Liege And Lief

You know this list has done a number on you when you’re looking forward to British folk records from the late 60’s and early 70’s. How beaten down am I that I wake up on a Sunday, check in to this website and think, “Fairport Convention…sweet, this should be good”? Seriously, though. The British folk on this list has been the most consistently enjoyable genre that I was previously unfamiliar with. It’s surprising because I typically don’t have the time of day for American folk music. The British folk I’ve been exposed to because of this list tends to be less tied down by tradition and more willing to experiment than their American counterparts. Fairport manages to strike a great balance between tradition and modern, with atmospherics and progressive song structures weaved into these traditional songs. The amazing guitar work of Richard Thompson and Sandy Denny’s exceptional vocals are standouts, but, really, the entire group is firing on all cylinders. Leige and Lief is an engaging and exciting folk rock record; highly enjoyable on a grey spring morning.

Simply, the apogee of British folk rock. Possibly the genre's greatest ever album. Opener aside, everything else comes from the archives of Cecil House but Fairport Convention play the material as if it was their own. Sandy Denny is at her peak here - variously gentle, imperious, confiding and raucous. Listen to the way she inhabits each character as if an actor on both 'Matty Groves' and the most remarkable of all, 'Tam Lin'. I grew up on this stuff.

The band slaps hard and Sandy Denny's voice, both beautiful and otherworldly carries the melodies superbly. There's a ton of subtext and depth to the songs and arrangements, leant an extra level of emotion due to the personal tragedy and upheaval the group went through around (or just before) the time they met to record the album. Blending the ancient with the supernatural and turning it into something distinctly modern yet timeless this is the ultimate folk-rock record.

I am generally pretty wary of folk music but I think that mostly applies to American folk music with it's tendency towards an often forced twang. This, however, works for me. I don't know if it's just being that much closer to the source or if it is that it actually rocks pretty damn hard when it wants to. I think alot weighs on the power of Sandy Denny's voice and Richard Thompson's guitar playing.

yay! more folk rock

A beautiful album that made my hairs stand on end, even on the 3rd or 4th listen. Highlights include Reynardine and Matty Groves. The arrangements are brilliant and the vocals are gorgeous. An album that took me completely by surprise and one that I will revisit often.

Fantastic Proto Bardcore. Makes me want to go to Ren faire

N'étant pas un grand fan de techno, cet album m'a tout de même donné envie d'avaler trois cachets d'ecstasy et de passer une nuit entière en rave party au milieu d'autres personnes baignées dans leur sueur.

So I really like this! I think I would consider buying this whole album, actually.

Cool mix of folk style with more modern/electric instruments

Only on 'Reynardine', but I'm really feeling this. Sandy Denny has a gorgeous voice. I'm leaning 5 stars on this one, I'm such a big fan of this electrified yet traditional folk vibe.

Actually quite enjoyed this style. Would love to explore more of this British folk rock.

Loved it. What a great way to communicate folk music. There's clearly a tradition here I haven't come close to tapping. That is, I liked playing folk forms at one point and am intrigued by some contemporary avant-garde approaches to old tunes, but felt like the pop-folk approaches were mostly cheap. I was wrong.

Traditional folk played like it was classic rock. For some reason, it was trendy in the pop-rock world for a few years. For even less obvious reasons, it's been highly regarded ever since

This shit belongs in the background in a Wes Anderson movie

Reynardine is a hell of a way to scare the listener off. Get past that and enjoy the folk impurism on offer. Thompson's guitar and Denny's drugged-out voice are too rock for chastity lullabies and keep the spectre of let's-go-back-to-purer-times idealism-cum-conservatism at bay.

Far too much folk and country music in this. "Most Influential Folk Album of All Time"? I'll take your word for it. I'll give it an extra star for that. 4/10

This is a real stinker. Easy-listening folk rock with not much going on. 2/10

I've never heard of Fairport Convention before but really liking this celtic kind of rock from the 60s. Matty Groves was really a great song, Tam Lin was also very good too, and Sir Patrick Spens. I like the vocalist, she sounds sort of like Grace Slick. I think I'll be revisiting their albums again and I think it's a 5 star for me. I learned a little bit about the singer, Sandy Denny too and didn't realize she sang with Led Zeppelin on Battle of Evermore, one of my favorite songs.

This album is awesome. Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson are British Folk/Folk-Rock legends for a reason. My Celtic Folk band used to perform Matty Groves. It's great to hear a more rock-oriented version (with a guitar solo!) that uses the darker version of the lyrics. The rockin' Irish fiddle tune set in the middle of the album is fantastic. 5 stars.

forward thinking hobbit music

One of the greats - innovative and brilliantly played, the start of folk-rock. The mix I am listening to has the drums too far forward in 'Come All Ye' and it makes the song seem rather repetitive unless you listen to the soaring, almost jazz-like, instrumentation. Sandy Denny is just coming in to her own in this album and the vocals fly; what a shame she died so young. Ok it may not be everyone's taste (I am no great lover of long traditional ballads either) but the arrangements keep you engaged and the lyrics are so beautifully sung and clear that they allow you to follow the story. This is a real break for Fairport from their previous 2 albums and Dave Swarbircks fiddle must be a central instigator; it really does come to the fore here and, along with Thompsons guitar and Dennys vocals makes a real statement. Almost prog rock in places - listen to the last track! All-in-all, brilliant.

Ren faire folk music and I love it

REALLY solid. What I imagine fairy folk rock to be

I don't really know why I liked this as much as I did. I figured it was either a high 4 or a 5 star album, even though it doesn't feel "perfect". I went and listened to some other Fairport Convention albums, and this does indeed seem to be the sweet spot between their American-tinged folk, and the pop-folk they ended up playing. I'm going with a slightly confounded 5 stars.

Amazing all around.

Just beautiful

na ez!!! ❤️ különösen imádom a medleyt a közepén.

Fantastic folk album. Loved every bit of it.

I really enjoyed this, although upon seeing the album art I could have sworn I had reviewed this one before (must have recently discovered it on my own somehow). Loved the traditional sounds, while also incorporating the sounds of the 60s in a more accessible manner. Soothing, sad, funny, this had it all. Beautiful smooth vocals, laid back melodies.. just great! 4.5/5

9/10. A bit of a slower start than the last one but fantastic all around. Great story telling, great jams. Loved it.

The electric music blends perfectly into the old folk songs.

I was only ever going to give this five stars

That voice is mesmerising, who knew I quite like folk.

After discovering this album, one thing that I really enjoyed about it, is that’s it’s really softened my heart to folk music. This is an album I’ll definitely be coming back to in the future.

Love this album. It's so weird but really drew me in. I tried looking for other stuff with a similar vibe (including other work by Fairport Convention) but nothing really hit the spot. Feel like they caught lightning in a bottle on this one

Me sorprendió gratamente porque no lo conocía. Qué buen disco, lo volveré a escuchar.

Honestly very fun. What a voice!

Wow what a masterful showing of talent. The breakdowns, solos, hell just the playing all over this album are incredible. Sounds like a description for somw prog or metal but this album sounds completely folk the whole way through. Amazing

I loved this entire album. It was a vibe, and now I’m listening to everything on the deluxe version.

Funny, I just listened to this two days ago and wondered if it was on the list. Glad it is. This album is fantastic, and I'm not even into this genre. These guys manage to do a lot with a little, as these songs tend to be very simple (often centering around one chord), and they also tend to be pretty long. And yet they find ways to keep things interesting: subtle changes in dynamics and intensity, sympathetic performances from the band, and of course Sandy Denny's understated and plaintive performances. Plus, the stories are great. Tam Lin is a favorite. My only complaint is that I wish the mix was a bit brighter and a touch more open, as these songs feel like they were recorded in a closet. So, 4.5 stars, rounded up.

Deep, dark, weird tales of crows and foxes and death and vengeance, intensely performed.

This album was incredible. Despite it being clearly folksy in nature, there's something about this album, and I can't quite put my finger on it, but it sounds really ahead of its time and quite modern. Really dig this one.

Nearly a whole album of my favourite Fairport Convention tracks. Crazy Man Michael the only dud for me.

I don't know what it is about Fairport Convention, but their music just hits the spot. Combination of beautiful vocals, great melodies, some guitar solos, a bit of melancholy in the music, it just creates a perfect blend, just like the previous record by Fairport on this list. Great music, easily 5/5. Looking for some vinyls straight away.

Folk rock perfection on this one.. Matty Groves is just outstanding.. Sandy voices and Thompson's solo at the end. Then there is Tam Lin.. Wow..

Been a fan of Richard Thompson for many years and Sandy Denny has such a great voice that can swing from folk to psychedelic rock. This record is a a great listen.

A magnificent meeting of Celtic and British traditional music and electricity. Utterly timeless with accomplished playing to boot. And, of course, Sandy.

A beautiful album right up my alley. It’s hard to overstate the significance this album had on the traditional music scene back in the day. It was met with scorn and derision by many and yet turned an entire generation of Romantics on to the literature of their tradition and culture. The musicianship here is too rate with Richard Thompson’s guitar and Sandy Senny’s string, controlled voice being backed by Dave Swarbeck’s fiddle. It’s a perfect marriage of traditional aesthetic and electric 1960s sound. You can hear the band trying to figure out how to work with this music behind the lyric. Thompson was the gift that made this all work. His little guitar fills and harmonic designs made the bridge possible and the band made the journey complete.

This here is a beautiful record. Sandy Denny's voice makes the fog lift. The view is perfect. The land is majestic and full of life. Listening to these songs is like witnessing the reconciliation of time, and this is what good folk music does. Honouring the tradition that brought us here while encapsulating contemporary emotions and atmosphere. The playing here is gorgeous, keeps us attached to the world and to community, while whatever Sandy Denny does brings out the magic, the heart, and the sense of something that is there without being seen. She sings the river that runs below the river and gives a voice to the ghosts. Beauty.

One thing I’ve really enjoyed about this music generator is that it has softened my heart to folk music, and "Liege and Lief" by Fairport Convention is another great album that I’ll definitely be coming back to in the future.

I absolutely loved this album. Sandy Denny's voice is incredible. Her voice, with the violins and mandolin playing in accompaniment, was just ethereal - and yet fierce. I am not a folk rock listener, but I will look for this album

Yes. OK maybe not the production but everything else about this album is perfect - Sandy Denny's singing, the playing of each of her five bandmates, and the compositions. Crazy Man Michael and Farewell Farewell are two of the finest songs ever created, and never performed better than here.

Drone-y occult folk

Love it

A stunning, genre pioneering album by the mighty Fairport. As someone who has seen them live many times, it was refreshing to hear all their well-known tracks as they were originally recorded with the unforgettable Sandy Denny.

That was really fun! I started this one completely blind, then looked up some background as I listened. I thought it was cool that most of the tracks were traditional Celtic or English folk songs.

Stoned at the Renaissance Fair. feel like i’m off that west-farthing leaf in a tavern or some shit. woodstock in the shire. want on vinyl pissed spotify took off two of the best songs - the fiddle medley and the deserter. but all the songs on this record are good ones i’ll just rip those mp4s

This is such a great record! I love sandy Denny’s voice and the arrangements here. I could listen to it again and again and again.

Sandy Denny had such a beautiful voice, I can still remember how shocked I was to read of her death. Such a loss. Great album, easy to listen to at any time of the day or night.

Te transporta a mood especial. Canciones con estilo celta y también a lo Daisy Jones. Un sonido muy natural.

Loved this! Very fun

Jag var rädd hela dagen för albumet från 1969 eftersom 1969 har det där distinkta överanvända ljudet. Ljudet... soundi... lehtinen suomessa.. laitto aluks unobjektinen review.. Sound of silver.. Huh sana jo kahdella kielellä ja yhdellä anglismilla tässä paragraafissa. Tuo ruotsin kieli pitää sieluni kaukana review boksista.. monta tuntia saa päivässä kerätä voimaa..

This is exactly what the late 60s and early 70s was supposed to sound like. Powerful music, then and now. If you're under 50, spend more time with Fairport Convention.

Very interesting and immersive album. It feels like I'm transported to a tavern in Middle Earth listening to a famous band play for a rowdy dancing crowd. I loved it. Especially the solo on Matty Groves. Albums like these make me happy I started this project. I doubt I ever would have found this on my own

Just got started but I'm loving it already. Surprised I've never heard of them before.

Now I get it. Having heard Unhalfbricking earlier, I was a little baffled as that album didn't seem as strong. However, this album definitely deserves to be on the list. A classic traditional blend of "plugged in" and acoustic Celtic folk that reminds me of bands like Clannad and Capercaillie and artists like Lorena McKennitt and Enya. So many good tracks on this album but Matty Groves is my favorite. Adding this one to my favorites.

I quite loved this. The folk with the rock bits just carried me away today.

I find Fairport Convention lovely and soothing but vaguely terrifying. Five stars!

Turns out I am a big fan of 60’s British folk music. Who knew? Just a wonderful salve to my aching soul.

Nice finding! I find it similar to Fleetwood Mac.

"Liege & Lief" is the fourth studio album by British folk rock band Fairport Convention. Many consider this the first major "British folk rock" album. The album was recorded following a motorway crash which killed drummer Martin Lamble and guitarist Richard Thompson's girlfriend Jeannie Franklin. It featured female lead singer Sandy Denny and contained both traditional British and Celtic folk songs and original compositions, both performed with a more rock back drop. Other band members included Dave Swarbrick (violin, viola), Simon Nicol (rhythm guitar), Ashley Hutchings (bass) and Dave Mattacks (drums). Commercially, the album hit #17 on the UK charts. The band comes out a stomping on the uplifting "Come All Ye." Acoustic and electric guitars, fiddle and Sandy Denny's fabulous voice. An original composition which is a rousing start. The traditional "Matty Graves" has layered guitars, more fiddle and just bounces. Thompson and Swarbrick's violin just rock this out. I did not know there was a folk rock "Freebird" but here it is. I actually heard prog elements. Denny tells the story of an adulterous tryst between a young man and a noble woman which does not end well. The band slows it up on "Farewell, Farewell." A melancholy song which is most likely the result of the recent deaths the band experienced. "The Deserter," a traditional song, starts out slow and picks up the pace. Dramatic, telling the tradional story and song of a solider forced to death for deserting. The band takes the traditional "Tam Lin" and rocks it out in the folk rock sense. Great Thompson guitar. For some reason, I kept hearing Jethro Tull's "Aqualung." The album closes with the Thompson penned "Crazy Man Michael." Slower. Another song Thompson admitted to writing over his loss and guilt of his girlfriend. It's a murder ballad where Michael mistakes a raven for his true love and the kills the raven ( his true love) with his dagger of fire and ice. I thoroughly enjoyed this album. Very strong vocals by Sandy Denny. The musicianship is top notch especially Thompson and Swarbrick. It's dramatic and at times uplifting. The pace changes between slow and more rockin' songs. The stories are compelling with the music fitting them. A very high recommendation.

oikein jytistelevää brittifolkkia! varmaa eka levy näistä mitä oon kuunnellu, johon ei ollu minkäänlaista aiempaa kosketuspintaa, josta oikeesti tykkäsin! miinuksena et spotifyssa on vaa joku ihme 2007 deluxe versio, mutta hyvin sai alkuperäsen osion kuunneltuu anyhow. matty groves sopi hyvin just tähän aamuun ja jäi kyl päällimmäisenä mielee.

To these ears it's more rock than folk, albeit raga rock. Sandy Denny had the perfect voice for this sort of material, being a little bit husky with the right amount of shrill. I love the sound of Dave Swarbrick's violin interchanging with Thompson's lead guitar. Folk music is a lot more dark than its given credit for ("Matty Groves" and "The Deserter").The only misstep is the diddly jig Medley: it just doesn't belong on an album like this. PS I have to admit that I didn't really like this (get this?) on first listen, but multiple listens through the years revealed a truly rewarding album. Great stuff.

Yeah I'm adding this to my library

Joooonge, was hab ich da verpasst / Jefferson airplane vibes - prog-parts, die nach Rush klingen /. Mega Texte / Legendäre Bass und Gitarren Riffs / Teils stark folkloristische Elemente 5/5

Un increíble LP de Folk británico liderado por la increíble voz de Sandy Denny, quien complementa sumamente bien las atrapantes melodías de la banda con un timbre casi ritualístico. Un disco muy cautivante que corona el año debut de la banda con un sonido que puede considerarse sumamente influyente para el panorama de la trova europea.

Authentic Renaissance Faire energy! Fairport Convention have dwelled in my musical blind spot for decades, but no more. Rough-hewn and enchanting, highlighted by lithe and mystical vocals from Sandy Denny. It's fascinating to hear the music than influenced so many Led Zeppelin songs!

This album never gets old, and is no doubt the best folk rock album ever made - I am not a major British folk rock fan, but it is one of these albums that exceeds their genre.

Loved this, had never listened to it before. I only knew a few Fairport Convention songs from Spotify, but will definitely be listening to more of theirs now. Interesting to see what was going on across the Irish sea around the same time that Planxty, Rory Gallagher and Thin Lizzy were doing similar experiments with trad/rock fusion.

A superb album - an album that everyone should own. The standout tracks for me are "Matty Groves" and "Tam Lin", plus the hauntingly beautiful "Crazy Man Michael". Sandy Denny's vocals are sublime and her untimely death was a tragedy.

I prefer this to the last Fairport Convention album we received, which had a split personality, due to a handful of Bob Dylan covers, whereas this LP is 100% British Folk. Sandy Denny’s singing is wonderful, especially in ballads like “Crazy Man Michael”, as is David Swarbick’s ever-present violin over the understated guitar of Richard Thompson. My favourites are the traditional pieces, led by “Maddy Groves” and “Tam Lin”, though they run on a bit – but it was 1969 after all.

First impression upon seeing the album cover and that it's another goddamn British band - "oh no not again" My impression after listening to the album - "Can this play on repeat forever?" Maybe it's the sort of rainy gloomy day here but I was completely transported by every single track here.

Banging choons

Really enjoyed this album

S-tier folk rock!

Love this, I sometimes think there is no better sound in popular music than Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson together. Fairport basically invented the modern folk genre on this record (for better or worse!), their third of 1969 (and they're all great!), and it's highly entertaining throughout. So many classics on here, esp. Matty Groves which is fucking savage. I could play this all day long. A good week so far!

Las vibras de este disco lo son todo 9/10 y nada más para agregar.

This came up on a strange day where I went on a 40ish-mile round trip after work to pick up a record player. It was a beautiful sunny evening at the very beginning of Spring, and the long country drive helped clear my head. This folk-rock record was absolutely the perfect companion for all that. Leige And Lief is a beautiful blend of rock music with adaptations of classic British and Celtic folk ballads, with a few original compositions added in also. Sandy Denny's beautiful voice ties everything together and creates a chill, moving album that never gets boring. Very good album with a few songs I will certainly come back to. Favourite: Matty Groves

Åh, Sandy!

Liked Songs: Matty Groves Medley: The Lark in the morning I like the jam sessions. I like the singers voice. I like folk music it turns out.

Cet album est clairement un 5/5, je le connaissais et c'est tellement bon que ca pas de sens. Je crois que j'ai 3 albums en 3 jours qui sont 5/5 je suis bel et bien sortit de l'enfer des moyens/mauvais albums.

Fantastic

Like a 60s Ren faire

love folk.

Some very nice compositions and skilled players. But what really sold me on this one is the vocals; they're an excellent fit for folk rock, remind me a bit of Comus.

muito bom, baita som

Yeah, I enjoyed this a lot.

British folk rock. Venga, un 5.

This was great. Loved it.