Fairport Convention: Maidstone 1970 DVD
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This uniquely British Band which started out as an English answer to
Jefferson Airplane soon broke free of the conventional rock bounds by
mixing traditional English folk music with rock instrumentation. In
doing so the band became groundbreaking musical pioneers inventing a
whole new genre called "Folk Rock"
By 1970 Fairport Convention had been together as a band for some three
years. During this period the band had recorded and released five
studio albums with one of the albums Liege and Lief being hailed as
genre defining. Some feat when you consider that most of the band was
still in their early twenties!
By the time of the filming of this performance the band had recorded
their most recent album Full House with the line up featuring founder
members Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol alongside Dave Pegg, Dave
Swarbrick and drummer Dave Mattacks.
This line up was, and still is considered one of the key line ups of
Fairport Convention, although the band only managed one studio album
and a posthumous live album before Richard Thompson departed. Apart
from the footage contained on this DVD the Full House line up were
never filmed commercially until reunions at the band's regular
Cropredy Festival years later.
The film directed by renowned British film director Tony Palmer
captures the band at the Maidstone Fiesta during the summer of 1970 as
they run through their set of the time which included various jigs and
reels and the songs Sir Patrick Spens and Now Be Thankful.
More interestingly the film also features two songs from Matthews
Southern Comfort the band led by former Fairport Convention member Ian
Matthews. Matthews Southern Comfort as well as having the Fairport
connection with Ian Matthews would also go on to have a massive hit
single with a cover of the Joni Mitchell song Woodstock in late 1970.
The film has been restored and the restoration has been overseen by
Tony Palmer. The DVD also includes bonus footage of an exclusive
interview filmed in spring 2007 with director Tony Palmer where he
explains how he first met Fairport Convention and his thoughts on the
band and the film over thirty five years later. This interview is a
rare insight into the workings of one of the most unique and treasured
of Britain's bands.
Due to this DVD being the only official filmed document of the Full
House line up of Fairport Convention and 2007 being the fortieth
anniversary of the bands inception demand for this DVD is expected to
be high.
Available from: www.classicfairportconventiondvd.com