FESTIVAL BELL

Fairport Convention has sung for fourty-six years now and they still have a nice flow in their music. The band is made up by Simon Nicol, Chris Leslie, Ric Sanders, Gerry Conway and Dave Pegg. Even if this is good music, there isn't what they were in the late sixties and early seventies. I heard them here in Stockholm two weeks ago and was amazed. They are still a very good band and of course they played a lot of old gems such as Doctor of Physick and Sir Patrick Spens. But now I am reviewing their last studio recording Festival Bell from 2011, two years ago now.

This record shows us some things were better before the cd came and made the records longer. With less songs and more concentration on those left it could have been great. This record starts good with a traditional sailor ballad " Mercy Bay" with a long and telling story and a little sad melody with a typical british voice in Simon Nicol. This is the albums best song along with two instrumentals "Danny Jack's Chase" and "Danny Jack's Reward". These two are also the only progressive here with exciting themes going around and broken by experimental interrupts. There is dreaming there I presume. The last one has a bass sole with excellent Dave Pegg. "Albert and Ted" is also an exciting little song. Ralph McTell is composer of two tracks "Around the wild cape horn" and "London Apprentice/Johnny Ginears" and they are strong singer/songwriter material with tempo and feeling. Otherwise I feel these (other) songs quite weak if you think of how it could have been. This is not a pioneering record but it's nice they are live and still play folk rock ? a great genre.