Liege and Lief

History

Following the motorway accident that had killed Martin Lamble, the band were left without a drummer. After the release of Unhalfbricking, Dave Mattacks took over the role and, having previously been a drummer at Mecca Ballrooms, had to "learn a whole new style of drumming." Dave Swarbrick, a little older than the rest of the band, had already been in a successful duo with guitarist Martin Carthy. After his appearance on Unhalfbricking, he too joined Fairport full-time.

The band rehearsed and put together Liege & Lief over the summer of 1969 at a house in Farley Chamberlayne, near Braishfield, Winchester, launching it with a sold-out concert in London's Royal Festival Hall late in 1969.

Gone were the covers of songs by Bob Dylan and others, replaced by electrified versions of traditional English folksongs and the first of a long line of instrumental medleys of folk dance tunes driven by Dave Swarbrick's violin playing. Much of this material had been found by Ashley Hutchings in Cecil Sharp's collection, maintained by the English Folk Dance and Song Society.

The title is composed of two Middle English words: liege meaning loyal and lief meaning ready. The cover, a gatefold in grey and purple, featured cameo images of the band along with track listing and credits.

Soon after the release of Liege & Lief, Ashley Hutchings left to further pursue traditional music in a new band, Steeleye Span; Sandy Denny also left to form Fotheringay.

In 2007 a double album "Liege and Lief Deluxe Edition" was released; the second album consisted mainly of BBC radio live performances and two stylistically uncharacteristic outtakes, the standards "The Lady Is a Tramp" and "Fly Me to the Moon".

Reception and influence

Liege & Lief was promoted by John Peel on his Top Gear radio programme and the album spent fifteen weeks in the UK album chart, reaching number 17. In a contemporary review, John Mendelsohn of Rolling Stone recommended the album only to devotees of "quietly arty traditional folk" and felt that "Deserter" is the only "arresting" song, as "not even the originals match up to the group-composed material on previous albums." Robert Christgau of The Village Voice gave Liege & Lief a "B–" and said that, because of his "anti-folk" tastes, he was disappointed with the album's more traditional material after Unhalfbricking.

The album has come to be regarded as having a major influence in the development of British folk rock. It was voted the 'most important folk album of all time' by BBC Radio 2 listeners in 2002, and at the 2006 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Liege and Lief won the award for Most influential Folk Album of all time. At the event, the original line-up of Simon Nicol, Richard Thompson, Ashley Hutchings, Dave Swarbrick, Dave Mattacks, with Chris While replacing Sandy Denny, performed Matty Groves. Georgia Lucas, the daughter of Sandy Denny and Trevor Lucas, accepted the award on behalf of her late mother. This commemoration was repeated on 10 August 2007 at Cropredy, when the complete album was performed.

In a retrospective review, Allmusic's Mark Deming said of the album that "while [it] was the most purely folk-oriented Fairport Convention album to date, it also rocked hard in a thoroughly original and uncompromising way". In June 2007, Mojo magazine listed Liege & Lief at number 58 in its list of "100 Records that changed the world".

Side one

1. "Come All Ye" (Sandy Denny, Ashley Hutchings) – 4:55
2. "Reynardine" (traditional, arranged by Fairport) – 4:33
3. "Matty Groves" (trad., arr. Fairport) – 8:08
4. "Farewell, Farewell" (Richard Thompson) – 2:38

Side two

5. "The Deserter" (trad., arr. Fairport) – 4:10
6. Medley (trad., arr. Dave Swarbrick) – 4:00
   1. "The Lark in the Morning"
   2. "Rakish Paddy"
   3. "Foxhunters' Jig"
   4. "Toss the Feathers"
7. "Tam Lin" (trad., arr. Swarbrick) – 7:20
8. "Crazy Man Michael" (Thompson, Swarbrick) – 4:35

CD reissue bonus tracks (previously unreleased)

9. "Sir Patrick Spens" (trad., arr. Fairport)
10. "Quiet Joys of Brotherhood" (Take 1) (trad., arr. by Denny, Thompson, Swarbrick, Dave Mattacks, words by Richard Fariña;)

Disc Two: Studio Out-takes & BBC Sessions

Released in the 2007 Deluxe Edition only:

1. "Sir Patrick Spens" (Sandy Denny Vocal Version) – 3:59
2. "The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood" (Take 4) – 5:59
3. "The Ballad of Easy Rider" – 4:53
4. "Tam Lin" – 7:46
5. Medley – 4:13
   1. "The Lark in the Morning"
   2. "Rakish Paddy"
   3. "Foxhunter's Jig"
   4. "Toss the Feathers"
6. "Sir Patrick Spens" – 3:44
7. "Reynardine" – 4:19
8. "The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood" (Take 1) – 7:50
9. "The Lady Is a Tramp" – 2:11
10. Medley – 2:21 (hidden track)
    1. "The Lady Is a Tramp"
    2. "In Other Words (Fly Me to the Moon)"

Tracks 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9 on Disc Two were recorded live for John Peel's BBC Top Gear show. They first aired on 27 September 1969. Track 10 is previously unissued.

Production

Personnel