Between 1976 and 1983,
Fairport Convention fiddler
Dave Swarbrick recorded four albums for Transatlantic. Well, not exactly: the first two were for Transatlantic and the final two for Logo, the label that Transatlantic changed its name to, while in between the Transatlantic stints were two late-'70s albums for Sonet. The first disc of this two-CD set draws from these 1976-1983 Transatlantic/Logo releases (and not at all from the Sonet LPs), while the second disc is of perhaps more interest to serious
Swarbrick fans, consisting of material from BBC broadcasts of the Cambridge Folk Festival of
Dave Swarbrick & Friends (from 1980) and
Swarbrick's band Whippersnapper (from 1984). Since all four of
Swarbrick's Transatlantic/Logo albums can be heard in their entirety on a couple of two-for-one CD repackages, it can be fairly wondered whether it was necessary to reissue the material in this form. Presumably a good many of
Swarbrick's admirers already have everything from the Transatlantic/Logo albums in some form or another, and might be buying two CDs worth of music for just one disc of material they don't already have. If you don't happen to have much or any solo
Swarbrick, though, this is a fair representation of his solo work from the era, emphasizing the tracks either featuring
Swarbrick in a duo setting with
Martin Carthy, or those on which he's backed by the lineup that played on
Fairport Convention's 1970
Full House album, excluding his more ceilidh-oriented material. With just one vocal track (a cover of the
Sandy Denny composition "It Suits Me Well"), it does sound rather like an instrumental version of 1970s
Fairport, with an even more traditional folk orientation and prominent fiddle, as the majority of the selections are traditional numbers with
Swarbrick arrangements. Songs with vocals are more of a presence on the live Cambridge Folk Festival broadcasts, which don't duplicate any of the songs from the studio sessions on disc one. What a pity that nowhere does it say, in the otherwise well-annotated booklet, which of the BBC tracks come from what year. Overall, it's a set of well-done British fiddle folk that should please much of the
Fairport faithful, though those with a more limited taste for the most traditional- and fiddle-fed part of
Fairport's persona might find it leans too hard in certain directions. ~ Richie Unterberger