Short Reviews [Fairport Convention - 2008 - "Fame and Glory"]

Originally released by the band on their own label back in 2008, this compilation has recently been made available again, this time with three additional songs, including the previously unreleased studio recording of “Goodbye My Friends”. All the songs are taken from the four albums they were involved with for Alain Simon, and as well as performances by the band’s longest ever (and still current) line-up of Nicol, Pegg, Leslie, Sanders and Conway, they were also joined on different number by Martin Barre, John Wetton, John Helliwell, Dan Ar Braz, Alan Simon, Pat O’May, Andreas Vollenweider, Laurent Tixier, Jacqui McShee, James Wood & Dave Mattacks. It is safe to say I am a fan of Fairport Convention. Four years ago, I flew from New Zealand to the UK just to attend their 50th Anniversary Cropredy Festival, have a framed photo on my study wall taken more than 30 years ago and signed by the Nicol, Pegg, Sanders, Allcock and Mattacks line-up, while interviewing Peggy and Simon at Peggy’s house, and being in the studio while Chris Leslie was recording, are undoubtedly highlights of my writing career. But this feels like an unbalanced recording, which perhaps is not a surprise as it is more a thematic collection than a real album. Compilations normally bring together the most well-known releases from a band, but that is not the case here, and I am not sure I have heard any of these songs played in concert. Here we have Fairport working almost as hired guns, with little control over the arrangements or final versions of the songs, so this album does not stand up against their other releases (of which there are many). But when the songs are taken individually then there are some real gems to be discovered in here. One of the highlights is “The Gest Of Gauvain” which finds Simon in fine voice, while Jacqui McShee’s performance on the live version of “Morgane” is a delight. It is an interesting set, and there is no doubt that there will be plenty of fans who will be pleased to have it available again, but the songs have been taken out of the context of the stories in which they were originally portrayed and suffer accordingly. I have a great many Fairport albums in my collection, and while this is an interesting interlude, I can’t imagine me choosing this to play above any of those.