Fairport Convention - Babbacombe Lee

Title: Babbacombe Lee Artist: Fairport Convention Release Date: 11/1971 Re-Released On: 5/9/2000 Label: Polygram Duration: 41:20 Album Type(s): lyrics/libretto UPCs: 731451275524, 0731451275524 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. John's Reflections on His Boyhood, His Introduction to Miss Keyes ...
2. This Was the Happiest Period in His Life. All Looked Set Far for a Car
3. Tragedy Now Strikes Hard. the World's Imagination Is Caught by the Bru
4. John Was Hardly More Than a Bewildered Observer at His Own Trial, ...
5. When It Comes, He Cannot Sleep, But When He Does, a Strage, ...

Year Type Label Catalog # 2000 CD Polygram 512755

Babbacombe Lee [Bonus Tracks]

The group's only concept album (similar in some ways to the Pretty Things' S.F. Sorrow), built around the life story of John "Babbacombe" Lee, a Victorian-era condemned murderer. Lee's story, from his boyhood poverty to his time in the Royal Navy, his being invalided out and forced to work in the service of Miss Keyes, to her murder and his sentence of death, and the failure of the gallows three times, is told in song, and all but one of those songs are originals. The all-male Fairport seldom sang better, nor did the post-Thompson band ever play with more panache, and some of the songs are beautiful -- but a few are lugubrious, and as with most other concept albums, the fit between the songs and the larger subject ultimately isn't entirely comfortable for the listener. All of the material was confusing because the group, for some reason, never put titles on the individual songs, instead stringing them together in longer sections. The critics loved it, but the listeners stayed away in droves for the first time since the band's debut album. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide

Name Credits Dave Mattacks Drums, Piano (Electric) Dave Pegg Mandolin, Vocals, Bass Dave Swarbrick Fiddle, Vocals, Mandolin, Violin John Wood Producer, Engineer Philip Stirling Wall Vocals Simon Nicol Dulcimer, Vocals, Producer, Guitar