Unhalfbricking [Import]

This was Fairport's third album, recorded in the early part of 1969 and, in what was fast becoming a tradition, it emerged during a period of personnel changes. Ian Matthews was on the way out (but sings on "Percy's Song") and Dave Swarbrick was on the way in (making guest appearances on "Si Tu Dois Partir", "A Sailor's Life", "Cajun Woman" and "Million Dollar Bash" prior to joining as a permanent member). The core band here comprises Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson, Ashley Hutchings, Simon Nicol and Martin Lamble (killed in the van accident before the album was released).
In its original form the tracks comprised three Dylan covers and a 'trad/arranged', with the balance being original compositions by band members Richard Thompson and Sandy Denny. The album thus exemplifies the three strands of Fairport repertoire at the time. The Dylan songs are representative of the early reliance on American material, while to choose to sing one in French shows the Fairport trait not to take themselves too seriously. In contrast, songs like Thompson's "Genesis Hall"and Denny's "Autopsy" are early evidence of the songwriting skills that were to blossom fully in solo careers.
Amongst all these good things, however, for me two tracks stand above the rest in showing how this band collectively was more than the sum of its members. Fairport take the traditional "A Sailor's Life" and give it the epic treatment, with the whole band rocking together in a superb performance that matches the song perfectly. In my view this stands above anything on "Liege and Lief". The performance of "Who Knows Where the Time Goes" is sublime, with gentle acoustic guitar, bass and drums complementing the interplay between Richard Thompson's electric guitar and Sandy Denny's voice.
This is essential Fairport and, having bought it on vinyl when originally released then replaced when it was reissued on CD, what did I get for my money this time? The first CD version included minimal packaging, but here we have a booklet with notes by Ashley Hutchings and illustrated with numerous photos. I'm no expert on remastering, but the sound is crisp and fresh (complete with the perfectly-timed broken bottle in "Si Tu Dois Partir") and the original tracks still sound as exciting as when I first heard them. Then there are the two bonus tracks. Dylan's "Dear Landlord" was recorded in the same sessions as the rest of the original album and has been released twice before, on Volume 1 of Ashley Hutchings' "The Guv'nor" and more recently on the "Fairport Unconventional" boxed set. This differs from both those in that the backing track includes piano - presumably played by Sandy Denny although this is not stated. The last track is an unexpected gem, a beautiful rendering of "The Ballad of Easy Rider" which, although recorded by the "Liege and Lief" line up, is very much in the style of the early Fairport. This is a good value package and worth five stars.

The problem with this album is that it always seemed to suffer, slightly, when compared to "What We Did on Our Holidays". Stylistically the albums form a natural pairing, but whereas its predecessor is a near perfect album, with every track complimenting each other perfectly, it always seemed to me that "Unhalfbricking" was by comparison a rather fractured affair with its various parts pulling the listener, a little too sharply, in different directions. In an odd way, it always felt as if it was only half a great record, but saying which bits are lacking is hard, as they all seem good or great when taken in isolation.

On the other hand the quality of most of its parts (if not the sum) is at a level most artists can only dream of. I should also point out that none of the above prevented this from becoming, and remaining, one of my best loved albums.

I believe that with the release of this version, the album has finally attained the balance it always needed, with the addition of the bonus tracks added for this release. They give the album that little more time required to absorb its disparate elements. With the addition of 'The Ballad of Easy Rider'(the best version of this song I have heard) the album finally has the majestic closing number it always needed and acts as a counterweight to the mighty 'A Sailor's Life' which seemed overly dominant at the center of the disc .

I already owned the previous CD version so it was with some reservations that I bought this one (only, in the end, because I needed to hear Sandy Denny's take on 'The Ballad of Easy Rider'), but I am glad I took the gamble. I always loved this album but now it's better than ever.

It begins with a burst of psychedelic guitar bending - care of the young Richard Thompson - and ends with a rousing and raucous version of Dylan's Million Dollar Bash. The 2003 re-issue offers two extra tracks - also associated with Dylan - which somehow manage to make this version of the album feel more "complete" than the original eight-track release from 1969. It helps that one of these songs is a cover of The Ballad of Easy Rider, which finds the ethereal vocals of Sandy Denny whispering hushed tales of rivers flowing to the sea, while outside the hippie dream lays dying in a ditch (shot by hillbillies on a road to nowhere). The rest of the album rides a similar wave, tip-toeing between drunken sing-along folk rockers like the French-language Dylan update Si Tu Dois Partir, the rousing Cajun Woman and the aforementioned Million Dollar Bash, with more reflective, melancholic numbers, like Genesis Hall, Percy's Song and that gorgeous classic, Who Knows Where the Time Goes?

Though well received and well-respected amongst fans of 60's rock and folk, Unhalfbricking is, regardless, an album that sometimes gets overlooked within the wider aspects of the Fairport cannon (...perhaps because it was sandwiched between their pivotal second album, What We Did on Our Holidays, and their landmark fourth release, Liege and Leif... or perhaps due to the various tragedies that would befall the band immediately after it's initial release?). For me, it is the album that would really establish the classic Fairport sound, fusing the psychedelic rock inflections of their earlier Jefferson Airplane-inspired phase with the traditional folk style that would become more refined on the albums that followed. The bridge between these two very different musical worlds would be the music of Bob Dylan, with three of the songs on the original album stemming from Dylan's formidable collection of outtakes and cast offs. It is to the credit of the band that they purposely chose material that was less familiar to listeners than the likes of Chimes of Freedom, The Girl from North Country, Blowin' in the Wind, All Along the Watchtower and It Ain't Me, Babe. Like The Byrds, Hendrix and subsequently Bryan Ferry, the Convention take Dylan's originals and advance on them... bringing a sound, style and musical ideology of their own... so, instead of feeling like obvious cover versions, they blend beautifully with the more traditional numbers, and the fine songs of Thompson and Denny.

It's a further testament to the band that both Thompson and Denny could pen songs that far surpassed anything of Dylan's early period; with Thompson contributing the rousing opening track Genesis Hall and Denny offering her signature song, the aforementioned Who Knows Where the Time Goes? Added to this, we also have the traditional piece, A Sailor's Life; a folk rock standard that finds the band moving more towards the sound of The Doors than The Dubliners, with Fairport stretching things to the eleven minute mark as Denny's peerless vocals merge with the wild guitar playing of Thompson, which in turn, would blend seamlessly with the ace fiddling skills of Dave Swarbrick and the impeccable performances of the rest of the band. The song is one of the most astounding things Fairport Convention ever committed to record, with the song becoming more and more hypnotic in its approach and never pulling back... just continuing to escalate into a real muscular groove (and who said folkies couldn't be funky?). It sets the template for their next album, the hugely successful Liege and Leif and for epic songs like Matty Groves and Tam Lin, which both take the idea of tradition folk ballads performed with a 60's rock flavour, and pushed them that little bit further with the inventive arrangement skills of the band and the achingly beautiful voice of the wonderful Sandy Denny.

Unhalfbricking is perhaps less complete in its structure than later albums like Liege and Leif and the equally great (though much less talked about) Full House, and yet, it remains my personal favourite LP (of the ones I own). The first time I heard this album I was wandering aimlessly around the village where I live in the pouring rain. The combination of the pastoral setting, the melancholic mood, the carelessness of walking in a sudden downpour and the full splendour of the sound of Fairport Convention came together to create one of my most treasured moments of solitude!! Ulhalfbricking is a great album, and is probably (along with What We Did on Our Holidays) one of the best introductions to the wonders of Fairport Convention, as well as a fine introduction into the fantastic worlds of Richard Thompson and the late, great Sandy Denny. The great (and quite iconic) covert art, with the band sat in the back garden of the house of Denny's parents (devoid of any typeface or 60's iconography) is well worth the price of purchase alone.