Notes

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These days, it would take a multi-disc box set to fully encompass the history of Britain's greatest folk-rock band, Fairport Convention, who started out in 1967 and were still at it (albeit in very different form) nearly 35 years later. But even the staunchest Fairport loyalist would likely concede that the band's moment of true glory was encompassed in the years 1968 (when they released their first album) through 1972 (by which time vocalist Sandy Denny and guitarist and songwriter Richard Thompson had departed the group). Fairport Chronicles is a superbly compiled double set that's an ideal introduction to Fairport Convention's golden era; it brings together 20 songs cherry picked from the group's first five albums, Sandy Denny's first solo album, the sole album from the short-lived Fairport offshoot Fotheringay, and the one-off studio project The Bunch, in which the Fairports and their friends arranged a set of '50s rock classics in their own distinctive ways. Approaching British traditional music with the passion and abandon of a crack rock & roll band, or playing a Bob Dylan tune with the purity and grace of a Child ballad, Fairport Convention embraced their music on no terms other than their own, and when the group as at their peak, the unerring taste and remarkable gifts of these musicians (especially Denny, Thompson, violinist Dave Swarbrick, and guitarist and singer Simon Nicol) was truly a thing of beauty to behold. Fairport Chronicles may not capture every moment of magic this band committed to vinyl, but it gathers together enough of them to serve as an ideal introduction for beginners, and a satisfying sampler for loyal fans. Simply wonderful stuff.