Fairport Convention - Disc of the day

Fairport Convention
Unhalfbricking

(Island, 1969)

English folk rockers find their groove with the inimitable Sandy Denny in tow…

In 1969, Fairport Convention released three – that’s three – studio albums. The first, What We Did On Our Holidays, saw the band’s sound refined by the introduction of Sandy Denny’s immaculate vocals, while the amped-up Liege & Lief, released in December, cemented their status as England’s premier folk-rock pioneers. Sitting squarely in the middle of these two records is Unhalfbricking - named as the result of a particularly creative intra-band word game. At its centre lies their take on olde English folk ballad, A Sailor’s Life. Driven by Denny’s trance-inducing vocal and Richard Thompson’s fluttering fretwork, its masterful 11 minutes epitomise the band’s ability to bridge the gap between trad-folk heritage and their own groundbreaking instrumental exploits. Elsewhere, three rowdy Dylan covers (Si Tu Dois Partir, Percy’s Song and Million Dollar Bash), prove that the players, and Denny, can really loosen and swing. Then there’s Who Knows Where The Time Goes? – a transcendental ballad written by Denny and featuring the most sublime vocal she ever committed to tape. So that would be pretty damn sublime, then.

Ross Bennett

Posted by Danny_Eccleston at 6:00 AM GMT 13/04/2008

Further Listening

Sandy Denny – Sandy (Island, 1972)

Bob Dylan & The Band – The Basement Tapes (Columbia, 1975)

Rachel Unthank & The Winterset – The Bairns (EMI, 2007)

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