Rising For The Moon: Deluxe Edition

イギリスが生んだ伝説のフォーク・ロック・バンド、Fairport Convention伝統楽曲から自作の楽曲へとバンドが舵を切った重要な作品がリマスターされ、追加収録されて2枚組のDeluxe Editionとして再登場!貴重なトラックを追加したDisc 1には、オリジナル曲(11曲)に加え、ライヴ、オルタネイト、デモ等計5曲を追加。またDisc 2には、1974年、ロサンゼルスの伝説の"Troubadour"でのライヴ音源16曲を収録。‘The Ballad of Ned Kelly'、‘The Hens March Through The Midden / The Four Poster Bed'、‘Hexhamshire Lass'、 ‘Six Days on The Road'、‘Down Where The Drunkards Roll'の5曲は未発表曲!また、Richard Thompsonの伝記の著者として知られるPatrick Humphriesによるエッセイ、貴重なバンド写真、アルバムのアートワークの為に書かれた未公開スケッチを掲載。

Although there's nothing here as overpowering as "Sailor's Life" or "Sloth," this record is still a choice release, as Sandy Denny's official return to Fairport. She wrote or co-wrote seven of its 11 songs, and dominates most of the others with her voice. This lineup (Denny, Dave Swarbrick, Dave Pegg, Jerry Donahue, Trevor Lucas, and Bruce Rowland, with Dave Mattacks -- who quit partway through -- drumming on some of the tracks) went for the gold with rock veteran Glyn Johns in the producer's spot. The result was the only Fairport album done after the departure of Richard Thompson that doesn't sound anemic in the electric guitar department. Some of the songs, especially the title track and "Restless," have the feel of compact, breezy pop/country-rock, reminiscent of the Eagles or Firefall, although it's hard to imagine either of those groups turning in anything with the ethereal beauty of Denny's performance on "White Dress" or "Dawn." Those songs and "Stranger to Himself" could easily have been on one of her solo albums. Others, like Trevor Lucas' "Iron Lion," sound almost like Fairport's version of the Rolling Stones' "Dead Flowers." Only the Swarbrick/Pegg "Night-Time Girl" resembles Fairport's established work from their earlier history. This was the last album and the last incarnation of Fairport Convention to present itself to the public as a contemporary rock group. Beyond this point, they became part of the folk revival circuit, albeit with a huge audience. ~ Bruce Eder|