By far the most rock-oriented of
Fairport Convention's early albums, this debut was recorded before
Sandy Denny joined the band (
Judy Dyble handles the female vocals). Unjustly overlooked by listeners who consider the band's pre-
Denny output insignificant, this is a fine folk-rock effort that takes far more inspiration from West Coast '60s sounds than traditional British folk.
Fairport's chief strengths at this early juncture were the group's interpretations, particularly in the harmony vocals, of obscure tunes by American songwriters such as
Joni Mitchell,
Bob Dylan,
Emitt Rhodes, and Jim & Jean. Their own songs weren't quite up to that high standard, but were better than many have given them credit for, with "Decameron" and "Sun Shade" in particular hitting wonderfully fetching melancholic moods. It's true that
Fairport would devise a more original style after
Denny joined, but the bandmembers' first-class abilities as more American pop-folk-rock-styled musicians on this album shouldn't be undersold. [The 2003 CD reissue of this record adds four bonus tracks from outtakes, TV performances, and non-LP singles of the era, as well as historical liner notes. The extra songs include a studio outtake cover of
Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" that's inferior to the BBC version that shows up on Heyday, as the studio rendition has only
Ian Matthews on vocals, whereas the BBC one has a
Matthews-
Denny duet. There's also their debut non-LP single, "If I Had a Ribbon Bow," which is rather uncharacteristic of early
Fairport in its jaunty, jazzy vibe. Ending the disc are two cuts from a French 1968 TV broadcast, in slightly subpar but quite listenable fidelity, one a cover of
Tim Buckley's "Morning Glory," the other an explosive seven-minute reading of
Richard Fariña's "Reno, Nevada" with psychedelic guitar improvisation, making it quite different to the much shorter BBC cover of the same song that appears on Heyday.] ~ Richie Unterberger