The History You Never Learned In School

Remember the first time you found out that some adult you'd looked up to had grossly misrepresented the truth?

I'm not talking about outright lies, but spin.

This is a song about spin. It's a song about bitter disappointment and heroes with feet of clay. It's also about the soul-crushing realization that you've been blindly yet blithely complicit in some incalculable evil.

Most of all, this is a song about anger, and the salvific realization that, if you don't get angry and stay that way -- at least in some measure -- you'll keep getting rooked until, one day, you're the one doing the rooking. One day, this song says without saying, if you don't look out, you'll be the one who's joined the ranks of the living dead.

Every one of these musicians understands that. Johnny Rotten wishes he could put anger across with as much skill and daring as lead vocalist, Julie Matthews, does here. Every note lacerates, every word accuses. This is utterly righteous anger, and it's impossible to deliver without musical and emotional integrity.

With Fairport Convention vets Ashley Hutchings and Simon Nicol, this is the Albion Band with "The Jewel In the Crown".

In Memory Of Dave Swarbrick (Revised)

 EDITOR'S NOTE: I originally posted this entry on June 3, 2016. When, today, I decided I wanted to tweet it, I discovered that the original video (that's a still from it, at left) had been removed. 

To say I was disappointed is putting it mildly. I hope to God that whatever copyright money the holder has accrued by deleting the video is doing somebody some genuine good.

That said, while I quite like the recorded live version below, I found the performance in the now-deleted video to be extra-special, and a much crisper performance, at that.  

In any case, here's my original post, with audio from the live CD, In the Club, by Dave Swarbrick and Simon Nicol:

Posting this in memory of the astonishing Dave Swarbrick, who died today at age 75, after a long battle with emphysema.

You know, I get it: these are folk musicians. But, as part of Fairport Convention, they play(ed) British folk music in a rock context. Aside from very few bands, I associate rock with preening, stage-hogging self-centeredness. I expected Nicol to cut loose right over one of Swarbrick's runs, and Swarbrick to get louder and showier in response -- even though I've seen Nicol live with Fairport. I'll admit I wasn't listening as critically in those days as I do now, but still ....

Imagine my surprise at finding this clip, in which two folk rockers honor the music above everything else. This is first-class musicianship, and absolute virtuosity on all counts. I can hardly fathom a rock musician like Simon Nicol actually accompanying someone else, much less doing it with respect, enjoyment, and verve.

And Swarbrick. What crisp articulation and clear tone, what joyful playing. What a sad day for anyone who values this kind of music-making.

Here are Dave Swarbrick (RIP) and Simon Nicol with a medley of "Hen's March" and "Four Poster Bed".

Have You Seen Them Live? Fairport Convention Edition

EDITOR'S NOTE: As often happens, the clip I originally blogged about here has disappeared from YouTube.

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".