Live At The BBC

the best british folk-rock band of the late '60s, fairport convention did more than any other act to develop a truly british variation on the folk-rock prototype by drawing upon traditional material and styles indigenous to the british isles. while the revved-up renditions of traditional british folk tunes drew the most critical attention, the group were also talented songwriters as well as interpreters. they were comfortable with conventional harmony-based folk-rock as well as tunes that drew upon more explicitly traditional sources and they boasted some of the best singers and instrumentalists of the day. when fairport formed around 1967, their goal was not to revive british folk numbers, but to play harmony- and guitar-based folk-rock. the band really bloomed in 1968 when sandy denny joined. denny's penetrating, resonant style qualified her as the best british folk-rock singer of all time. various line-up changes took them up to the early 70s where their repertoire became much more traditional in focus and electrified traditional folk numbers would dominate. here they unequivocally reached their peak and moved away from their '60s folk-rock influences into a much more original style. it was thought, until recently, that very few of these recordings from this time remained in the bbc's archive, but a few years ago a box was discovered on a shelf at the bbc. consequently this 4cd box set contains their complete surviving bbc radio recordings from this period. it is a marvelous addition to the fairport collection and is timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the formation of the band.