set either. That's a shame, as it's a storming version.

But I would argue that it's a good version of a not very good song.

The absence of any version of Now Be Thankful is, however, a major oversight.

Jules

[Alan2]

He he. I have my Ryko 2LP Guitar Vocal.  

[Dave.P]

I think this will be a very suitable 65th birthday pressy for me ..  

Now chaps ... if you all contribute 30p each  you can sign it and present it to me at an appropriate evening venue when Fairport will be playing, The bar will be free and there will be a full buffet running.      

ohhh bu***r  We are all entitled to dream .. However i think i will be on my wish list even if i do have to buy it myself