FAIRPORT CONVENTION

a Tree With Roots: Fairport Convention and The songs Of bob Dylan UNIVERSAL 8/10

sandy, richard, swarb and company sing-along-a-Bob… When Joe boyd began working with Fairport Convention, he brought with him more than his production skills. On their tentative pre-boyd debut, the group had recorded a surprisingly garage-ish setting of Dylan’s poem “Jack O’Diamonds”, but the american producer secured access to a treasure trove of acetates of unreleased Dylan compositions, from publisher’s demos to the first batch of songs from the

Basement Tapes recordings. they were riches which Fairport proceeded to plunder with enthusiasm. “i’ll Keep it With Mine” on their second album was followed by “Percy’s Song” and “Million Dollar bash” on

Unhalfbricking, all deathlessly sung by Sandy Denny. along the way they also created an exuberant French Cajun take on “if You gotta go”, and when Denny left she maintained the tradition by recording “too Much Of nothing” with Fotheringay and reimagining “tomorrow is a long time” as a country waltz as a solo artist. taken together, these recordings made the Fairport family britain’s answer to the byrds as premiere Dylan interpreters. they’re augmented here with 10 further covers recorded by different lineups and – with the exception of a worthily dull “george Jackson” and an execrable live “all along the Watchtower” – each adds something fresh and valuable to Dylan’s original.

extras: none.