Reviews

Fairport Convention
Album: Gladys' Leap
Label: Talking Elephant
Tracks: 15
Website: https://www.talkingelephant.co.uk/

A 40th anniversary is a milestone for sure, and at the same time a celebration which also affords an opportunity for re-evaluating the album which marked Fairport's "re-emergence" as a touring entity. This decision arose ostensibly by public demand following the six-year time-lapse since the band's official "farewell" gig, during which fans had been appeased by a series of Cropredy Festival "reunions" and associated cassette mementoes.

At the time, I was disappointed by Gladys' Leap, because to my ears it mostly didn't sound (or feel) much like the Fairport I had grown up with and loved for over a decade. But then, it was also an atypical Fairport release in that it contained no traditional songs and virtually no material penned by band members (bar the trusty tripartite instrumental medley - a feature that had by then become almost de-rigeur on a Fairport album). Fairport Convention at the time of recording was but a threesome, comprising Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg and Dave Mattacks, although soon-to-be-new-recruit Ric Sanders brought his violin expertise to three tracks and two other songs featured cameo appearances - viz Cathy LeSurf on vocal (on her own composition My Feet Are Set For Dancing) and Richard Thompson on lead guitar (on Dave Whetstone's rocky Head In A Sack (though not on his own composition How Many Times).

Listening to Gladys' Leap now, 40 years on, I can hear that it contains many good things, not least its three new top-notch Ralph McTell songs written specially for Fairport - most notably The Hiring Fair, which would quickly establish itself as an iconic Fairport favourite, while Wat Tyler (a historical ballad co-written with Simon Nicol) and Bird On The Mountain have yet to appear on any of Ralph's own albums. Other high points? The goodtime folk-rockery of the at-that-time-unreleased Richard Thompson song How Many Times; the songwriter discovery of John Richards through his powerful, anthemic Honour & Praise; and yes, the aforementioned instrumental medley, which kicks off, uncharacteristically, with something of a drum solo!

Listening afresh to Gladys' Leap, I much appreciate its musical qualities (notwithstanding the occasional jarring infusions of 80s keyboards, especially on Cathy's contribution), but most of all perhaps for its setting a context, one might almost say establishing a blueprint for the future adventures of Fairport as a continually viable unit, for all that they would focus increasingly away from "trad-arr" and remain open to the work of songwriters outwith the band itself. At a 40-year remove, and with the benefit of hindsight, Gladys' Leap can be seen as a first-footing move for a new chapter in Fairport history, one that has developed and flourished to this day. Some achievement!

This 40th anniversary edition has undergone some remastering, and sports a new contextual essay by Nigel Schofield and a definitive, authoritative account of the origin of the LP's title, as well as retaining full original lyrics and credits. Note however, that this new edition comprises just the original 38-minute LP, there's no extra material (the three bonus tracks added to the earlier Talking Elephant reissue had been culled from the Cropredy live gig of 1982, which had been released in more complete form on AT2.)

David Kidman

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