And I couldn't be happier.
See, this clip includes not only the song I blogged about -- starting at about 2:59 -- but a long-deleted performance of one of this duo's most famous medleys.
Don't ask me why -- I mean, it's not for lack of genius -- but, for the most part, Fairport Convention's studio work leaves me cold. Yet, the first time I saw them live remains at the top of my list of all-time favorite concerts.
Certain self-congratulatory types will tell you that every name act is better live than in the studio, but that doesn't explain The Stones; Crosby, Stills and Nash; The Neville Brothers; Bonnie Raitt, or a whole host of other acts whose live shows I find less than compelling.
All that said, Music Times Five is in imminent danger of turning into the Fairport Convention blog. Since virtuoso fiddler and elfin extrovert, Dave Swarbrick, passed, I have been rediscovering my undying love for the live work of Fairport Convention. I keep finding clips which I am desperate to share, and you'll probably get most of them.
Let's start with this one, in which Swarb and Simon Nicol take a busman's holiday away from the rest of the band, but not away from its music. It's a sneaky, seemingly-populist rant by ex-Fairporter, Richard Thompson, and Nicol plays the malcontented everyman to perfection -- a man so caught up in his own misery that he doesn't even realize he's come up with the solution to his problems mid-tirade:
So you steal a car and you go for a ride
You end up sleeping with some girl guide
And everything you do leaves you empty inside
It's time to ring some changes
I said something about ranting and, for two musicians working unplugged, Swarbrick and Nicol make a big, gorgeous noise. Swarb's playing is so smart here: he harmonizes with Nicol on the choruses, and the resulting overtones give the performance an almost orchestral ring.
This is Dave Swarbrick and Simon Nicol of Fairport Convention with Richard Thompson's "Time To Ring Some Changes".
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