Fairport -- A History

AMG Review of Fairport -- A History

Dave Thompson
All Music Guide

The first of four anthologies of unreleased and rare Fairport Convention material released by Free Reed, Fairport -- A History is an almost-strictly chronological 22-track journey through the band's entire history, from their 1967 debut single, "If I Had a Ribbon Bow"; through radio sessions, outtakes, and live performances; and wrapping up with recordings from the 1999 and 2002 Cropredy festivals, before spinning back to before the beginning and the group's first-ever demo recording, "One Sure Thing." Interspersed amid this wealth are a glimpse into the short-lived 1972 Roger Hill/Tom Farnell lineup of the band, a Simon Nicol solo single, and a revelatory version of the show-stopping "Tam Lin," recorded for the BBC in 1969 -- it lacks a little punch in the vocal department, but the band itself is steaming. One can question a few of the selections -- several of the other radio sessions were surely selected more for their unavailability than for anything they bring to the song itself (Sandy Denny's "Rising for the Moon" is a case in point), and underground live tapes of the band's 1998 Bottom Line performance pack several more intriguing performances than the rendering of "Naked Highwayman" included here (a disco version of "Matty Groves" among them). But the inclusion of such gems as "Staines Morris," from the 1970 Philadelphia Folk Festival, and 1973's "Polly on the Shore" points to the sheer love and care which did go into this album's compilation, and it is unlikely that any single disc could do a better job of relating both the changes and the consistencies that bind together 35 years of Fairport Convention.