Fairport Convention - Close to the Wind

Title: Close to the Wind Artist: Fairport Convention Release Date: 3/25/1998 Re-Released On: 2/15/2005 Label: Mooncrest Records, Castle Music Ltd. Duration: 78:22 Album Type(s): Greatest Hits UPCs: 021823604220, 766126803528 Genre: Rock Styles: Psychedelic, Folk-Rock, British Folk, Progressive Folk, British Folk-Rock Moods: Dramatic, Earnest, Passionate, Pastoral, Amiable/Good-Natured, Autumnal, Bittersweet, Intimate, Literate, Witty, Energetic, Gentle, Intense, Laid-Back/Mellow, Melancholy, Organic, Reflective, Rollicking, Searching, Sophisticated, Wistful Total Copies: 0 Members Wishing: 2 Number of Discs/SwapaCD Credits: 1

1. Red and Gold
2. All Your Beauty
3. Summer Before the War
4. Cup of Tea!/A Loaf of Bread/Miss Monahan's
5. London River
6. Gold
7. The Wounded Whale
8. Set Me Up
9. Open the Door, Richard
10. Rhythm of the Time
11. Mock Morris: The Green Man/The Cropredy Badger/Molly on the Jetty
12. The Begger's Song
13. Dark Eyed Molly
14. Claudy Banks
15. Sock in It
16. Close to the Wind [Live]

Year Type Label Catalog # 2005 CD Castle Music Ltd. 36042 1998 CD Mooncrest Records 35

Close to the Wind [Bonus Tracks]

Close to the Wind is a compilation drawn from Fairport Convention's 16th and 17th albums, Red & Gold (December 1988) and The Five Seasons (December 1990), boasting eight of the 11 songs from the former and eight of the ten from the latter, re-sequenced. On these albums, originally released in the U.S. by the Rough Trade label, the quintet of guitarist Simon Nicol, bass player Dave Pegg, multi-instrumentalist Martin Allcock, violinist Ric Sanders, and drummer Dave Mattacks staked a claim for the reunited full-time band. It was a tight unit in which Nicol took most of the lead vocals, singing well on the combination of traditional folk songs and borrowed originals by such writers as Ralph McTell, Bob Dylan, and Huw Williams, with powerful instrumentals led by Allcock and Sanders. The strongest track on either album, and thus on this one, is "Red and Gold," McTell's reminiscence of the English Civil War of the 17th century, as fought in Cropredy, not coincidentally the site of Fairport Convention's annual folk festival. There is also an excellent reading of Dylan's Basement Tapes-era "Open the Door, Richard." Not all of the songs come up to that standard, however, and the editing to get the two albums onto one disc eliminates several tunes written by Allcock and Sanders. Still, this is a good collection of late-'80s/early-'90s Fairport Convention. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

Name Credits Charlie Watts Mastering Jannelle Guillot Voiceover John Trickett Executive Producer Ken Caillat Executive Producer Melinda Pepler Production Coordination Mister Haynes Mixing Randy Glenn Quality Control Traditional Arranger