The Airing Cupboard Tapes: 71- 74

A good album at a good price and quick delivery, would buy again from here ........... D

Look, others have already highlighted that this is a non critical album, featuring live tracks of variable sound quality, and yes unless your a fan, there are better places to seek out your Fairport or even better quality versions of most of these songs. Most are interesting for historical reasons only.However there are some gems on this CD which make this fairly critical to any Fairport collection.Cell Song - possibly the most perfect Dave Swarbrick vocal performance with a very unusual musical setting for Fairport (electric piano??). This is possibly the most poignant version of this song I have heard (and Chris Leslie takes a fairly good shot at it). I personally though Swarb didn't get the credit he deserved as a vocalist. I bought the CD for this track alone. Worth every penny.Furs & Feathers - okay there is a live version on the re-mastered version of Rosie, but one that doesn't pop up very often so nice to hear.Who Knows Where the Time Goes - A great version from the "Nine" version of Fairport at the LA Troubadour.Ballad Of Ned Kelly - A Trevor Lucas Fotheringay song brought into the Fairport sets. Interesting what they do with this. Very Dylan/Band Basement Tapes.The Deserter - Swarb on vocals on this one, however like the BBC set, the quality of recording is quite poor on this one, but shows Swarb a bit more comfortable with this than on that earlier recording.

Most of the tracks on this CD were originally issued by the band on a cassette back in 1981. This was compiled by Dave Mattacks and available at the 1981 Reunion Festival at Broughton Castle and by mail order for a while afterwards. These long-unavailable tracks have been remastered for CD with the addition of four more tracks from the same era. All are recordings made at live performances using the band's own mixing desk. The insert includes the notes written by Dave Mattacks for the original cassette, as well as some new material by Ian Burgess of 'Friends of Fairport', and in true Fairport tradition they are liberally sprinkled with typo errors.The three earliest tracks, two from the original cassette and one bonus, date from 1971 and feature the quartet of Dave Swarbrick, Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg and Dave Mattacks. Each performance of 'Sloth' is a unique event and this 13-minute version is pretty good, although marred by poor sound in a couple of places. "Walk Awhile" also suffers from sound problems at the beginning, while I fear that the bonus version of "The Deserter" is not one of the best.Most of the rest of the tracks date from the period when the band comprised a powerful line-up of Swarbrick, Pegg and Mattacks with Trevor Lucas and Jerry Donahue. They turn out fine performances of "The Hexhamshire Lass", "Hens March Through the Midden/Four Poster Bed" and the rarely heard "Furs and Feathers" (with lyric variations from the 'Rosie' version), but listen out for a great version of "Cell Song" by the trio of Swarb, Mattacks (on electric piano) and Pegg (on mandolin).Sandy Denny rejoined the band in February 1974 and appears on the last recordings (chronologically) - the bonus tracks "Ballad of Ned Kelly" and "Something You Got", both of which are competent but not outstanding performances. In my opinion the version of the latter on 'Fairport Live Convention' is superior. However, the most significant tracks are those featuring Sandy Denny singing with the band when she was not a regular member. Sandy joined Fairport for their encore at the University of Kent in December 1972 and sang a powerfully rocking version of "That'll Be The Day". From the LA Troubadour in February 1974, when Sandy played with Fairport as a 'guest' just before rejoining, come memorable performances of "It'll Take a Long Time" and "Who Knows Where the Time Goes".Fairport were, and are, a great live band, and this CD is a good reminder of how they sounded in this era of their history, so thanks to Talking Elephant for making them available again. However, it is likely to appeal mainly to enthusiasts. For those after better quality recordings of the band in this era the 'Nine' album is a good buy or, for the band with Sandy, try 'Fairport Live Convention'.

I WAS VERY SURPRISE THAT THE TRACK "WALK AWHILE " HAD SOUND PROBLEMS I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT BOTH THE RECORD COMPANY & FAIRPORT ALLOWED THE CD TO BE RELEASED KNOW THAT THERE WERE SOUND PROBLEMS,IT MUST HAVE HURT THERE REPUTATION SOME WHAT . BUT SOME GOOD TRACKS ON THE CD.

interesting set of tunes...thanks DM

EXCELLENT.

Ridiculous up and down sound quality. Skip it!