Unhalfbricking
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''Unhalfbricking'' is the third
studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
by the English
folk rock Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...
band
Fairport Convention Fairport Convention are an English British folk rock, folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson (musician), Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Marti ...
and their second album released in 1969. It is seen as a transitional album in their history and marked a further musical move away from American influences towards more traditional English
folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...
s that had begun on their previous album, '' What We Did on Our Holidays'' and reached its peak on the follow-up, '' Liege & Lief'', released later the same year. The album features several
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
songs, which he had not yet released. It also features
Sandy Denny Alexandra Elene MacLean Denny (6 January 1947 – 21 April 1978) was an English singer-songwriter who was lead singer of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. She has been described as " guably the pre-eminent British folk-rock sin ...
's signature song " Who Knows Where the Time Goes?", which was subsequently covered by many other performers and is now regarded as a classic. The only traditional song on the album, " A Sailor's Life", is seen as pivotal in the development of English folk rock music. Changes in the line-up of the band, due not only to its musical direction but also to external events, mark this album as a turning point in the band's history. 1969 was a prolific year for Fairport Convention; from ''What We Did on Our Holidays'' to ''Liege & Lief'' within twelve months represented a major development. The album also gave the band their first UK chart success, reaching number 12 in the
UK album chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Offici ...
(the second highest position in the band's entire career), while the single release, " Si Tu Dois Partir", achieved number 21 in the UK singles chart.


Production

Fairport Convention had been invited to
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
's London music publishers to hear then-unreleased tracks from '' The Basement Tapes'' sessions. The band's bassist, Ashley Hutchings, said "We loved it all. We would have covered all the songs if we could." In the event, versions of " Percy's Song", "Million Dollar Bash" and "
If You Gotta Go, Go Now "If You Gotta Go, Go Now" (sometimes subtitled "(Or Else You Got to Stay All Night)") is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1964. The first released version was as a single in the US by the UK group the Liverpool Five in July 1965, but this did no ...
" (retitled "Si Tu Dois Partir") were used on the album. The French lyrics for the latter were created during the interval of a performance at the Middle Earth Club. According to guitarist Simon Nicol: "I think the boredom factor was one of the reasons we came up with this wacky idea. Three or four punters joined us in the dressing room; they were either French visitors or students of French working in London, and happened to be there that night." "Percy's Song" and "Million Dollar Bash" had never been released before. The band's male vocalist Iain Matthews left during the recordings for ''Unhalfbricking'' to make his own album '' Matthews' Southern Comfort'', after recording just one track, "Percy's Song".
Sandy Denny Alexandra Elene MacLean Denny (6 January 1947 – 21 April 1978) was an English singer-songwriter who was lead singer of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. She has been described as " guably the pre-eminent British folk-rock sin ...
sang lead vocals on all the other songs, including her own compositions, "Autopsy", and " Who Knows Where the Time Goes?". The latter was covered by many artists and is now viewed to be a classic. The lengthy "A Sailor's Life", a traditional English folk song collected by
A. L. Lloyd Albert Lancaster Lloyd (29 February 1908 – 29 September 1982),Eder, Bruce. (29 September 1982A. L. Lloyd – Music Biography, Credits and Discography AllMusic. Retrieved on 2013-02-24. usually known as A. L. Lloyd or Bert Lloyd, was an English ...
, was already part of Denny's club repertoire. In particular, the version on ''Unhalfbricking'' has been described as "the turning point of Fairport's history from earlier contemporary Americana to English songs" and by AllMusic's
Richie Unterberger Richie Unterberger (born 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' The Daily P ...
as a "clear signpost to the future". Guitarist Richard Thompson contributed two compositions to the album. The opening track, "Genesis Hall", is a slow 3/4
waltz The waltz ( , meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom dance, ballroom and folk dance, in triple (3/4 time, time), performed primarily in closed position. Along with the ländler and allemande, the waltz was sometimes referred to by the ...
, on which Simon Nicol played dulcimer, while Sandy Denny provided the vocals; it was the B-Side of the single release. Genesis Hall was the nickname of the former Bell Hotel in
Drury Lane Drury Lane is a street on the boundary between the Covent Garden and Holborn areas of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of London Borough of Camden, Camden and the southern part in the City o ...
, which had become a squat in early 1969 and later became noted for a mass eviction by the police. In the view of ''
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'' magazine reviewer Mike Baines, "Thompson's writing reached maturity on 'Genesis Hall'". "Cajun Woman", which opens the second side of the album, features Dave Swarbrick's
fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...
-playing in his first work with Fairport; having no electric pick-ups, the band improvised by smashing open a telephone and attaching the microphone to the instrument with an elastic band.


Title and cover

The title arose from the band playing the word game
Ghost In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...
while travelling to and from gigs. Its object was to "avoid completing a real word", and "Unhalfbricking" was Sandy Denny's creation. Eric Hayes took the photo on the sleeve design for the UK release, which featured neither album title nor band name. The photo captured Denny's parents, Neil and Edna Denny, standing outside the family home at 9B Arthur Road,
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...
, South London, with the band distantly visible through the garden fence. St Mary's Church, Wimbledon, can be seen in the background.
Joe Boyd Joe Boyd (born August 5, 1942) is an American record producer and writer. He formerly owned Hannibal Records. Boyd has worked with Pink Floyd, Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny who was in Fairport Convention, Richard Thompson, Nick Drake, The ...
later said "Unhalfbricking, then, that cover shot was taken in the early spring, right before the crash, I think; and that record came out in June". ''Unhalfbrickings cover in the US, released by
A&M Records A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...
, was even less informative. It consisted of a picture of circus elephants with a small inset image of the band, allegedly because "the group apparently so upset their American label that they replaced it with an image of trampolining elephants".


Aftermath

On 11 May 1969, two months before the album was released, drummer Martin Lamble and Jeannie Franklyn, the girlfriend of guitarist Richard Thompson, were killed in a road accident as the band was returning from a concert in Birmingham. Simon Nicol later said: Ashley Hutchings also said in relation to the album cover photograph: ''Unhalfbricking'' appeared, therefore, at a difficult time for the group, but was enthusiastically received. After a period of intense reflection about their future they decided to pursue the folk rock idea further and violinist Dave Swarbrick and drummer Dave Mattacks were invited to join full-time for the follow-up, '' Liege & Lief''.


Reception

AllMusic's
Richie Unterberger Richie Unterberger (born 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' The Daily P ...
described ''Unhalfbricking'' as "a transitional album for the young Fairport Convention, in which the group shed its closest ties to its American folk-rock influences and started to edge toward a more traditional British folk-slanted sound". ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
s John Mendelsohn, reviewing ''Unhalfbricking'' alongside ''
Liege and Lief ''Liege & Lief'' is the fourth album by the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. It is the third album the group released in the UK during 1969, all of which prominently feature Sandy Denny as lead female vocalist (Denny did not appear on ...
'', was supportive, describing it as "Fairport Convention at its best" and singling out " Percy's Song" in particular as "the album's gem". He was less complimentary about "A Sailor's Life", regarding it as overlong. The album also gave the band their first UK chart success, spending a total of eight weeks in the
UK album chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Offici ...
and reaching number 12. The single " Si Tu Dois Partir" spent nine weeks on the UK singles chart and reached number 21.
Fairport Convention Fairport Convention are an English British folk rock, folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson (musician), Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Marti ...
appeared on ''
Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...
'' on 14 August 1969, miming to the song and augmented by a roadie, Steve Sparks on percussion. It was voted number 688 in the third edition of
Colin Larkin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British music writer. He founded and was the editor-in-chief of ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. Along with the ten-volume encyclopedia, Larkin also wrote the book ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'', and edited th ...
's ''
All Time Top 1000 Albums ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'' is a book by Colin Larkin, creator and editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. The book was first published by Guinness Publishing in 1994. The list presented is the result of over 200,000 votes cast by the ...
'' (2000). In 2004 ''Q'' magazine placed ''Unhalfbricking'' at number 41 in its list of the 50 Greatest British Albums Ever, and in the same year ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'', describing it as "a thoroughly English masterpiece", listed it at number 27 in its Top 100 British Albums. The following year, 2005, it was included in Robert Dimery's " 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". The Sandy Denny track " Who Knows Where the Time Goes?" was voted "Favourite Folk Track of All Time" by listeners in the Radio 2 Folk Awards 2007. In 2010 ''Unhalfbricking'' was voted the second best Fairport Convention album after ''Liege & Lief'' by ''
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'' magazine readers.


Track listing


Release history

''Unhalfbricking'' has been released on several occasions and in several formats:


Personnel

;Fairport Convention *
Sandy Denny Alexandra Elene MacLean Denny (6 January 1947 – 21 April 1978) was an English singer-songwriter who was lead singer of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. She has been described as " guably the pre-eminent British folk-rock sin ...
– vocals,
harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...
* Richard Thompson – electric and acoustic guitars, electric dulcimer, piano accordion, organ, backing vocals * Ashley Hutchings – bass, backing vocals * Simon Nicol – electric and acoustic guitars, electric dulcimer, backing vocals * Martin Lamble – drums, stacked chair backs on "Si Tu Dois Partir" ;Additional personnel * Iain Matthews – backing vocals on " Percy's Song" * Dave Swarbrick – fiddle on "Si Tu Dois Partir", "A Sailor's Life", and "Cajun Woman" and
mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...
on "Million Dollar Bash" * Trevor Lucas – triangle on "Si Tu Dois Partir" * Marc Ellington – vocals on "Million Dollar Bash" * Dave Mattacks – drums on "Ballad of Easy Rider" ;Production * Recorded at Sound Techniques and
Olympic Studios Olympic Studios was a British independent recording studio based on Church Road, Barnes, Church Road, Barnes, London, Barnes, London. It is best known for its recordings of many artists throughout the late 1960s to the first decade of the 21st ...
, London * Engineer: John Wood * Sleeve design: Diogenic Attempts Ltd. Source:


Certifications


References

{{Authority control Fairport Convention albums 1969 albums Island Records albums Albums produced by Joe Boyd A&M Records albums Albums recorded at Olympic Sound Studios