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Fairport Convention is often credited with being the first English folk-rock band. Fairport, formed in 1967, rapidly developed from playing cover versions of American ‘west coast’ style music to an individual style which melded rock music with traditional English tunes and songs.
Like their peers The Byrds , Buffalo Springfield and Jefferson Airplane, they were blessed with several considerable individual talents, and produced music that, at least initially was eclectic, as well as exploratory. The move to a more British form of folk rock came primarily as a result of the enthusiasm of bassist Ashley Hutchings and producer Joe Boyd. Original singer Judy Dyble was replaced on their second LP What We Did on Our Holidays by Sandy Denny, an experienced folk singer and excellent composer in her own right and fiddle virtuoso Dave Swarbrick joined, initially as sessioneer, on their third, Unhalfbricking. That LP has arguably their first two bona fide masterpieces. One is their version of the Sandy Denny song, Who Knows Where the Time Goes, popularized by Judy Collins, but characterised on their version by a perfect balance between Denny’s vocals and the exquisite support of the group as a whole, and lead guitarist Richard Thompson in particular. The other is A Sailor’s Life, the first to demonstrate the potential power of folk rock, the song exploding in an improvised and sophisticated instrumental coda that reaches beyond the words through the impassioned interplay of the whole band, led by the virtuosity of Thompson and Swarbrick in particular. |
