Liege & Lief

In the decades since its original release, more than one writer has declared Fairport Conventions Liege & Lief the definitive British folk-rock album, a distinction it holds at least in part because it grants equal importance to all three parts of that formula. While Fairport had begun dipping their toes into British traditional folk with their stellar version of A Sailors Life on Unhalfbricking, Liege & Lief found them diving head first into the possibilities of Englands musical past, with Ashley Hutchings digging through the archives at the Cecil Sharp House in search of musical treasure, and the musicians (in particular vocalist Sandy Denny) eagerly embracing the dark mysteries of this music. (Only two of the albums eight songs were group originals, though Crazy Man Michael and Come All Ye hardly stand out from their antique counterparts.) Liege & Lief was also recorded after a tour bus crash claimed the lives of original Fairport drummer Martin Lamble and Richard Thompsons girlfriend, Jeannie Franklyn. As the members of the group worked to shake off the tragedy (and break in new drummer Dave Mattacks and full-time fiddler Dave Swarbrick), they became a stronger and more adventurous unit, less interested in the neo-Jefferson Airplane direction of their earlier work and firmly committed to fusing time-worn folk with electric instruments while honoring both. And while Liege & Lief was the most purely folk-oriented Fairport Convention album to date, it also rocked hard in a thoroughly original and uncompromising way; the Lark in the Morning medley swings unrelentingly, the groups crashing dynamics wring every last ounce of drama from Tam Lin and Matty Groves, and Thompson and Swarbricks soloing is dazzling throughout. Liege & Lief introduced a large new audience to the beauty of British folk, but Fairport Conventions interpretations spoke of the present as much as the past, and the result was timeless music in the best sense of the term. ~ Mark Deming