Liege & Lief
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Liege & Lief | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) |
|||||
| Studio album by Fairport Convention | |||||
| Released | December 1969 July 1970 (USA) |
||||
| Recorded | October 16, 19, 22, 29 and November 1, 1969, Sound Techniques, London | ||||
| Genre | Electric folk | ||||
| Length | 40:33 | ||||
| Label | Island ILPS 9115 A&M SP-4257 (July 1970) |
||||
| Producer | Joe Boyd for Witchseason Productions Ltd. | ||||
| Professional reviews | |||||
|
|||||
| Fairport Convention chronology | |||||
|
|||||
Liege & Lief, released in 1969, is the fourth electric folk album released by Fairport Convention and established British folk-rock as a distinct and influential genre.
Following the motorway accident which had killed Martin Lamble, the band were left without a drummer after the release of Unhalfbricking. Dave Mattacks took over the role and having previously been a drummer at Mecca Ballrooms, had to "learn a whole new style of drumming";[1] Dave Swarbrick, a little older than the rest of the band, had already been in a successful duo with guitarist Martin Carthy; after his appearance on Unhalfbricking, he too joined Fairport full-time.
Contents |
[edit] History
The band rehearsed and put together Liege & Lief over the summer of 1969 at a house in Farley Chamberlayne, near Winchester, launching it with a sell-out concert in London's Royal Festival Hall late in 1969.
Gone were the covers of songs by Bob Dylan and others, replaced by electrified versions of traditional English folksongs and the first of a long line of instrumental medleys of folk dance tunes driven by Dave Swarbrick's violin playing. Much of this material had been found by Ashley Hutchings in Cecil Sharp's collection, maintained by the English Folk Dance and Song Society.
The title is Middle English and means "loyal and ready".[2][3] The cover, a gatefold in grey and purple, featured cameo images of the band along with tracklisting and credits.
Soon after the release of Liege & Lief, Ashley Hutchings left to further pursue traditional music in a new band, Steeleye Span; Sandy Denny also left to form Fotheringay.
In 2007 a double album "Liege and Lief Deluxe Edition" was released. The second album consisted mainly of BBC radio live performances. Uncharacteristically, two outtakes, the Frank Sinatra songs "The Lady Is a Tramp" and "Fly Me to the Moon", were included.[4]
[edit] Reception and influence
Liege & Lief was promoted by John Peel on his Top Gear radio programme[5] and the album spent fifteen weeks in the UK album chart, reaching number 17[6]
AllMusic's reviewer summed the album up as "while [it] was the most purely folk-oriented Fairport Convention album to date, it also rocked hard in a thoroughly original and uncompromising way".
The album has come to be regarded as having significant influence in the development of British folk rock. It was voted the 'most important folk album of all time' by BBC Radio 2 listeners in 2002, and at the 2006 BBC Radio 2 Folk awards Liege and Lief won the award for Most influential Folk Album of all time. At the event, the original line-up of Simon Nicol, Richard Thompson, Ashley Hutchings, Dave Swarbrick, Dave Mattacks with Chris While replacing Sandy Denny, performed Matty Groves. Georgia Lucas, the daughter of Sandy Denny and Trevor Lucas, accepted the award on behalf of her late mother. This commemoration was repeated on 10 August 2007 at Cropredy, when the complete album was performed.
In June 2007, Mojo magazine listed Liege & Lief at number 58 in its list of "100 Records that changed the world"[7]
[edit] Track listing
[edit] Side one
- "Come All Ye" (Sandy Denny, Ashley Hutchings) - 4:55
- "Reynardine" (Trad. arr Fairport) - 4:33
- "Matty Groves" (Trad. arr Fairport) - 8:08
- "Farewell, Farewell"[8] (Richard Thompson) - 2:38
[edit] Side two
- "The Deserter" (Trad. arr Fairport) - 4:10
- Medley (Traditional, arranged by Dave Swarbrick) - 4:00
- "The Lark in the Morning"
- "Rakish Paddy"
- "Fox-Hunter's Jig"
- "Toss The Feathers"
- "Tam Lin" (Trad. arr Swarbrick) - 7:20
- "Crazy Man Michael" (Thompson, Swarbrick) - 4:35
[edit] CD bonus tracks
(previously unreleased)
- "Sir Patrick Spens"[9] (Trad. arr Fairport)
- "The Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood" (Take 1)[10] (words by Richard Fariña; traditional music arranged by Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson, Dave Swarbrick, Dave Mattacks)
[edit] Production
- Recorded at Sound Techniques Ltd., London
- Engineered by John Wood
- Cover photography - Eric Hayes
- Sleeve concept & design - Fairport & Roberta Nicol
- Design coordination - Diogenic Attempts Ltd
[edit] Personnel
- Sandy Denny - vocals
- Dave Swarbrick - fiddle, viola
- Richard Thompson - electric & acoustic guitars, backing vocals
- Simon Nicol - electric, 6-string & 12-string acoustic guitars, backing vocals
- Ashley Hutchings - bass guitar, backing vocals
- Dave Mattacks - drums, percussion
[edit] References
- ^ Simon Nicol writes about Fairport Convention. Retrieved on 2008-05-05.
- ^ Liege. Retrieved on 2008-05-05.
- ^ Lief. Retrieved on 2008-05-05.
- ^ Netrhythms : A to Z Album and Gig Reviews. Retrieved on 2008-05-05.
- ^ Features: The Liege & Lief Story. Retrieved on 2008-05-05.
- ^ UK Chart Stats
- ^ MOJO - (June 2007) 100 Records That Changed the World. Retrieved on 2008-05-05.
- ^ this is the music to Child Ballad 100 Willie O Winsbury with new lyrics or possibly Fause Foodrage - Child #89 - the melody of which was used by Andy Irvine for his (& subsequent) readings of Willie O' Winsbury.
- ^ sung by Sandy Denny, unlike the later version that appears on Full House
- ^ alternate take from the one used on the Sandy Denny— Who Knows Where The Time Goes? box set
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
