BRYTER LATER  -  NICK DRAKE

YEAR:  1970
LABEL:  Island
TRACK LISTING:  Introduction,  Hazey Jane II,  At the Chime of the City Clock,  One of These Things First,  Hazey Jane I,  Bryter Later,  Fly,  Poor Boy,  Northern Sky,  Sunday
IMPRESSIONS:  Probably my least favourite Nick Drake album of the three; despite the fact that some of his best songs can be found here.  I think the major problem I have with the album is that Nick himself seems to be absent for about a quarter of it; we have here a few instrumental tracks which, sure, Nick plays guitar on and Nick wrote, but it's almost as if he's stepped out for a smoke.  And the fact that we have precious little Nick Drake on record, this is almost an unpardonable sin.  Then we have the often-touted complaint of the overly-sweet string arrangements by Robert Kirby which Nick himself seemed to dislike as he insisted on a stripped-down sound for his next album "PINK MOON".  I actually don't have much of a problem with these arrangements except in a few cases.  "Poor Boy" actually sounds like a decent song but when smothered in an inappropriate pop arrangement and back-up singers (including the wonderful Doris Troy), the effect is jarring compared to the rest of the album.  And back to those instrumentals.  The opening track "Introduction" is innocuous, I suppose, but the title track is pure rubbish; it sounds like it was lifted from a 60's comedy film.  So we have here a seriously flawed album -- and that's a big deal since we've only got three Nick Drake albums to listen to.  However, even a flawed Nick Drake album is something to be conjured with.  Here we find some of his greatest recordings:  the darkly jazzy "At the Chime of a City Clock", the beautiful rolling ramble of "One of These Things First", the sunny, drumming-tempo of Fairport Convention's rhythm section in  "Hazey Jane I", the drawing room miniature of "Fly" and the exquisitely joyful spring air chasing away the winter chill in "Northern Sky".  Q Magazine in 2007 declared the album as having "more hooks than a pirate convention".  So even Nick Drake's worst album is a stone classic.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  At the Chime of a City Clock,  One of These Things First,  Hazey Jane I,  Fly,  Northern Sky
GUEST ARTISTS:  Dave Pegg (bass guitar), Dave Mattacks (drums), Richard Thompson (lead guitar on "Hazey Jane II"), Doris Troy (backing vocals on "Poor Boy"), Ray Warleigh (alto saxophone on "At the Chime of a City Clock" and "Poor Boy", flute on "Sunday"), Mike Kowalski (drums on "At the Chime of a City Clock", "One of These Things First", "Poor Boy" and "Northern Sky"), Paul Harris (piano on "One of These Things First"), Ed Carter (bass on "One of These Things First"), Lyn Dobson (flute on "Bryter Later"), John Cale (viola and harpsichord on "Fly", celeste, piano and organ on "Northern Sky"), Pat Arnold (backing vocals on "Poor Boy"), Chris McGregor (piano on "Poor Boy"), Robert Kirby (arrangements)
FACT SHEET:  BRYTER LATER is Nick Drake's second album.  The album title is a reference to the common British weather report term for clearing weather as "brighter later".  The album features members of Fairport Convention's rhythm section Pegg and Mattacks (as well as Fairport's leader Richard Thompson), John Cale of The Velvet Underground, R&B singer Doris Troy and Beach Boys rhythm section Kowalski and Carter.  The album was produced by Joe Boyd and arranged by Robert Kirby.  The paradoxically dark iconic album cover to BRYTER LATER was designed and photographed by Nigel Waymouth.       

UNHALFBRICKING - Fairport Convention

YEAR: 1969

LABEL: Hannibal (originally Island/A&M)

TRACK LISTING: Genesis Hall, Si Tu Dois Partir, Autopsy, A Sailor's Life, Cajun Woman, Who Knows Where the Time Goes?, Percy's Song, Million Dollar Bash

IMPRESSIONS: Of the classic trilogy of Fairport Convention albums (mentioned below), I'd have to say UNHALFBRICKING is my favourite. The first of the 1969 Fairport albums ("HOLIDAYS") contains one of my favourite songs ("Fotheringay") and the final of the 1969 albums is the much-praised monolith "LIEGE & LIEG" however UNHALFBRICKING is the one I listen to all the way through most often. Along with "Fotheringay", my favourite Fairport Convention songs are to be found here: "Autopsy" and "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?". From the beautiful album cover photo (taken only shortly before drummer Martin Lamble would be killed in a car crash) to the almost-lilting mood of the songs chosen for the album to the back cover photo of the band sitting at a darkened dinner table, this is the album which sums up the "Sandy Denny"-era Fairport Convention for me. . . and it's one I listen to again and again.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: Genesis Hall, Si Tu Doir Partir, Autopsy, A Sailor's Life, Who Knows Where the Time Goes?, Percy's Song

GUEST ARTISTS: Iain Matthews (backing vocals on "Percy's Song"), Dave Swarbrick (fiddle on "Si Tu Dois Partir", "A Sailor's Life" and "Cajun Woman", mandolin on "Million Dollar Bash")
FACT SHEET: UNHALFBRICKING is Fairport Convention's third album. The group consisted at this time of Richard Thompson (guitars), Sandy Denny (vocals), Ashley Hutchinson (bass), Martin Lamble (drums) and Simon Nicol (guitars). This is the middle of a classic trio of albums released in the year 1969 beginning with "WHAT WE DID ON OUR HOLIDAYS" and concluding with "LIEGE & LIEF" which saw the band moving from American-based folk to an English folk rock sound. Two months before the album's release on May 11, 1969, drummer Martin Lamble and Richard Thompson's girlfriend Jeannie Franklyn were killed in a car crash as the band was returning from a Birmingham concert. The band considered breaking up at this point but decided to continue. "Si Tu Dois Partir", "Percy's Song" and "Million Dollar Bash" are all Bob Dylan's songs the band decided to cover for this album after hearing an advance copy of Dylan's "Basement Tapes". "A Sailor's Life" is a traditional folk song which is seen as "pivotal" in the development of English folk rock and Fairport Convention's future direction. "Genesis Hall" and "Cajun Woman" were written by Richard Thompson and "Autopsy" and "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?" were written by Sandy Denny. The cover photo was taken by Eric Hayes and features Sandy Denny's parents Neil & Edna standing outside their home in Arthur Road, Wimbeldon, South London with the shaggy band members visible in the background through the iron fence; St. Mary's Church is also visible on the skyline. The album cover didn't feature the band's name nor the album title. The title UNHALFBRICKING was derived from a game of "Ghosts" in which the object is to "avoid completing a word"; the word "unhalfbricking" was coined by Sandy Denny.

"BABBACOMBE" LEE - Fairport Convention

YEAR: 1971

LABEL: Island

TRACK LISTING: John's reflection on his boyhood, his introduction to Miss Keyes and the Glen, his restlessness, and his struggles with his family, finally successful, to join the Navy / This was the happiest period in his life. All locked set fair for a career until he was stricken with sickness and invalided out of his chosen niche in life. Reluctantly and unhappily he turned to a number of menial occupations and finally returned to the services of Miss Keyes. / Tragedy now strikes hard. The world's imagination is caught by the senseless(ness) of the apparent criminal who slays his kind old mistress. / John was hardly more than a bewildered observer at his own trial, not being allowed to say more than a few words. The tides of fate wash him to the condemned cell where he waits three sad weeks for his last night on earth. / When it comes, he cannot sleep, but when he does, a strange prophetic dream comes to him, and helps him to bear the strain of his next day's ordeal as scaffold and its crew try in vain three times to take his life.

IMPRESSIONS: I first heard this album when Gene Shay played it in its entirety on the Halloween episode of his PBS radio folk music show sometime back in the mid-1980s. The concept album tells the tale of John Lee, his early life, naval career, entering the service of the elderly Miss Keyes, her vicious murder and Lee's subsequent arrest and trial for her murder. Found guilty, Lee was sentenced to the hangman but on the scaffold the gallows failed three times resulting in his release. The album is one big song cycle with songs melded together (as the above track listing should reveal). This incarnation of the band is the lesser known lineup which followed after the "glory days" of Fairport Convention which included such megastars as Richard Thompson and Sandy Denny.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: All of them - the album has to be listened to as a whole.

FACT SHEET: "BABBACOMBE" LEE is Fairport Convention's 7th album. The group's lineup at the time consisted of Simon Nicol (guitar, dulcimer), Dave Mattacks (drums, electric piano), Dave Swarbrick (fiddle, mandolin) and Dave Pegg (bass, mandolin). This is a "concept" album about the case of John Lee which came about when Dave Swarbrick found of scrapbook of old newspaper clippings on the case in a junk shop; the clippings were compiled by John Lee himself and were bound, signed and dated by him January 30, 1908. After the band's previous success, "BABBACOMBE" LEE was a relative flop although it was critically acclaimed. The album is considered to be the first "folk rock opera".