Liege & Lief

Performer: Fairport Convention
Engineer: John Wood
Producer: Joe Boyd
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Fairport Convention: Sandy Denny (vocals); Simon Nicol, Richard Thompson (guitar); Dave Swarbrick (violin, viola); Ashley Hutchings (bass); Dave Mattacks (drums). Personnel: Richard Thompson, Sandy Denny, Simon Nicol (vocals, guitar); Dave Swarbrick (vocals, mandolin, violin, viola); Ashley Hutchings (vocals, bass guitar); Dave Mattacks (drums). The advertisements for Fairport Convention's epoch-making fourth album ran: "the first (literally) British folk rock LP ever." While that's not (literally) true, LIEGE & LIEF created the template for all subsequent recordings in that style. It also represented a catharsis for the band, which reconvened after a traumatic road accident that killed drummer Martin Lamble. Once again focused and with redoubtable folk fiddler Dave Swarbrick now permanently involved, Fairport threw themselves into the electrification of ballads, myths, and rollicking jigs. The results were both innovative and stimulating. The union was blessed. If you sat down and tried to imagine a dream folk-rock band, it still would not match the potential here. From the lusting pace of "Matty Groves" to the tender cooing of "Crazy Man Michael," Sandy Denny's voice and Richard Thompson's virtuosic guitar are the perfect conduits for this milestone, which has been imitated a thousand times, but never equalled.

Q (11/99, p.163) - Included in Q Magazine's Best Folk Albums of All Time - "...the group's most influential hour....it revolutionized the genre....Folk-rock's defining moment." Uncut (p.84) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[R]ightly considered a folk-rock landmark, Fairport's fourth album contains music too mercurial to be constrained within one genre." Uncut (p.174) - "LIEGE & LIEF set out a template for how rock and British folk could fuse together and become at once mystical and vital..." The Wire (12/00, p.39) - "...The group's masterpiece....this is one of the monumentally great records of the last 40 years....A focused and thematically coherent work, the whole record steams along at an excited pace..." Q (Magazine) (p.122) - "[A] folk-rock landmark, an amalgamation of traditional songs and self-penned ones that sounded just as authentically ancient." Mojo (Publisher) (p.72) - "LIEGE & LIFE saw the Fairports burrow further into the comfort and shade of English folklore to give birth to folk rock."

The definitive British folk-rock band, Fairport Convention took the traditional music of England and injected it with electricity and rock energy, sparking a whole musical movement in the U.K. in the late 1960s and early '70s. The late-'60s incarnation of the band was bursting with talent, including singer Sandy Denny and guitarist Richard Thompson, both of whom went on to lauded solo careers. Even after Denny and Thompson's departures, though, Fairport never slowed down. Through numerous personnel changes, they soldiered on for decades with their singular brand of folk-rock, becoming the Grand Old Men of the genre.

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