Barry Dransfield may have had the eyebrows, but Fiddler numero uno was of course, David Swarbrick, the Fag-meister.The funny looking one in Fairport Convention with the sticky out ears and questionable dress sense.
Never seen without a tab in his mouth,even when sleeping, he was one of the musicians responsible for the resurgence of folk music in the UK and made it attractive to a mainstream rock audience.
During his tenure on the highway to emphysema, dual lung transplant, and inevitably, death,he effortlessly churned out a seemingly endless repertoire of jigs, reels, and melodic violin led laments,as well as accompanying all the legends of the UK folk revival,often whipping out his mandolin.His workload was enormous,but never a complaint about shite record sales,unlike todays spoilt and lazy drug free bratola's. Basically his legend loomed large,and looms larger today. I bought this back in the day,because i liked the cover(rarely goes wrong), thinking this was some violin led prog rock group,but was pleasantly surprised it was prog jig mixed with some prog reels,and some prog folk.... a great album, and a great man.Chain Smoking's obviously good for some people after all?
Tracklist:
1.The Heilanman / Drowsy Maggie 2:39
2.Carthy's March 2:31
3.The White Cockade / Doc Boyds Jig / Durham Rangers 3:09
4.My Singing Bird 3:37
5.The Nightingale 2:18
6.Once I Loved A Maiden Fair 1:57
7.The Killarney Boys Of Pleasure 2:37
8.Lady In The Boat / Rosin The Bow / Timour The Tartar 4:10
9.Byker Hill 5:07
10.The Ace And Deuce Of Pipering 2:11
11.Hole In The Wall 1:19
12.Ben Dorian 1:36
13.Hullichans / Chorus Jig 2:00
14.The 79th's Farewell To Gibraltar 3:26
15.Arthur McBride / Snug In The Blanket 4:32
