Come All Ye Polling Minstrels: Fairport Convention's Liege & Lief

tough one, the only one I can't really imagine voting for is the medley ... and that's great too. "Reynardine" is always a killer. Sounds like they're just floating, but it's also super tense. A neat trick.

matty groves for me

yeah, i gotta go "matty" for the combination of the killer tune and vocal and then the great jam at the end.

love this album pretty much straight through, tho.

so many great moments on this record -- always loved the majestic opening of "the deserter," the sound of the guitar on "farewell farewell," sandy's incredible vocal on "tam lin" ....

also <3 the sound of swarbrick's violin throughout

Matty Groves by a nose, I love a good ballad especially if it involves love and death.

matty groves has the whole package: melody, awesome jam, dramatic story

I kind of prefer the originals even on this one.

MATTY GROVES

matty groves

come all ye because it gets me so psyched to listen to the rest of it.

matty groves!

I went with Tam Lin, mostly for the guitar smashing out that odd rhythm over and over, also partly for the queer story that I still haven't really got my brain around. Also all the Swarbrick on this album seconded.

wow tough, between "Come All Ye" and "Matty" for me and that is not an easy choice.

I know this album is supposed to be like the ultimate Brit folk rock album and yes it is good but I actually find myself returning to Unhalfbricking more often.

It's maybe for another thread but 'Autopsy' is such a great and underappreciated song.

"Tam Lin" is so fucking heavy, so that one.

i would usually skip tam lin

hard to choose...farewell, farewell or the deserter or crazy man michael

tam liiiin

I kind of prefer the originals even on this one.

Same here. "Farewell, Farewell" (though the tune is trad. arr. of course!)

Tam Lin, rocks

I know this album has its fans, some of who consider it Fairport's peak. But I think it's where they irreversibly started going downhill; they never really recovered from losing Martin Lamble in an auto collision, and the subsequent exit of Denny, Thompson, and Matthews. Their first three albums are the ones that matter, along with the "Heyday" compilation of unreleased songs from their classic lineup that was at least as good as their "real" albums - I can't believe they didn't think these songs worthy of release at the time.

"Matty Groves" is my favorite from L&L.

Well, "Heyday" is Radio sessions. I listen to "Full House" (the full version with "Poor Will", even better with "Now Be Thankful") much more than I listen to this album.

I got "Holidays" and this in succession, have to say I don't really get this one.

To me it's a bit like "Sweetheart of the Rodeo", it's a trailblazer and highly significant for that, but is that enough? It's better than "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" though.

i can see why someone might be more into the earlier fairport stuff -- that's when they were more diverse, more of a classic 60s pop band, w/ folk rock leanings, rather than being a capital F folk rock band. I love both eras ... and yeah, Full House is essential, too -- some incredible playing on there.

Ashley Hutchings played on both L&L and No Roses, and I much prefer the latter if I'm in the mood for folk rock -- maybe because it's more firmly folky.

yeah? as much as I <3 Shirley Collins, I love Sandy Denny even more ...

both great records though

there's something hardwired in me to love shirley the best. i'm not sure what it is. i enjoy sandy's voice immensely, but there's something about shirley that i love above all others.

As much as I love Matty Groves, there's something so droney and weirdly beautiful about Reynardine that I might have to play the contrarian and go for that one.

yeah, i think Reynardine is pretty magical -- i dunno, it sounds like this airy, simple thing, but that sort of music is actually *very* hard to play. Everyone in the band is locked in tight on that song.

I mean, I love a good stomping murder ballad as much as the next girl, but Reynardine puts all the hairs on the back of my neck and gives me genuine shivers. I don't know if it's natural drone resonance or if there's a slight phase on the guitars and things but the way that the notes *shiver* is just devastating.

It may be airy, but there is nothing simple about it at all, the chord structure and the way the melody bobs and weaves in and out of it ... it's much more complex than it seems.

"Tam Lin" got me into Fairport Convention ("Black Sabbath in aran sweaters," etc), so that; I'd always loved the Tam Lin legend since reading, what, Diana Wynne Jones' Fire & Hemlock as a kid.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2BRezwz92M