'I'm a gigaholic' Nov 25, 2008
Highlights for me Rammstein in Berlin, Floyd at London Arena, Numan, NIN anywhere, Fairport Convention at Cropredy festival. Low points the Cure (yawn - and I love the Cure. (BBC News -- UK)
to appear at the first Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival. When picking the groups, producers avoiding choosing bands just because they might be popular. Instead, they set their sights on great live groups. Plus: A list of performers schedule to play Aug 17, 2008
The Brooklyn garage rockers reached all the way back to Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley in search of inspiration for their new record, "You Panhandle, 5:55 p.m. Saturday. M. Ward A Portland songwriter with an appealingly scratchy voice and an otherworldly set of songs. A clear spiritual descendant of Woody Guthrie and Tom Waits. Sutro, 3:40 p.m. Saturday. Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet featuring Bla Fleck Simple acoustic roots music with a mighty big name, fronted by the banjo-playing... (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
Problems resolved, 'All's Well' ends well Jul 5, 2008
Composer Bill Barclay sets these, not to pseudo-authentic 14th-century-ish tunes, but to music that sounds like Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen or, occasionally, Fairport Convention - modern troubadours all. The quintessentially Sixties mix of innocence and fury fits the play remarkably well; the songs, like the characters, are passionate and questioning, full of conviction and confusion all at once. (Boston Globe)
Morcheeba Returns With Dive Deep Jun 14, 2008
Blues has been my main influence since I was a little kid, but I also loved the way that a band like Fairport Convention would mix that with more English stuff and put it all to a reasonably funky beat. This outlook is manifested in the ease and fluidity of the tracks. (Suite101.com)
The longer he goes, the better it is Jun 10, 2008
Dreariness is offset by gorgeous music - the baroque, dark dream of "Heron Blue," or harp-like, finger-picked folk as on "Blue Orchids." And the album does rock - check the ascending beehive buzz of the 10-minute "Tonight the Sky." Even when it sounds like Kozelek is plugging himself into one of those "son of" equations - "lovechild of Neil Young and Phil Ochs reworking the Fairport Convention songbook" - the payoffs are golden. Tristram Lozaw. (Boston Globe)
Steve Tilston May 22, 2008
May 22 and 28 Among Britain's most respected guitarists, Tilston's intricate, long-legged ballads were recorded by Fairport Convention, Peter Bellamy, and Dolores Keane. Fri 8 p.m. $17. (Boston Globe)
Fairport anger over festival cash May 13, 2008
Fairport Convention were on the bill at the first festival, 38 years ago ... Folk legends Fairport Convention say they are owed 5,000 for headlining the event ... Fairport Convention played at the original 1968 Folk and Blues festival. (BBC News -- Entertainment)
Cool Combination May 4, 2008
"Road to Ronderlin" (written by Iain Matthews): "Iain Matthews was in Fairport Convention. It's simple and stark. It's a man singing from a woman's point of view, which I always find fascinating. The lyrics are really devastating.". "Lon Chaney" (written by Garland Jeffreys): "I like his early stuff. He wrote a song on John Cale's first solo album. Again, I love the lyrics. It's just about a guy in a hotel room watching a Lon Chaney movie and seeing it as a metaphor for the downfall of... (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
The Hear & Now Apr 18, 2008
On four studio albums, from 2002's debut, "Castaways and Cutouts," through 2006's major-label move, "The Crane Wife" (Capitol), Colin Meloy and company have forged a fan-pleasing prog/folk-rock sound that has drawn comparisons to everyone from Emerson, Lake r and to Fairport Convention, Al Stewart and. That's a neat trick, considering the band was formed in Portland, Ore. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
Read on... Feb 21, 2008
Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz - Entertainment News, TV News, Media - Variety. Honorary Oscar: Robert Boyle. (Variety)
Get your Led out Dec 10, 2007
Rated the most iconic group in rock, Led Zeppelin returns to London just for today after disbanding in 1980. A fan recalls some rare moments before and since that year. (The Star Online, Malaysia)
Pick out a box set for every musical taste Nov 23, 2007
Sandy Denny, Live at the BBC Island, 3 CDs/1 DVD, import (prices vary)Foundation: This complement to the new Fairport Convention BBC collection features its most famous singer solo before and after her stint with the band, singing folk and pop standards, covers and (mostly) her own distinctive originals ... Fairport Convention, Live at the BBCIsland, 4 CDs, $84Foundation: Import collection of all available BBC recordings (some in shaky quality) and live performances by Britain's most important... (USA Today -- Life)
Richard Thompson Oct 24, 2007
Remarkably, his acoustic playing was, arguably, even more effective as Thompson's band left the stage for a heartfelt rendition of the wistful "I Still Dream," Sandy Denny's exquisite "Who Knows Where The Time Goes," (Denny was a Fairport Convention band mate) and the picaresque biker saga "1952 Vincent Black Lightning," always a Thompson show stopper. Another standout was "Al Bowley's In Heaven," inspired by 1940s swing workouts and notable for some nicely understated soprano sax figures from... (Variety)
Drake's legacy Sep 23, 2007
Boyd was also instrumental in the careers of Fairport Convention, the Incredible String Band, Pink Floyd and Soft Machine, among many others. His memoir is "White Bicycles: Making Music in the '60s" (Serpent's Tail, 2007, 304 pages). (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
EIGHT DAYS A WEEK CONCERT & EVENT LISTINGS Sep 7, 2007
the richard thompson band Acclaimed guitarist and songwriter and original member of British folk group Fairport Convention. Sept. 12 at Commodore, 8 pm. (Vancouver Westender)
Survivor's tale Aug 17, 2007
Owen also performs original musical-comedy sketches with her husband and records and tours frequently with British folk-rock icon (and Fairport Convention founder) Thompson, who names Owen's musical intelligence as her distinguishing quality. "She has good instincts. She makes good decisions," Thompson says. (Boston Globe)
'There was a manic feeling in the air' Aug 5, 2007
In 1969, reeling from the shock of a tragic car crash, Fairport Convention recorded an album that would change British folk for ever ... " Thompson, who speaks to me from his adopted home city of Los Angeles, knows a great deal about the art of reviving and renewing music from centuries back. On the 20-odd albums he has authored since the early 1970s, his work has recurrently tapped into themes and influences rooted well before the rock age. Last year, he released a luxurious box-set entitled... (Guardian Unlimited)
Forty years and counting: the festival that's a band that's a national treasure Aug 5, 2007
Never mind Glastonbury or Download, this is the gathering of a tribe around not so much a band as an ancestry, the national treasure called Fairport Convention ... There is nothing lightweight about Fairport Convention ... I can see a day after the last of the original band has died and there will still be Fairport Convention, with people like my son playing,' says Hutchings. (Guardian Unlimited)
Thompson teaches folk-rock master class Jul 2, 2007
But at 58, the co founder of seminal British folk-rock outfit Fairport Convention isn't a marketing priority. Despite his continued prolific out put, Thompson's audience, judging from the many grizzled beards and gray ponytails, has been around since the '60s. (Boston Globe)
Hiss Golden Messenger Jun 15, 2007
The turning point was when we got John, because he had this Dave Mattacks (Fairport Convention) feel that is not overly technical but really solid. The drummer is the most important thing to me, and John is the best drummer I've ever played with. (San Francisco Chronicle)
He passed on the rights to ABBA's songs Jun 8, 2007
Indeed, Boyd's recently published "musical autobiography" White Bicycles is packed with robust, vivid yarns about serving as the production manager for the 1965 Newport Folk Festival when Dylan "went electric," running London's pioneering psychedelic club UFO in 1966-67, working as a tour manager for the likes of Muddy Waters, Lonnie Johnson, Coleman Hawkins and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, and recording songs and albums by Pink Floyd, Nick Drake and Fairport Convention ... Liege and Lief by... (Globe and Mail -- Entertainment)
Memoir by folk legend puts '60s, '70s Jun 8, 2007
When the initial Lovin' Spoonful experiment failed, Boyd later revived the idea of combining folk music and rock instrumentation with the founding members of Fairport Convention. In Cambridge, Boyd was given a job as a tour manager for music impresario George Wein, and found himself installed as production manager at the 1965 Newport jazz and folk festivals, where he was witness to legendary performances by Muddy Waters, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane, as well as Dylan's groundbreaking... (Toronto Star)
War and battlefield of love (Jay Votel) May 29, 2007
Mr. Thompson is a master song craftsman, a founding member of the British folk-rock group Fairport Convention, whose thick catalog wisely borrows from traditional themes. His unique style of lead guitar, which relies heavily on folk-influenced finger picking, veers perilously close to the edge in several of these songs, though. (Washington Times)
25 acts you must see this summer May 20, 2007
Cropredy, the original small-scale festival, organised by Fairport Convention, has been rolling since the 1970s. This year sees a poignant reunion of the extended Fairport clan as the 1969 line-up (albeit without vocalist Sandy Denny, who died in 1978) re-unite to play Liege an album that became the foundation stone of British folk-rock. (Guardian Unlimited)
When the sounds were a-changin' May 13, 2007
Later, he produced albums by British artists Fairport Convention, Richard Thompson , and Nick Drake. Earning a meager living selling blues albums out of his Harvard dorm room in the early '60s, Boyd was a regular at Cambridge folk clubs, where he brushed up against talent that would shape his career. (Boston Globe)
George Varga: Who made you God? May 11, 2007
At the risk of sounding like a pop-culture heretic, here are five reasons you should consider missing Fergie's incisive social satire tomorrow night to go and hear Fairport Convention at the all-ages AcousticMusic San Diego in Normal Heights instead. 1) Fairport, which this year celebrates its 40th anniversary, invented the English version of folk-rock, much as Bob Dylan and The Byrds did here. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
Amy gets her Mojo back May 10, 2007
The Mojo Catalogue Release of the Year Gram Parsons, The Complete Reprise Sessions Fairport Convention, Live At The BBC Various, Forever Changing: The Golden Age Of Elektra Records 1963-1973 Johnny Cash At San Quentin 1969 Karen Dalton, In My Own Time Various, The Complete Motown Singles Vol 6 1966. The Mojo Vision Award Nirvana, Live. (Metro)
The Time Has Come 1967 - 1973 Apr 7, 2007
Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span and Pentangle (sometimes known as The Pentangle) were the vital cornerstones of the English electric folk movement of the late 1960s and early '70s. If Fairport were a distinctively English variation of The Band, Steeleye's forte was electrified traditional folk and Pentangle explored the more subtle and complex musical world that lies between jazz, blues and folk. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)
Music a sideshow at England's Woodstock Apr 6, 2007
The story starts in 1970 -- the first festival was held the day after Jimi Hendrix's death -- but it was in 1971 that Glastonbury truly took root, with a pyramid stage built on the Glastonbury/Stonehenge "ley line, " and appearances by Melanie , Fairport Convention , and a young David Bowie. Footage shot by Nicolas Roeg (among others) captures the dazed hippies in attendance and the idealism of festival founder Michael Eavis , who inherited the family farm and decided to give it over to the... (Boston Globe)
He Found Floyd Mar 25, 2007
Over the years, Boyd also managed to play a pivotal role in the careers of the Incredible String Band, Fairport Convention, Nico, 10,000 Maniacs, R.E.M. and Billy Bragg. But the most surprising thing about this legendary producer is that he can write. (New York Post -- Entertainment)
A psychedelic yet clear recollection Mar 23, 2007
In a new memoir, White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s, Boyd, a veteran record producer whose resume includes Pink Floyd, Nick Drake, Fairport Convention and R.E.M., ignores the conventional high points of the decade -- Woodstock, the moon landing -- and instead asserts that a set by the psychedelic rock band Tomorrow at the UFO Club in London shortly before dawn on July 1, 1967, was the big moment, when drugs, political activism and far-out music had their purest convergence ... He produced... (Orlando Sentinel -- Entertainment)
Blue Mountains Music Festival Mar 16, 2007
singer-guitarist who tells it like it is and Swarbrick is the acclaimed fiddler from Fairport Convention. This year the silliness and slickness of the Spooky Men's Chorale returns, spreading that singular madness only possible from lots of blokes singing unaccompanied in very deep voices. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)
Music: An insider's trip through the '60s Mar 16, 2007
Joe Boyd, who produced records with Pink Floyd, Fairport Convention and other '60s groups, with the Cuban pianist Adonis Gonzlez during a recent session in New York ... includes Pink Floyd, Nick Drake, Fairport Convention and R.E.M., ignores the conventional high points of the decade Woodstock, the moon landing and instead asserts that a set by the psychedelic rock band Tomorrow at the UFO Club in London shortly before dawn on July 1, 1967, was the big moment, when drugs, political activism and... (International Herald Tribune -- Arts)
Some Britty good acts Mar 15, 2007
A booster for The Rakes and the Rumble Strips, Dartnall is thrilled by the U.K. rock boom, yet "there's still such a wealth of stuff I'm learning about from before my time: Roxy Music, Steely Dan, Fairport Convention. I listen to a lot of jazz, if it's not too wanky.". Fame hasn't altered the Knives' jagged art-rock and spiked humor, nor have royalties upgraded their dweeby tweeds. (AZCentral -- Entertainment)
Thompson: In a low-wattage spotlight Mar 9, 2007
Richard Thompson has performed on more than 250 albums since making his recording debut in early 1968 with the pioneering English-folk band Fairport Convention ... Thompson laughed when asked if he used to start writing songs at midnight because he only had time to work on his music after performing shows with Fairport Convention ... Fairport Convention started out playing blues and rock, and emulating The Byrds and Jefferson Airplane. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
Get your motor running Feb 20, 2007
Unhalfbricking (Island) by Fairport Convention. There are two songs I want played at my funeral. (Guardian Unlimited)
Singer's back where she was and grateful Feb 13, 2007
During this journey Bunyan met the American producer Joe Boyd, whose work with the Incredible String Band, Fairport Convention and - perhaps most tellingly for Bunyan - Nick Drake, was pivotal in the development of the British folk scene of the late '60s and 1970s. The fruit of this meeting was Just Another Diamond Day, but the result was indifference from the music world and resignation by Bunyan. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)
Folk icon Vashti Bunyan visits Athens Feb 6, 2007
Hailed as a "psych-folk" masterpiece by many, "Diamond Day" was produced by Joe Boyd (Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, R.E.M.) and featured members of the Incredible String Band, Fairport Convention and Robert Kirby (best known for his work with Drake). The obscure album was never promoted or distributed properly and subsequently sunk without a trace of recognition. (Athens Banner-Herald)
