Liege & Lief [Import]

If you don't get what I just said, you need to get this record. Nobody (sorry, Zimmy) had ever put together folk and rock like Fairport did in its first three albums with Sandy Denny. It's taken for granted now; but Fairport was first. Can you imagine Cream covering a traditional English folk tune? Then listen to "Tam Lin." (Cream would have had to borrow Sandy, of course.) Can you imagine Jefferson Airplane doing traditional English folk? That would be "Come All Ye" (which, no, isn't a traditional folk tune. See how these people had it wired?). Can you imagine "Matty Groves"? (You can't. You have to buy this record.) Fairport were pioneers, a much greater accomplishment than their original ambition to be "the British Jefferson Airplane." They were hard-rocking, psychedelic, driving, raving quiet little British folk thunderers. (Buy the record!)

I first entered Fairport territory on the thin trail of work by Richard Thompson, one very hard genius to track down unless one is an audiophile, which I can't (yet) claim. I'd heard he was great, and underrated, etc., and that he started here. Well, following him here, I stayed for everyone else as well. I bought a ten-track collection (I'd heard "Meet on the Ledge" once, decades ago, my only other lead); unable to find the early studio albums, I settled (a very bad word in this context) for the superb "Meet on the Ledge/Classic Years" collection; and then, fully hooked after drinking deeply of Thompson's solo work, found "Liege" in my local CD pusher's stash. Hmmmm. I had five of the eight tracks on collections already. No matter; I sprung. Boy am I glad I did. The three tracks I was missing - "Reynardine," "The Deserter," and the folk medley - were worth the purchase price by themselves. They can be had together nowhere else; and they rounded out the "L&L" experience perfectly. The sequencing -- different of course from the collections -- makes the old tracks sound new. (Still can't figure out, though, why "Farewell, Farewell" isn't the final track.) Few records hold together better than this one; time will probably reveal few to be so timeless.

If you like your music mellow and hard, driving and soft, screaming, soaring and lilting; if singers are your thing; if you're a folkie who still thinks rock sucks (how have you stayed IN that cave?); hop in the time machine. Fairport Convention set you on the right road, 35 years ago. It's not too late. It never will be.

The driving opener "Come All Ye", though the only original song on the record, was a piece so moving it really will shatter the mind: one feels the instruments blending in the most incredible manner to produce a groove possessing truly searing emotion. The third track, "Matty Groves" was maybe even better, with the tale of an woman accused of infidelity telling more over its eight minutes than most albums manage in sixty. Ashley Hutchings' basslines and Richard Thompson's guitar work burn with a sensuality rivalling the best of Kate Bush's "Hounds Of Love." Hutchings in particular benefits from the solid, stripped-down sound, whilst Sandy Denny's pure voice tells everything as it is, especially on the line "I'd rather one kiss from dead Matty's lips/Than you or your finery".

The rest of "Liege & Lief" was not half so brilliant, but mainly less accessible, notably the especially dark, beautiful and uninviting "Tam Lin" (the tale of a disobedient youngster) and the beautiful, slow "The Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood." Even on the medley of "The Lark In The Morning", "Rakish Paddy", "Foxhunter's Jig" and "Toss The Feathers" the sound remained dark but the startlingly melodic fiddle playing of Dave Swarbrick still craved attention. "The Deserter" (about a disobedient soldier) had a truly hymn-like character that served to reflect the injustice of England's early criminal justice system - along with Sandy's most emotional vocal, notably during the crescendo late in the song. "Reynardine" - though a superior version can be found on Anne Briggs' "A Collection" - was also dramatic if almost too slow.

On the whole, "Liege & Lief" must be seen as a landmark work that still possesses immense power and beauty. Should especially be heard by fans of "Lilith Fair" artists - they got many ideas from here. Essential.