Fairport Convention in Berkeley, November 1974
Fairport Convention was formed in North London, when Simon Nicol (guitar and vocals), Richard Thompson (guitar and vocals), and Ashley Hutchings (bass) began playing together, giving their first public performance at a church hall in May of 1967. (The name of the band was taken from "Fairport," the name of the house in which Simon Nicol's family lived.) They soon began to appear at UFO, Middle Earth, and other clubs in London, and swiftly gained the support of Joe Boyd, who produced their first album, Fairport Convention. (Joe Boyd is also known for his work with Pink Floyd, The Incredible String Band, John and Beverley Martyn, Nick Drake, and Nico.) The album, released on Polydor Records in June, 1968, featured twelve tracks of folk rock from a lineup that included Simon Nicol, Richard Thompson, Ashley Hutchings, Martin Lamble on drums, and two vocalists, Judy Dyble and Ian MacDonald (who was later to be known as Ian Matthews, and is now known as Iain Matthews).
When Fairport Convention's second album, What We Did on Our Holidays (also produced by Joe Boyd), was released on Island Records in early 1969, Judy Dyble had departed, and Sandy Denny (formerly with Strawbs) had joined. With the addition of Sandy Denny, Fairport Convention took a great stride forward musically. Her extraordinary voice, and her ability to write songs of depth and beauty, put them in the first division of British rock. Among the tracks on the second album were several songs ("Fotheringay," "Nottamun Town," "She Moves Through the Fair") that prefigured their future sound. Another track on the album, "Meet on the Ledge" (written by Richard Thompson), became one of their most well-known songs.
In May of 1969, when members of the band were driving on the M1, returning to London from a performance at Mothers, a club in Birmingham, the van in which they were riding ran off the road in the early hours of the morning. Martin Lamble (who was only nineteen) and Jeannie Franklyn (Richard Thompson's American girlfriend, and also a designer of fashionable clothes) both were killed. The other musicians (apart from Sandy Denny, who was not in the van) all were injured. The accident nearly brought Fairport Convention to a sorrowful end, but after allowing time for grief and recovery, the survivors finally resolved to continue with their music.
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Unhalfbricking, the third album by Fairport Convention, was released in July, 1969. Ian Matthews was no longer in the band, and was heard on only one track. (He later formed his own band, Matthews Southern Comfort, and had a major hit in 1970 with a cover of Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock.") Unhalfbricking included three songs written by Bob Dylan (with one of them being sung in French), as well as "Who Knows Where the Time Goes," a gracefully reflective song that was written and sung by Sandy Denny. Also included was "A Sailor's Life," a traditional song that featured Dave Swarbrick, a British folk musician, on violin.
The fourth album by Fairport Convention, Liege and Lief, has come to be regarded as one the great masterpieces of British rock. Dave Mattacks was now on drums, and Dave Swarbrick also had joined. Liege and Lief followed the course that had been set by "A Sailor's Life," offering a standout collection of songs that were mainly drawn from English tradition, deftly rendered in a groundbreaking style that upheld the history of the tunes, but was also boldly electric. Two tracks in particular, "Matty Groves" and "Tam Lin," were utterly breathtaking, with Sandy Denny expertly using the power and clarity of her voice to spin moody tales of murder ("Matty Groves") and magic ("Tam Lin"), against a musical framework that was richly compelling.
Although Liege and Lief raised the stature of Fairport Convention, both Ashley Hutchings and Sandy Denny soon quit, preferring to have bands of their own. Ashley Hutchings formed Steeleye Span, and Sandy Denny formed Fotheringay. (Sandy Denny also found time to sing with Robert Plant on "The Battle of Evermore," a track on the fourth album by Led Zeppelin.) Fairport Convention carried on without them, choosing Dave Pegg as their new bassist and releasing a fifth album, Full House, in the summer of 1970. After the release of Full House, Richard Thompson also quit, with the intention of seeking more time in which to write his own songs. (He soon released Henry the Human Fly, the first of many albums that he has recorded.) Over the next several years, Fairport Convention continued to record and release albums (Angel Delight, Babbacombe Lee, Rosie, Nine), while continuing to tour in the United Kingdom and the United States.
By November, 1974, when Fairport Convention performed at the Berkeley Community Theatre, Simon Nicol had dropped out, but Sandy Denny had returned, joining two other musicians from Fotheringay who had already been enlisted: Trevor Lucas (her husband) on guitar and vocals, and Jerry Donahue on lead guitar. With Sandy Denny back in the fold, and Dave Swarbrick still in the band, Fairport Convention reclaimed much of the glorious sound that had defined their heyday. Unfortunately, it did not last, and after an extensive tour and an album, Rising for the Moon (released in 1975), the lineup that performed in Berkeley broke apart, with Sandy Denny, Trevor Lucas, and Jerry Donahue all departing from the band. Only a few years later, in April, 1978, Sandy Denny fell down a flight of stairs and suffered a head injury that ended her life at the age of thirty-one. In the years since her passing, her reputation has grown, providing inspiration for a generation of singers and songwriters who were not yet born during her lifetime.
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Taking into account all of the many performances by different musicians that I attended in the early 1970s, this is among the ones that I remember most clearly and most fondly. I was a longtime fan of Fairport Convention, going back to the days of Liege and Lief, and I had the highest regard for the exquisite talent of Sandy Denny. Because I had missed out on seeing the most famous lineup of Fairport Convention in the late 1960s, I was greatly excited when I heard that Sandy Denny was touring with them again. Dave Swarbrick was still on hand, which meant that with his violin and Sandy Denny's voice, they had two of the key elements that had created the sound of Liege and Lief. Richard Thompson was long gone, of course, but I knew that with Sandy Denny on board, it would be close to the true spirit of Fairport Convention.
My friends and I were lucky to be sitting near the front of the stage in the Berkeley Community Theatre, a venue that provided a good setting for Fairport Convention's music. It was wonderful to see Sandy Denny up close, after years of seeing photos of her on the covers of LPs and in Melody Maker. I was surprised to see that she was actually quite short. It seemed funny that such a small woman could have such a powerful voice. To hear that voice in a live performance was extremely thrilling. In addition to being enthralled by Sandy Denny, I also was impressed by Dave Swarbrick. His manner on stage was casual, as if he was merely a country fiddler playing random tunes in the dusty corner of a rustic pub, but the tones that came from his electric violin were fluid and forceful.
The audience in Berkeley was clearly made up of serious fans. There was a charge in the air that evening, probably because we all knew that being able to see Sandy Denny singing with Fairport Convention again constituted a special occasion. When someone in the crowd called out for "Matty Groves," Sandy Denny paused, cocked her head, and smiled, saying, "You've got it," as the band fell in behind her, rolling smoothly into the familiar rhythm of the song. It was an unforgettable moment.
After the show we waited at the stage door and had the great pleasure of meeting Sandy Denny. She was friendly and gracious to us, but I remember that she appeared to be a bit tipsy, and she kept saying to the person with her, "Where's Trevor?" When I asked her if she would be doing any further recordings with Led Zeppelin, she laughed and replied, "They still haven't paid me for the track that I've already done!" My friends and I had the opportunity to meet many musicians in those days, but having the chance to speak with Sandy Denny is a memory that I particularly cherish.