{"id":504,"date":"2011-05-04T05:15:44","date_gmt":"2011-05-04T10:15:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=504"},"modified":"2011-05-04T05:15:44","modified_gmt":"2011-05-04T10:15:44","slug":"album-review-fairport-convention-ebbets-field-1974","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2011\/05\/04\/album-review-fairport-convention-ebbets-field-1974\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Fairport Convention – Ebbets Field 1974"},"content":{"rendered":"

First, a few words about what this isn\u2019t: While it\u2019s Fairport Convention<\/strong>, it not the earliest lineup featuring Richard Thompson<\/strong>; it\u2019s a later aggregation of the band, but most of the key players remain. It\u2019s also not recorded at a legendary baseball park in Brooklyn; Ebbets Field was the name of a popular Denver music venue of the 1970s. A number of radio broadcasts took place at the club. Only a few of these have made it to official release, though dozens circulate among collectors of unofficial material. Some of the artists who were captured live onstage (sound and recording courtesy of the Listen Up Company<\/strong>) include Caravan, Ry Cooder, Flo and Eddie<\/a>, Peter Frampton, Bob Seger<\/a>, Kraftwerk, Moby Grape<\/a>, Terry Reid, Muddy Waters, Minnie Riperton, Sugarloaf<\/strong> and Tom Waits<\/strong>. An eclectic bunch.<\/p>\n

Fairport Convention appeared for at least three sets between May 23 and 24, 1974; all were recorded. The second and third sets have long circulated on the underground circuit. The people at It\u2019s About Music got ahold of what IAM President (and liner notes writer) Dean Sciarra<\/strong> describes as \u201cthis little DAT tape of the band.\u201d While he characterizes the source tape\u2019s sound as \u201cpretty bad,\u201d Fairport Convention\u2019s lead guitarist Jerry Donahue<\/strong> took a crack at cleaning it up.<\/p>\n

The tape\u2019s history aside, it\u2019s a fine listen, and well worth official release. The six-piece group takes the small in-house audience (it sounds like under fifty people were there) through a good cross-section of the band\u2019s catalog. That peculiar animal that is English folk-rock is, of course, the order of the day. Not a bit like its American counterpart, British folk-rock is closer to Traffic<\/strong>, with plenty of that regal, slightly mannered medieval vibe. Smartly strummed amplified acoustic guitars are led by manic fiddle playing from Dave Swarbrick<\/strong> on tracks like \u201cFiddlestix.\u201d That tune puts Charlie Daniels<\/strong> and his ilk to some serious shame.<\/p>\n

In addition to Fairport classics like an epic version of \u201cSloth\u201d \u2013 one of the best things here, and for that matter, in the whole of Fairport\u2019s deep catalog \u2013 the group delivers a trio of traditional songs familiar to anyone who\u2019s a fan of the band. The tracks will also be known by anyone who\u2019s spent any time on the coffee house circuit. That said, \u201cDirty Linen,\u201d \u201cMatty Groves\u201d and a medley of traditional tunes are all delivered with aplomb. Rarely is a listener treated to an evening of music that (a) isn\u2019t rock and yet (b) still rocks. This stuff does. Even for those music fans who don\u2019t especially dig sawing fiddles, clap-your-hands-and-stomp-your-feet style stuff, or earnest female vocals from the redoubtable Sandy Denny<\/strong>, this set is near essential. Especially on \u201cWho Knows Where the Time Goes,\u201d Denny\u2019s voice is in fine, heartbreakingly plaintive form. For you few rocker types who need a bit of extra convincing, that\u2019s Denny joining Robert Plant<\/strong> on the vocals for Led Zeppelin<\/strong>\u2019s \u201cThe Battle of Evermore.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new CD is complied from the sets recorded in late May; presumably enough material exists to put together another disc in the future. (And there\u2019s also a Sandy Denny solo set from Ebbets Field recorded a year earlier).<\/p>\n

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First, a few words about what this isn\u2019t: While it\u2019s Fairport Convention, it not the earliest lineup featuring Richard Thompson; it\u2019s a later aggregation of the band, but most of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","cat-65-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}