Consumer Guide Album

Fairport Convention: Unhalfbricking [A&M, 1970]
Folk-rock is a doubly willful idea in England--our bluegrass and acoustic blues are closer to rock than their Child ballads. And Fairport's eleven-minute version of "A Sailor's Life" doesn't come up to the three Dylan songs (one in French) or Richard Thompson's quite un-English "Cajun Woman." But they do inject a droning energy into the material that suggests real synthesis. Thanks be to Thompson's guitar, Dave Mattacks's drums, and Sandy Denny's fondness for booze. A−