Fairport Convention - Liege & LiefThe trajectory that Fairport Convention took in the space of four albums and two years is one of the most remarkable in British popular music these records contain some of the most storied names not just in British, but world music. From a bunch of school friends setting out to be 'the British Jefferson Airplane', over the course of their first quartet of releases, the group metamorphosed into the leading exponents of British folk rock. In the way

Josh Adams on drums (Bedouine

like two faces on the same head which stare always in opposite directions but are inextricably driven by the same brain

From the opening track "Really Something" to the recent single "Mr Music" (a favourite of Marc Riley and Gideon Coe on BBC 6 music) the album's re-connects Astor's bespoke guitar pop with his long-standing embrace of The Velvet Underground's musical DNA

and gleaming cars boomed worldwide

” This visual manifestation of their sound stands in stark contrast to the environment in which the songs were written

featuring previously-unreleased live recordings captured at Germany’s Beat Club in 1971

For weeks on end

‰Û÷Dig

winning the pub quiz

New Orleans was one of the major recording centres in the US

‘Casting Calls’ opens the record

ballads and a pop-centered aesthetic