Fairport Convention - Nineteen Sixty-Eight (1968)

Bassist Ashley Hutchings met guitarist Simon Nicol in North London in 1966 when they both played in the Ethnic Shuffle Orchestra, and the rehearsed on the floor above Nicol's father's medical practice in a house called "Fairport" in Muswell Hill – on the same street where Ray and Dave Davies of the Kinks grew up. The house lent its name to the group that they formed together in 1967 with Richard Thompson on guitar and Shaun Frater on drums, and which they named Fairport Convention.  After their initial performance at St Michael's Church Hall in Golders Green on 27 May 1967, they had their first of many line-up changes as one member of the audience, drummer Martin Lamble, convinced the band that he could do a better job than Frater and replaced him. They soon added a female singer, Judy Dyble, which gave them a distinctive sound among the many London groups of the period. The band were soon playing regularly at underground venues such as UFO and The Electric Garden, and after only a few months they caught the attention of manager Joe Boyd, who secured them a contract with Polydor Records. Boyd suggested they augment the line-up with another male vocalist, and so Iain Matthews (then known as Ian MacDonald) joined the band, and their first album, 'Fairport Convention', was recorded in late 1967 and released in June 1968. 

At this early stage Fairport looked to North American folk and folk rock acts such as Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and The Byrds for material and inspiration, and the name Fairport Convention, plus the use of two lead vocalists. led many new listeners to believe that they were an American act, earning them the nickname 'the British Jefferson Airplane'. After disappointing album sales they signed a new contract with Island Records, but before their next recording sessions Judy Dyble left, and was replaced with Sandy Denny, a folk singer who had previously recorded as a soloist and with Strawbs. Denny's arrival encouraged the band to consider integrating British folk music into what had previously been an American-influenced sound, and her distinctive voice characterised their later sound. During 1968 the band toured extensively, including jaunts to Europe, where they appeared on French and Dutch TV. As well as playing tracks from their album, they also included a number of songs in their set-list which never made it to a recording studio, and so this collection brings together a number of them, recorded for European TV or UK radio stations, plus a rare studio out-take, and it includes a stunning take on 'Mr Lacey', later to appear on their next studio album. The sound quality varies considerably between the recordings, but I've done my best to clean them up so that the album has a reasonably consistent sound quality,  

Track listing

01 I Still Miss Someone (Dutch TV September 1968)
02 Marcie (David Symonds Show 18/06/1968)
03 The Quiet Land Of Erin (My Kind Of Folk, BBC 26/06/1968)
04 Morning Glory (Bouton Rouge, French TV Show 27/04/1968)
05 Mr Lacey (Dutch TV September 1968)
06 Been On The Road So Long (My Kind Of Folk, BBC 26/06/1968)
07 Violets Of Dawn (BBC Top Gear 06/02/1968)

08 Makes Me Think Of You (unknown recording venue 1968)
09 Reno, Nevada (Bouton Rouge, French TV Show 27/04/1968) 
10 Dear Landlord (Studio out-take mid-1968)

11 At The End Of The Day (unknown recording venue 1968)
12 If It Feels Good (Dutch TV September 1968)