Fairport Convention: Fairport Convention (A&M SP 4199)

This article originally appeared on Fusion on October 3rd, 1969

THIS RECORD would be worth the price of purchase just for one cut: the group's rendition of an early Dylan song 'I'll Keep It With Mine'.

There are no other recordings of this gem that I know of and even if there are I doubt whether they are as perfect as this one. The song has an air of familiarity of it, I'm sure I've heard it before, but I'm not sure where. Of course all of Dylan's early stuff has that air about it. This is one of his best from that time.

Fairport Convention is a soft-rock English group in the same vein as Pentangle but really better than that overpraised group. They are fresh, unspeeded, unpretentious but very intelligent, judging by their material. I really don't know how to describe their sound or their style except to say that they are in remarkably good taste, never getting too excessive in their music but taking chances just the same.

I like the first side much better than the second side. The second side is merely pleasant but nothing special. The first offers four excellent songs in addition to the Dylan number. Not bad for a new group. The record has another advantage: its durability. It is quite agreeable to the ear even after a hundred times. I've tried it.

I don't know anything about any of the people in the six member group. The lead singer is a girl named Alexandra MacLean Denny who looks very blond and pinchable on the cover picture. The rest of the group plays music around her. The feeling is that nice old fashioned sound of people who love what they're doing and don't give a shit if they make it or not. They sound just like they look on the cover picture which shows them all standing and sitting in the autumn leaves. They don't have styled haircuts or leather jackets or freaky clothing. They make very pretty music. You'll see.

It seems that the group doesn't really know where it's at but that's ok in this case. They start out with 'Fotheringay' which is reminiscent of early Donovan English flower-child music but then switch to the rock 'Mr. Lacey' which has some of the strangest lyrics I've ever heard. For reason's known only to themselves, A&M records (for whom the group records) is pushing all kinds of other music while giving little promotion to this album. It's too bad because in the endless sea of mediocre new groups, this one is a real live pearl. Influences are endless, ranging from madrigal to country. But the sound is unique and groovy. It's a beautiful rest from all the uptight prefabricated bullshit that's around.