Fairport Convention
Liege and Lief(1969)

BillyBlagg 07/05/2009

As with much else in life it helps that, if you’re planning on doing something, it is more of an accomplishment if you do it first and better than anyone else.

‘Liege and Lief’ is usually recognised as being the first Folk Rock album proper and, even if the genre did become associated with interminable jigs and reels, this Fairport classic still stands up as being ahead of the game and, therefore, free of the associations often made when you combine fiddle, guitar and a rakish refrain.

‘Liege’ is, in effect, Fairport’s own birth child continuing as it does, ideas that were already in place in the band’s previous two albums; traditionalists may disagree but anyone approaching this record from outside the confines of folk music will be hard pressed to distinguish between the traditional songs and those written by the band themselves.

The superb album opener ‘Come All Ye’ is a case in point; written by Sandy Denny and Ashley Hutchings, the song, as the title suggests, is an evocation of an 18th or 19th Century folk song but set against an assured and aggressive 20th Century rock beat. The lyrics cleverly conjure up images of both life on the road for a modern rock band with those of a merry band of minstrels turning up in some sleepy hamlet in the Cotswolds several centuries before.
‘Possessor of the magic touch / But no magician, he / Will play for you some magic notes / Instead as you will see’
Behind the sweet vocals of Sandy Denny, ‘possessor of the touch’ himself, Richard Thompson - one of England’s finest ever guitarists - plays a blistering riff which marks the track both as a signpost to a new genre and also marks the territory for a group at the height of their creativity. ‘Come All Ye’ would be a worthy contender for greatest ever-opening track to an album.

Richard Thompson’s own song writing skills were already in evidence on the band’s previous albums and, though limited by space here, both his solo credit ‘Farewell, Farewell’ and his joint venture with fiddle player Dave Swarbrick ‘Crazy Man Michael’ show both a maturity and a deep understanding of the roots of folk music. ‘Farewell’ features a beautiful Denny vocal while ‘Crazy Man Michael’ highlights Swarbrick’s mastery of his instrument against Thompson’s not inconsiderable presence. The lyrics are pure English folk and, not studying the label when I was younger, I well remember how stunned I was when I discovered, some years later, that the song wasn’t a Traditional folk tune. Both are beautiful, haunting tracks.

Swarbrick’s growing influence on the band he had just joined is evident on the traditional songs arranged by him, ‘Medley’ and ‘Tam Lin’. The latter a tale of Witches and Faery Knights, based on an old Scottish ballad but very much in tune with the late sixties admiration of fantasy and myth but ‘Medley’ is perhaps the thing that came to haunt Folk / Rock and set it down a path of ever diminishing reels. Remember though; in 1969 this was virtually the only thing that would get a rock audience on its feet and, for that alone, it should be welcomed. 

The Fairport arranged traditional songs are, arguably, stronger. ‘The Deserter’ a fine tale superbly handled by Denny being as the singer of the song is a Sailor, while ‘Reynardine’ is a good pointer to work that Sandy herself would later undertake with Fotheringay. It was ‘Matty Groves’ that became the staple concert stopper for many years though; based on a 17th Century ballad, the gory tale of Matty’s adulterous affair with Lord Donald’s wife is proof of how the late sixties / early seventies rock audience welcomed the association of traditional English tales set against a rock beat; the song ending as it does with a full jam featuring guitars and fiddle that nearly always got the audience to its feet.

However, I remember seeing Fairport’s once in a later line-up and Sandy Denny was a tad dismissive of the latter part of the song, leaving the stage at the end of her vocal and allowing the male members to ‘do what they usually do at the end’. Perhaps in that moment, Denny highlighted both the attraction and, ultimately, the demise of Folk Rock (at least in this guise). The Fairport line-up that played on ‘Liege and Lief’ never played together again; Sandy Denny – although she returned later – opting to form Fotheringay while Ashley Hutchings turned to pure folk. Thompson and Swarbrick worked together again to good effect on ‘Full House’ while multi-istrumentalist Dave Nicol, drummer Dave Mattacks and, later, Simon Pegg were left to keep the good name Fairport afloat thereafter.

Nevertheless, ‘Liege and Lief’ still stands as a major contribution to Rock’s finest works; it’s themes are varied, the singing of the highest standard; the musicianship impeccable and the whole a joyous and stirring piece that should never be far from the player if the sun is shining (I can tell how good the summer has been by the number of times this gets played). Miss it at your peril.

(Incidentally, in the Classic Review attached to this, John Mendelsson mentions the ‘superior Unhalfbricking’ album – he is right about that (if wrong about ‘L and L’) ‘Unhalfbricking’ is an underrated classic and should have been in the Island 50.)