We reach the mid-point with CD four and Fairport are in disarray, Dave Mattacks and Simon Nicol have left Peggy and Swarb as a duo. Meanwhile, a Fairport-related one-off band called The Bunch are making an album of rock’n’roll classics. Yes, there are Fairport personnel past and future on Rock On but not the pair who made up the band at the time, plus eight musicians who never joined. I’m all for listening to the myriad of Fairport offshoots but why just this one? Surely Fotheringay makes as much sense or tracks from Ian Matthew’s debut solo album (backed by Fairport)? But if you start down that road a 70-CD set beacons… The justification for including That’ll Be The Day is that is absorbed into the Fairport live setlist. So why not just settle for the live cut that closes CD seven? But it does mean this set can include a proper rarity, a Sandy Denny rehearsal version of Think It Over for The Bunch project. Which is nice to have, but it really belongs on a Denny collection…
Track four is where the set really unearths the unexpected. Next up is ten tracks that make up a long-lost Fairport album recorded by a one-off lineup, between Babbacombe Lee and Nine (although strangely this exclusive is not mentioned in advanced publicity). Known as The Manor Sessions (a descriptor rather than a title) it has been bootlegged, but this is the first time it’s been officially released and from the original masters (including some different versions). It’s somewhat of a curate’s egg, albeit a fascinating one. In an attempt to put the band together again after two major departures, Swarbrick invited his old mate David Rea to play guitar and take lead vocals with him. Born in Ohio, Rea was a successful and respected performer and songwriter in his own right (Joni Mitchell and Neil Young encouraged him to write songs). On paper, not a bad choice but his style really doesn’t gel with Fairport.
The first track Maverick Child sound like a 70s country rock song has mistakenly slipped onto a Fairport CD. Wait, is that Dave Swarbrick lending a hand? Cropredy Festival regulars will know that Fairport can sound like just about any band you care to name, having backed Robert Plant as Zeppelin, Roger Hodgson as Supertramp and re-created Nick Kershaw’s 80s pop sounds. And that’s what it comes across like here: Pegg and Swarbrick guesting on a Dave Rea country rock album. Next up, the previously released Sad Song is reassuringly like Fairport of ‘73 vintage, if a little limp. But nothing can prepare you for this line up’s take on Matthew, Mark, Luke & John. By no means one of Fairport’s strongest cuts, but boy do they give it a mauling…
The tune is cast aside into some country-funk backing, Pegg sounds like he’s having a great time funking up his bass lines, but his enjoyment doesn’t translate to the listener. Worse still is their take on Rosie, something of a minor classic in the hands of the next Fairport lineup. Instead of Swarbrick’s tender vocals, we get Rea’s rasp, and no fiddle! He sounds like he’s just woken up and been handed a lyric sheet… I know it’s hard to top the released version (with Thompson guesting on guitar and Denny on backing vocals), but here it’s a bit of a dirge, an extra verse not helping you get through one of the longest three-and-a-half minutes in recording history. The other tracks are slightly more palatable (except the ghastly line dance stomp of Country Judy Jane). But you can imagine Swarbrick listening back to Rosie and concluding that wiping the tapes and starting again was a better option after all, his affection for the song led him to name the next album after the track and performed it ever since.
This is probably as close as we will get to the lost album, but it still feels incomplete – missing some fiddle lines and Swarbrick’s backing vocals on several tracks. A Swarbrick solo (on guitar) version of To Althea from Prison sounds more like a demo, but it’s pleasant enough and includes an extra verse from the original poem.
With Knights of The Road following from Althea, it’s proper Fairport back, oozing with the confidence of great line up one again. CD four closes with a Trevor Lucas-fest, and it’s all the better for his presence alongside Jerry Donahue. Slightly different versions of Fiddlestix and Possibly Parsons Green are the only ‘rarities’ here. But after Manor, a blast of vintage Fairport is doubly welcome.