All right then, before we tackle the Big Z again, let's just escape once more
Album title: Liege and Lief
Artiste: Fairport Convention
Nationality: British
Label: Island
Year: 1969
Grade: n/a
Previous Experience of this Artiste: Zero
The Trollheart Factor: 0
Landmark value: I'm told it was the first true British folk rock album, but I don't see any real links to prog rock here. Still, I did say this section was basically for fun, and that the albums explored here may have very tenuous links to progressive rock, if at all. It would seem this fits the bill.
Tracklisting: Come all ye/ Reynardine/ Matty Groves/ Farewell farewell/ The deserter/ Medley (The lark in the morning/Rakish Paddy/Foxhunters' jig/Toss the feathers)/ Tam Lin/ Crazy man Michael
Comments: While the opener sounds like it should be a Christmas carol, it's a bouncy uptempo folk rocker driven on hard guitar and fiddle, with Sandy Denny in fine form on the vocals, very catchy tune. Like it. “Reynardine”, on the other hand, is one of several arrangements of traditional songs, and is sung in very much a trad way. Sounds quite a lot like “She moved through the fair” to me, but what do I know? Meh, it's a bit boring I find. Picking up then with some nice fiddle on “Matty Groves”, another trad arrangement, but with more punch and energy than the previous. Makes you tap your feet. Quite why you'd want to put a faucet on your feet I can't explain really. The song is a bit long at over eight minutes, but the second half is taken up by a pretty sweet jam, so there is that. Next up is an original, and quite a short one at just over two and a half minutes. “Farewell, farewell” has more than a touch of Simon and Garfunkel's “I am a rock” in it (or is that the other way around?) and is a nice gentle little ballad which gives Sandy Denny the chance to explore the softer side of her voice. Very nice.
Side two is heavily on the trad arrangements, kicking off with “The deserter”, which I find a little dour, though then again, given the subject matter, this is no surprise. It's typical of the usual “soldier's song” that has been around since, I don't know, eighteenth century? Before? Doesn't do a lot for me I have to say. The ending is terrible: the soldier doomed to be shot for desertion seems to be reprieved at the end for no reason I can discern. Bah! A set of reels gets us into the medley next, so there's plenty of toe-tappin' action, and sure, if you should feel the need to take your partner by anything, I'm not going to stop you. Great work on the fiddle here by Dave Swarbrick, but “Tam Lin” sounds a little boring and it's seven minutes long! Driven on guitar this time and with what I would consider a more harsh vocal from Denny, it just does not do it for me.
That leaves us with “Crazy man Michael”, an original composition, bringing back in the violin (what's the difference? Violin is slow and sad, fiddle fast and cheerful?) and it's a really nice ballad to close.
Favourite track(s): Come all ye, Farewell farewell, Medley, Crazy man Michael
Least favourite track(s): The deserter, Tam Lin
Overall impression: Yeah it's a decent album, and if you're into folk I'm sure it's great, but this can have zero relevance to prog, unless you include the likes of Tull. Not even sure why it was included. Let's blame it on Christmas, huh?
Personal Rating: 