What does it sound like?:
I have to confess I haven’t kept up with recent manifestations of Fairport other than a few visits to Cropredy where I have always enjoyed them with the encouragement of a few pints of 6X, so I received their latest album, “50:50@50” with interest. It’s the band’s 50th anniversary, and the album is half new studio recordings and half live performances. Whilst the band’s more famous front persons are long gone, the lineup of Chris Leslie, Ric Saunders, Simon Nichol and of course Dave Pegg lack nothing in the folk chops department and sing and play to the highest standard throughout. It goes without saying that Gerry Conway in the drum department is thunderous and steady as ever. Robert Plant and Pentangle’s Jacqui McShee make guest appearances – Planty on a live version of “Jesus on the mainline” sounding like he’s having a top old time (you can hear him refer to the band as “spectacular” on the fade). The songs range from melancholy folk songs in a fairly traditional style, through to whimsical acoustic ditties (a DIY/sustaining relationships metaphor anyone?), a jaunty autobiographical song called “Our bus rolls on” which namechecks the band as “Come all ye” did decades earlier on “Liege and Lief” and some extended, more arranged, complex instrumentals showing off the band’s ability to sound like themselves no matter the material. It’s beautifully recorded and sounds fantastic even on earbuds via MP3.
What does it all *mean*?
Does the world need another Fairport album? Well, the fact that the band sound this fresh and assured after 50 years must mean something. It breaks no new ground, but hey, cut them some slack. They have been consistently honing their art for decades and if it ain’t your bag, move on. But if you like music which is folky, fairly easy on the ear, at times fun and at times slightly wistful, this album delivers perfectly.
Goes well with…
Oooh a pint of 6X or something amber and peaty I think. And a crackling fire.
Release Date:
Might suit people who like…
Anyone of a folky/acoustic bent will enjoy it.
Martin S says
Pains me to say that the band hasn’t been the same since the Chris Leslie era. Rather than include Chris Leslie into the fold, its like he took over Fairport and made it just a little too twee (which is rich coming from me!)
Some interesting instrumentals on this record though
retropath2 says
I think you blame Chris too much. If you recall the sort of ballads Simon Nicol used to bring into the setlist during the Allcock years (oo-er), and on his 2 solo outings, Chris Leslie’s relatively lightweight offerings are heavy metal when compared to shockers like Rosemary’s Sister and that Summers Between the wars hogwash, whatever it was. I like Chris Leslie and whatever he may have done to make the b(r)and more amenable to an ageing demographic, he has undoubtedly given them some internal combustion also.
Mind you, yet to listen to this one. I sort of gave up after the first Leslie one, Who Knows Where the Time, only returning to their fold when the last ful studio one came out, finding both that and the live show to be more muscular than recently, the live show especially casting less than a handful of songs from the last century into the setlist.
See y’all at Croppers, a return after, i think, 12 years.
Twang says
As I said in the review there’s some light hearted froth but very much in the minority of the tracks. And some of the deeper folk tracks are Leslie’s too.
Colin H says
I think ‘London River’ on one of the late 90s/early 200s albums has to have been the uttermost nadir…
Martin S says
I’ve listened to this through now in its entirety. I am genuinely sad that they have come to this level of Twee.
No one likes a 10 minute unaccompanied 18th century dirge about a dead sailor better than me, but folk music has to be delivered with passion and grit. This is all too neat and tidy. It’s got no bollocks in it.
Fairport had a brilliant line up around the Jewel in the Crown years (Dave Mattacks and Martin Allcock et al). This line up is a mere shadow of former glories.
Chris Lesley is a lovely bloke and I’m sure his solo act is a joy. He’s just not a front man for a folk rock outfit.
With the 50th anniversary celebrations in full swing, I was thinking of returning to Cropredy in the summer after a break of five years but this has put the tin lid on it. (And Petula Clarke being the Friday night headliner)
Compare this album if you will with the latest Steeleye Span offering “Dodgy Bastards”. Steeleye are evolving and on this evidence have upped the anti. Maddie P takes more of a back seat these days but remains an integral part of the show. Their youth policy has worked. Wish I could say the same about dear old Fairport.
In a post Bellowhead (and now Eliza Carthy and the Big Machine world) new lines have been drawn as to what constitutes a good night out (or in) with traditional music.
Give it some welly!