Maybe it's the fresh remixing and remastering, from original concert tapes, or the new technology being used, but most of the problems that pertained to this somewhat obscure Fairport Convention concert recording on vinyl and earlier CD issues have vanished, or else been reduced in scope to insignificance, and 30 minutes of additional live material from the Sydney Opera House has been added to the official release of Live Convention. There's still a certain lack of closeness and intimacy, but now there's both a spaciousness to the sound and a presence to all of the elements, especially the vocals, that was missing on previous incarnations of this concert recording. Sandy Denny's voice on "Matty Groves" is much more sharply delineated here; similarly, her extended notes on the ends of verses in the opening of "John the Gun" are impressive technically in ways that they didn't seem on the original release. And the band's playing throughout has more punch and detail as well. The main "problem" with this recording, apart from the now-corrected technical flaws, is that while it finds Denny back in the lineup as a "guest" (she'd rejoin officially at the end of this tour), Richard Thompson's guitar playing is still missed; with this remastering, however, the latter is somewhat less of a problem — not that there's any real substitute for him, but the playing is now so finely delineated that one can properly pick out the most exciting elements of the band's attack; on "Fiddlestix" and "Sloth," and the break on "Matty Groves," this makes for a considerably more rewarding listening experience than previous incarnations of this album. The five bonus cuts, all recorded at the Sydney Opera House, only offer Denny on one track — the group's rendition of Buddy Holly's "That'll Be the Day" — with Trevor Lucas showcased on the other four. It is, further, mostly a fine showcase for the band's newly invigorated playing as well, which leads one to suspect that the original release of this album would have fared better as a double-LP, had Island Records been willing to take the chance on such a venture. The one track still missing that ought to be here — and would have made this a double-CD — is "Days of '49," which has surfaced separately as part of Raven Records' Fiddlestix compilation. But at least it's out there, and now so is the rest of the material recorded at the Sydney show. A further bonus is the annotation by Jerry Donahue, which is extremely funny as well as informative, dealing with the twists and turns backstage in the music business as well as the unexpected turns of fate for this band. In any event, for the first time in its long and sometimes mysterious history, this release is now essential listening and not just an object of interest for completists.
Tracks
Title
Composer
Time
1 Matty Groves Traditional 7:51
2 Rosie Swarbrick 4:14
3 Fiddlestix Traditional 2:47
4 John the Gun Denny 5:08
5 Something You Got Kenner 2:44
6 Sloth Swarbrick, Thompson 11:31
7 Dirty Linen Swarbrick 3:52
8 Down in the Flood Dylan 3:21
9 Sir B. MacKenzie Mattacks, Nicol, Swarbrick ... 5:59
Composed by: Mattacks, Nicol, Swarbrick, Thompson
10 The Hexhamshire Lass [*] Davendorf ... 4:39
Composed by: Davendorf, Fairport Convention, Traditional
11 Polly on the Shore [*] Lucas, Swarbrick ... 6:08
Composed by: Lucas, Swarbrick, Traditional
12 Bring 'Em Down [*] Lucas 11:52
13 Far from Me [*] Prine 3:40
14 That'll Be the Day [*] Allison, Holly, Petty 3:19
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