Fairport Convention. Banks Of The Sweet Primroses.

Seeing Fairport Convention at Bath Forum 2023

I felt a bit restless on Saturday and wanted to get out and about and do something. I looked online to see what was on locally, and lo and behold found out that Fairport Convention were playing at Bath Forum that very evening, so I bought myself a ticket. I have seen them several times over the last ten years on their annual Winter tour. The most memorable time was four years ago when their guests at this same venue were Robert Plant & Saving Grace. Saturday’s concert didn’t reach those heights but was still a very pleasant evening. I arrived at the Forum too early as usual and had a browse on the merchandise stall which was being manned by Dave Pegg and his wife. 

Dave has been the bass player with Fairport since 1969 and was also in Jethro Tull for about fifteen years. I have met Dave and other members of the band previously at gigs. We had a bit of a chat, and I took a photo and bought a book Gonna See All My Friends, A People’s History of Fairport Convention and a CD Full House For Sale which is a live performance of the 1970 album Full House recorded at last summer’s Cropredy festival. Peggy signed both of these items for me. Then it was time to take my seat for the support act Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage. I had never heard of them before, but I thought they were excellent. They are a folk duo from Cambridge who both sing and play guitars. I would describe their music as Americana.

 Hannah has a wonderful voice which reminded me at certain moments of Joni Mitchell, and the delicate guitar accompaniment compliments it perfectly. I can’t remember all their songs but was very impressed with the first song which I think was called Come All You Fair, others might be called I Gave My Love A Cherry and Polly Oh Polly. I will certainly listen to their music in the future. Fairport joined them on stage for their final song which was Reynardine. As you know Fairport included this song on their classic Liege & Lief album in 1969. Hannah and Ben then left the stage and Fairport performed Walk Awhile which they have opened their show with every time I have seen them.

Peggy.

As well as the usual suspects of Dave Pegg, Simon Nicol, Ric Sanders and Chris Leslie I was very pleased to see Dave Mattacks has returned on drums (and occasional keyboards) Dave was the drummer in the band’s glory days of the late 60s early 70s when Fairport were inventing the genre of English folk-rock. He returned to the group in the mid-80s until 1998 when he moved to the USA where he is one of the most sought-after session drummers, so it was great to see him again. I can’t tell you about every single song because I didn’t recognise all of them, but this is what I can remember. They performed Polly On The Shore from the Fairport 9 album which I believe Peggy wrote the music for. Then a song which I think was called The Year Of 59 and had a kind of doo-wop sound to it. In between the songs Ric Sanders was still telling the same old jokes from the last time I saw them, such as, 'if you can't decide what psychedelics to take, go to Trip Advisor'. He is a virtuoso on the violin though. Before the interval they played a great version of Sloth which was written by the late Dave Swarbrick for the Full House album. 

The lyrics seemed very pertinent to today’s world with the war in Ukraine dragging on. In the second half of the show I really enjoyed Banks Of The Sweet Primroses which Swarb learned from the famous Copper Family from Sussex. It was the lyrics of this song which gave Laurie Lee the inspiration for his book As I Walked Out One Midsummer's Morning. Simon then played a lively instrumental that Peggy wrote which I think was called Bankruptured. Chris Leslie then introduced a song which he wrote about the astronaut Michael Collins called Moondust and Solitude. It was brilliant and even incorporated an actual recording of Michael Collins speaking to mission control while his colleagues explored the moon’s surface. Another highlight for me was the Richard Thompson/ Dave Swarbrick composition Doctor Of Physick. Simon sang the lead vocals on The Hiring Fair, a great song given to the band by their friend Ralph McTell. I saw Ralph perform that song himself at last year’s Glastonbury. 

Matty Groves was the last song I heard because I had to rush off for my train. I missed the encore which I’m sure Hannah & Ben would have returned for which would have been Meet On The Ledge. Thank you very much Hannah Sanders, Ben Savage, & Fairport Convention for a very enjoyable evening in Bath.

Judy Dyble - Both Sides Now (w/ Fairport Convention, 1967)

1978 film about Bradford On Avon.

R.I.P Burt Bacharach - That's What Friends Are For (Glastonbury 2015)

Van Morrison, Enlightenment

Postcards From Ursa Minor by Will Varley.

Last summer when I was going to Glastonbury my brother told me to try and see Will Varley who was playing on the Leftfield Stage. He knows Will because they live in the same small seaside town in Kent. It is impossible to see everything at Glasto, and I missed Will’s set. I regretted not seeing him because I wanted to tell my brother all about it. Anyway, when I was in Frome last week, I saw that Will was playing there in February at a small venue called The Tree House, So I bought myself a ticket for that gig and I’ll tell you all about it afterwards. I thought I ought to acquaint myself with his music so I would have an idea of what to expect on the night. I looked on the internet and didn’t want to pay full price for his latest CD, but I found a previously owned CD on Music Magpie for only about £4.00. It is Will’s third album from 2015 called Postcards From Ursa Minor, and that is what arrived here on Friday. 

I was a bit disappointed that there wasn’t a little booklet of sleeve notes or lyrics to give me an idea of the inspiration for the songs, but on the cover, it says that the album was produced by Tristan Ivemy who also plays electric guitar. Will wrote all the songs and plays guitar, piano and percussion. There is also accordion and fiddle. Frank Turner and Beans on Toast who you may have heard of help out on vocals on some songs, notably the first track. I am very impressed with what I have been hearing.

The opening track is As For My Soul. It is a fun song which sounds to me like a Cossack drinking song. The tune reminds me a bit of Those Were The Days by Mary Hopkin. The message is that the world is going down the drain, so we might as well carry on drinking. For me one of the most heartfelt and powerful songs on the album is the second track The Man Who Fell To Earth. Don’t be like me and presume that the song is about the David Bowie film of the same name. This song was inspired by the tragic story of Jose Matada who was a refugee from Mozambique who in 2012 stowed away in the wheel-well of a jumbo jet flying from Angola to London. He fell to his death as the aircraft was on the approach to Heathrow Airport. The lyrics are pure poetry of a very high standard. 

Seize The Night (see video below) is the kind of song that Bob Dylan might have written in the 60s if he was English. I can tell that Bob is a big inspiration to Will. I know the Latin quote carpe diem (seize the day) This song tells us to seize the night. The lyrics of this song and others sound quite autobiographical to me. Outside Over There is another song with poetical lyrics and displays a great story-telling ability. It is like a dark medieval fairy tale with a sad ending. It tells the story of Ida whose sister is stolen from her crib, and Ida sets out to find her. The acoustic start of This House reminded me of Johnny Flynn and the theme song of The Detectorists. It is a plaintive song of lost love. Talking Cat Blues is hilarious and a homage to Talkin’ World War 3 Blues by Dylan. A cat video on YouTube makes the cat a celebrity. From Halcyon is a wistful nostalgic paean to a lost friend who used to sing ‘Lowlands Away’. Dark Days Away is a romantic song to a woman who can be anything, and could take these dark days away. I like the backing vocals towards the end of the song by Nicola Vella.

Send My Love To The System is a protest song of somebody who wants out. Will plays some nice piano on this song. The Endlessness and The Space Between is another great song which moves forward relentlessly with dramatic doom laden guitar. Concept Of Freedom casts a very cynical eye on the world today. It says that ‘Freedom is just a PR exercise’ and there is no such thing as a free man now. The lyrics mention John Harris who was a prominent figure in the ‘Freeman Of The Land’ movement in recent years, but I don’t know anything about that. Is Anyone Out There? is one of my favourite songs on the album after two listens. It is a plea to aliens to come and help the human race because we have destroyed the planet. They could at least send us a postcard from Ursa Minor, hence the album title. That song ponders on space and the final track The Question Of Passing Time looks at how time passes so quickly. It is just Will and his guitar. I can imagine that Will must sit on the beach near his house at night and study the stars, space, time, and the meaning of it all. I wonder if he has a telescope.

I am very pleased to have discovered the music of Will Varley. He is brilliant and knocks spots off the likes of Ed Sheeran in my opinion. His music deserves a bigger audience. I like every track on this album. When I see him on February 24^th, I’ll certainly buy his latest CD at the merchandise stall and find out where his journey has taken him since Postcards From Ursa Minor.