Fairport Convention
Album: By Popular Request
Label: Matty Groves
Tracks: 13
Website: http://www.fairportconvention.com

Celebrating the band's 45th anniversary, its latest studio album is no studied exercise in misplaced nostalgia but instead a thoroughly considered exercise in audience choice that provided the impetus for the band members to give a well-earned makeover to loyal fans' voted selections from amongst its accumulated extensive repertoire.

No mere "greatest hits" package, then, and no tired retreading of the old boards, but instead a sequence of well- (if at times quite subtly-) revitalised classics, breathing new life into these time-honoured ancient vessels and re-rendering them entirely relevant both for today's fanbase and for audiences outwith the cognoscenti. We could all argue till the cows come home to roost over the inclusion (or not) of one's own personal Fairport favourites within this scrupulously ranked baker's dozen of songs spanning virtually the whole period of the band's life… but suffice to say that at least a few of these songs have not often been revisited by the band's current lineup, and one gets the strongest of impressions that all five of the band members really welcomed the challenge of reinterpreting these songs. Sure, one's memories of former glories - and the classic performances of Messrs Swarbrick, Denny and Thompson in particular - will always be part of memory, indeed of the fabric of many of these songs, but these new versions are unreservedly brilliant and are sure to stand up to any degree of critical scrutiny.

Especially impressive to my mind are an eerily reimagined Fotheringay, Genesis Hall (Simon on excellent vocal form here) and Farewell, Farewell (the latter also benefitting from the enhanced palette of Chris's whistles), while the solid folk-rock pedigree of the Fairport brand-name is given a splendidly fresh new garb on the feisty Sir Patrick Spens, the irrepressibly jaunty Walk Awhile and the unavoidable theatrics of Matty Groves (albeit now trimmed of most of its landmark workout), while the band is thrillingly augmented by Edmund Whitcombe (cornet) for its latest renditions of the two Cropredy anthems Red And Gold and (naturally!) Meet On The Ledge.

Nice one all round (and I really like the jokey fake-repro-45 artwork too!) - but heigh ho, what novel wheeze will the band come up with for Year 50, I wonder?

David Kidman