Faiport Unconventional [Box set] [Original recording remastered]

Faiport Unconventional [Box set] [Original recording remastered]

Track Listings
Disc: 1

1. Meet on the ledge, (overture) Cropredy, 1990

2. Wings, Cropredy, 1997

3. If I had a ribbon bow, single, 1967

4. Lay down your weary tune, 1st Radio Session,'67

5. A Shattering Live Experience, BBC Radio session, 1969

See all 22 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Sir B McKenzie, 1976

2. Suzanne, 1968

3. Time will show the wiser, 1968

4. Mr Lacey, Dutch TV, 1969

5. Reno Nevada, French TV, 1968

See all 19 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Sir Patrick Spens, 1969

2. Wat Tyler, York, 1992

3. Flowers of the forest, London 1977

4. Fotheringay, Symonds on Sunday, 1969

5. To Althea, Cropredy 1984

See all 16 tracks on this disc

Disc: 4

1. Walk awhile, Bumpers, 1970

2. John Gaudie, Bottom Line, 1998

3. Hexhamshire lass, Capital Radio, 1976 with Dan ar Bras

4. Slip jigs and reels, Oxford Apollo, 1995

5. Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman, Broughton Castle, 1982

See all 15 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews
From Amazon.co.uk
A fascinating albeit slightly frustrating four-disc box set, Fairport Unconventional is, as the title suggests, a pretty exceptional collection of curiosities. Though it's no place for the Fairport beginner to start, fans will find such an attractive assembly of rare and previously unreleased recordings hard to resist.

Gamely organised into four thematically distinct discs, this 35th anniversary set spans the entire Fairport history and all the band's myriad incarnations. Part 1 is a chronological trawl through the vast Fairport catalogue, using rare and alternative takes; Part 2 features even rarer and more obscure tracks (including Richard Thompson singing "The Lady Is A Tramp"); Part 3 collects the Fairport "British history" songs in chronological order of the events described in each song; Part 4 gives us the Top 15 favourite Fairport songs, but again in unfamiliar versions.

Inevitably, given the disparate source material, recording quality varies hugely from track to track: some of it is good, some of it is frankly dire. And because it skips between live performances, radio sessions and studio outtakes, as well as placing new tracks side-by-side with 35-year-old recordings, the set can be a disorientating experience. But there are gems aplenty to be found, nonetheless, and it's a pleasure to discover, for example, "Poor Will And The Jolly Hangman" live from Broughton Castle in 1982 or a barnstorming "Fiddlestix" from 1973 complete with banjo.

The chunky box set comes with a vast 172-page illustrated book, which provides a full biography and the sources of all 72 tracks in exhaustive detail. Just to make the package irresistible there's more besides, including posters, souvenir booklets and special limited-edition CD offers. Cropredy-goers should need no further persuasion. --Mark Walker

Faiport Unconventional,Fairport Convention,Free Reed Us Release,Box Sets (Audio Only),British Folk,British Folk-Rock,Folk,Folk & Traditional,Folk-Rock,Pop,Progressive Folk

Average customer rating:

Too Many Bootleg-Quality Recordings

Birthday Present! Yay!

Faiport Unconventional
Fairport Convention
Manufacturer: Free Reed Us Release
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

British Folk | Traditional British & Celtic Folk | Folk | Styles | Music
General | Folk | Styles | Music
Traditional Folk | Folk | Styles | Music
Folk Rock | Rock | Styles | Music
General | Rock | Box Sets | Stores | Music
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ASIN: B0007YMUFM
Release Date: 2005-04-05

Tracks:

Meet on the ledge, (overture) Cropredy, 1990
Wings, Cropredy, 1997
If I had a ribbon bow, single, 1967
Lay down your weary tune, 1st Radio Session,'67
A Shattering Live Experience, BBC Radio session, 1969
Nottamun Town, alternative version, 1968
Si Tu Dois Partir, radio recording, 1968
Come all ye, Liege & Lief out-takes, 1969
Tam Lin, Liege & Lief out-takes , 1969
Dirty Linen, Cropredy, 1988
Staines Morris, Philadelphia Folk Fest, 1970
Journeyman's Grace, 1970
Angel delight, Cropredy, 1997
Time is near, Roger Hill/Tom Farnell lineup, 1972
Polly on the shore, live, 1973
Rising for the moon, BBC session, 1974
Reynard the Fox, TV performance, 1987
Rubber band, Simons Records, 1980
Naked Highwayman, Bottom Line, 1998
The wood and the wire, Cropredy 1999
The Crowd, Woodworm, 2002
One sure thing, (excerpt) Sound Techniques, 1967 - Fairport's first demo recording

Tracks:

Sir B McKenzie, 1976
Suzanne, 1968
Time will show the wiser, 1968
Mr Lacey, Dutch TV, 1969
Reno Nevada, French TV, 1968
Percy's song, 1968
Dear Landlord, 1968
I don't believe you, 'Nine' out-take, 1973
The deserter, BBC, 1970
Farewell to a poor man's son, BBC-TV Babbacombe Lee, 1973
Sad song, The Manor Sessions, 1972
Autopsy, 1968
Maverick Child, David Rea / Tom Farnell line-up, 1972
Fiddlestix, Australian single, 1973
It's now or never, with Steve Tilston, 2000
The lady is a tramp, BBC Top Gear, 1968
General Taylor, Live in Chicago, 1972
Accountancy Shanty, Live in Hull, 1989
A sailor's life, Southampton, 1969

Tracks:

Sir Patrick Spens, 1969
Wat Tyler, York, 1992
Flowers of the forest, London 1977
Fotheringay, Symonds on Sunday, 1969
To Althea, Cropredy 1984
Red and gold, Cropredy 1996
Lord Marlborough, El Pea, 1971
Adieu Adieu, TV performance, 1976
Here's to Tom Paine, Weston-super-mare, 1997
Bonny Bunch of Roses, Live in Australia, 1977
Breakfast in Mayfair, Sandy Denny/Simon Nicol vcls, 1973
Battle of the Somme, Troubadour, 1970
Summer before the war, BBC In Concert, 1990
Get Together, 1967
Genesis Hall, Cropredy, 1993
Jewel in the crown, Apollo 1995

Tracks:

Walk awhile, Bumpers, 1970
John Gaudie, Bottom Line, 1998
Hexhamshire lass, Capital Radio, 1976 with Dan ar Bras
Slip jigs and reels, Oxford Apollo, 1995
Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman, Broughton Castle, 1982
Crazy Man Michael, Rehearsal Tape, 1969
Rosie, Melbourne Assembly Hall, 1996
Farewell Farewell, Fairport rehearsal tape, 1969
Now be thankful, BBC Sounds of the 70s, 1970
Hiring Fair, Cropredy, 1989
Stranger to himself, Live, 1974
Sloth, Live, 1974
Who knows where the time goes, BBC Radio, 1968
Matty Groves, specially-compiled multi-version
Meet on the Ledge, BBC Radio, 1968

From Amazon.co.uk

A fascinating albeit slightly frustrating four-disc box set, Fairport Unconventional is, as the title suggests, a pretty exceptional collection of curiosities. Though it's no place for the Fairport beginner to start, fans will find such an attractive assembly of rare and previously unreleased recordings hard to resist.

Customer Reviews:

Too Many Bootleg-Quality Recordings .......2006-08-27

I am a huge Fairport fan, but am not a collector of low-quality, archival recordings. As such, this box was a major disappointment. Luckily, I got it used for about half price, but wouldn't buy it again. I keep it mainly for the very nice booklet (which I think you can buy separately from Free Reed). Way too many bootleg-quality archival recordings here for my taste. And because it is not chronologically compiled, the music keeps jerking back and forth from stuff that sounds like it was recorded off you big sister's transistor radio in 1968 to some fairly good stuff. They shoud congregated the low-quality stuff so you at least could have gotten used to it. These bootleg-type recordings should be compiled on a special CD and sold to the really hard-core collectors. Then create a nice box set for the rest of us that we will actually want to listen to more than once or twice. The sad thing is that such a fine job was done on Fairport's Heyday and House Full CDs of old radio & live recordings. Indeed, those are right at top of my favorite Fairport albums list. So did Free Reed just not want to put time and money into improving the archival recordings on this box, or were they beyond repair? If the later, very little of it should have been used. Compare this to the Fleetwood Mac Live in Boston 3-CD set, which knocks my socks off at how much better the CDs are than the old vinyl albums. Somebody actually invested a lot of love and care in that restoration project, taking the tapes into the studio and greatly improving them. Free Reed should take note.

Birthday Present! Yay!.......2006-01-23

This is one of the most incredible boxed sets i've had the good fortune to own; Free Reed look rather like a British Bear Family on the basis of this set and of others listed in the catalog that came with it.

The 180-page book, which covers Fairport's history from beginning to present (well, presstime; given the band's background, there's always the nervous feeling that any listing of personnel more than about a day old could be seriously out of date)(And, indeed now, some years later, it *is*), including commentary on each album at the appropriate points. While certainly respectful of the band's history and influential position, and obviously friendly with the members, author Nigel Schofield doesn't fall into the trap of being overly reverential, and is not above more-or-less gently twitting them when it becomes obvious that they don their trousers unipedally in a manner not dissimilar to the rest of us.

The Cropredy memories book is a nice touch; having been there in '90 and '92, i can attest that it is A Lot Of Fun, even in a downpour (and didn't we just have one in '90).

Pete Frame's "Fairport Family Tree" is an expansion of the one he did entitled "Resolving the Fairport Confusion", which is reprinted in his first "Family Trees" book (and, in a streamlined form, on the cover/inlay of the "History of Fairport Convention" compilation), which followed the band up till their breakup in '79. In order, presumably, to get in all of the most-directly-related data on Fairport's lineups and its members' other projects, and related bands and projects, some of the more peripheral material included on the original tree is MIA -- i find a minor mention in a note of "The Bunch", but they do not appear as a separate entry on the chart as such, and he doesn't number the various incarnations of Fairport and Steeleye Span referenced, as he did on that earlier rendering. All the same, a fantastic piece of work. (You have to see it to appreciate how densely packed it is with information.) He ends it with a note to the effect that, if they make any more lineup changes they can just "...(something) well get themselves a new biographer..."

Great package. Seems as if there ought to be something else to talk about, though...

Oh, yeah -- the music!

Disc 1 -- "Fairport -- A History"; a chronological overview of the history of the band, using lesser-known versions of their standards.

Disc 2 -- "Rareport Convention"; hard to find and unreleased material from many sources, including private collections and radio and TV sessions.

Disc 3 -- "A Fairport History"; sixteen folk tracks that take us back and narrate/coment on various key moments in British history.

Disc 4 -- "Classic Convention"; which is rare and non-standard versions of what is described as the "core Fairport reportoire", including a completely outrageous version of "Matty Groves", which was created by editing together a whole bunch of versions in chronological order and intercut with a radio police drama narrative version of the story.

The sound quality on some the cuts on this set is less-than-pristine (i noticed this particularly on at least one cut which was obviously recorded from an AM radio broadcast, with severe peak distortion). This could be a bit off-putting if this were your first exposure to Fairport, but, since at least one reason to have this collection is for the historical/completist value of the performances it documents, many people (i confess to being one) will be happy merely to have these 72 tracks in any form at all.

That said, most of the cuts are at least decent-sounding, ranging upward to pristine.

I, like any Fairport fan, can list a number of items i would like to have seen included on these discs, if only to have them all in one place, but many or even most of them -- Simon's practical joke on Swarb, which appears on the 30th Anniversary box set, for instance -- are already available in more-or-less accessible form, somewhere.

This set is, mostly, The Other Stuff... and i'm glad to see it.

(Back when the British original of this became available, i mentioned it to my wife and a week later, it was my birthday present.)

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Music Review

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