Fairport Convention - Liege And Lief (Deluxe Edition) (1969)

Tracklist

CD1
01. Come All Ye
02. Reynardine
03. Matty Groves
04. Farewell, Farewell
05. The Deserter
06. Medley: The Lark In The Morning
07. Tam Lin
08. Crazy Man Michael

CD2
01. Sir Patrick Spens (Sandy Denny Vocal Version)
02. Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood (Take 4)
03. The Ballad Of Easy Rider
04. Tam Lin (Live On 'John Peel's Top Gear', 1969)
05. The Lark In The Morning Medley (Live On 'John Peel's Top Gear', 1969)
06. Sir Patrick Spens (Live On 'John Peel's Top Gear', 1969)
07. Reynardine (BBC Session - Top Gear 27/9/69)
08. Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood (Take 1 - previously unreleased)
09. The Lady Is A Tramp (BBC Session - Top Gear 27/9/69)
10. in Other Words (Fly Me To The Moon)

In the decades since its original release, more than one writer has declared Fairport Convention's Liege & Lief the definitive British folk-rock album, a distinction it holds at least in part because it grants equal importance to all three parts of that formula. While Fairport had begun dipping their toes into British traditional folk with their stellar version of A Sailor's Life on Unhalfbricking, Liege & Lief found them diving head first into the possibilities of England's musical past, with Ashley Hutchings digging through the archives at the Cecil Sharp House in search of musical treasure, and the musicians (in particular vocalist Sandy Denny) eagerly embracing the dark mysteries of this music. (Only two of the album's eight songs were group originals, though Crazy Man Michael and Come All Ye hardly stand out from their antique counterparts.) Liege & Lief was also recorded after a tour bus crash claimed the lives of original Fairport drummer Martin Lamble and Richard Thompson's girlfriend, Jeannie Franklyn; as the members of the group worked to shake off the tragedy (and break in new drummer Dave Mattacks and full-time fiddler Dave Swarbrick), they became a stronger and more adventurous unit, less interested in the neo-Jefferson Airplane direction of their earlier work and firmly committed to fusing time-worn folk with electric instruments while honoring both. And while Liege & Lief was the most purely folk-oriented Fairport Convention album to date, it also rocked hard in a thoroughly original and uncompromising way; the Lark in the Morning medley swings unrelentingly, the group's crashing dynamics wring every last ounce of drama from Tam Lin and Matty Groves, and Thompson and Swarbrick's soloing is dazzling throughout. Liege & Lief introduced a large new audience to the beauty of British folk, but Fairport Convention's interpretations spoke of the present as much as the past, and the result was timeless music in the best sense of the term.