I wish everyone a happy New Year. My thanks to everyone who has visited Darren’s music blog during 2022. As usual an eclectic mix of classic rock, folk and glam and a mixture of live reviews, album reviews, tour news and a plug for my own book appearing amongst the ten most viewed posts of the year.
1. Live review: the final ever Giants of Rock, Minehead 21-23 January 2022
Barring the gap due to Covid I’d been going to Butlins at Minehead each January since 2015 for the Giants Of Rock festival. But now the festival is no more, replaced by a tribute weekend, so I’ll be heading to Skegness in January for the Rock & Blues festival instead (although, sadly, that is coming to and end, too). Relive the last ever Giants of Rock weekend here with my review covering the likes of Ten Years After, Geordie, Atomic Rooster and Nazareth.
2. Live review: Suzi Quatro at the Royal Albert Hall 20/4/22
2022 was the year of all things Suzi Quatro for me. Not only did my book for Sonicbond’s Decades series, Suzi Quatro In The 1970s, come out in July but earlier in the year I could celebrate getting it finished, proofread and finally off to the publishers with a trip to London for Suzi’s incredible performance at the Royal Albert Hall. Photo credit (above): Gary Cosby
I was back over to London a couple of times in the Summer, too, with two separate trips to Hyde Park for the British Summertime series of concerts. The first of these was for the Eagles. Long on my bucket-list of must-see bands I finally got to see them. Even without the late, great Glenn Frey, it was still an incredible experience and just magical being in Hyde Park late on a summer evening as the sun started set watching them perform ‘Hotel California’.
4. Live review: the Rolling Stones at Hyde Park 3/7/22
Just a week after the Eagles I was back in Hyde Park for the Rolling Stones. It’s been over thirty years since attending my first and only previous Rolling Stones gig, when I went with my dad to Manchester’s Maine Road back in 1990. My dad’s thinking back then was that if I wanted to see them live then 1990’s Urban Jungle tour might be my last chance. It wasn’t quite! Thirty years later I’m back for more and what a memorable evening it was.
5. Live review: Fairport’s Cropredy Convention August 2022
After a two-year gap due to Covid restrictions it was nice to be back in Oxfordshire in August for Fairport Convention’s annual Cropredy festival. Both tickets and line-up had been carried over from the event initially planned for 2020 but the passage of time had necessitated some tweaks to the line-up and in my case (due to a change in domestic circumstances), the reallocation of my second ticket to a Cropredy newcomer. Highlights included Clannad, Trevor Horn, Turin Brakes, Richard Thompson – and Fairport, of course!
6. New book: ‘Suzi Quatro In The 1970s’ by Darren Johnson coming in July 2022
Definitely, one of the highlights of 2022 for me was the publication of my book on Suzi Quatro for Sonicbond’s Decades series, which followed on from the book on The Sweet I had written the previous year for the same series. As Suzi herself says: “If you talk about the ‘70s, I was a hardworking artist. I did nothing but tour – recording, touring, TV, you know. I had constant jetlag. Constant black shadows under my eyes but, oh, what a ride! What a wonderful ride. And I’m still doing it now.”
7. Album review – Graham Bonnet Band ‘Day Out In Nowhere’
My most popular album review of the year, I wrote that Graham Bonnet is “clearly on something of a roll at this late stage in his career. Whether you are the more casual fan of his most celebrated albums from the late 70s and early 80s or a dedicated fan who’s loyally followed each and every stage of his long career, there’s lots to like in Day Out In Nowhere. It deserves to do well.”
8. Album reviews: four recent solo releases from the extended Uriah Heep family
Going online to treat myself to the newly-released CD from former Uriah Heep singer, Pete Goalby, I ended up having one of those “customers who viewed this also viewed these” impulse purchase experiences. Before I knew it I had, not one, but four recently-released CDs from the extended Uriah Heep family popping through my letterbox, three of these being released posthumously.
9. Bowie and Iggy Pop icon, Tony Fox Sales, celebrates 45 years of Lust For Life
One of the things I am really looking forward to in 2023 is the tour by Iggy Pop / Bowie bass legend, Tony Fox Sales. With an all-star line-up, Tony is joined by legendary Blondie drummer, Clem Burke; vocalist, renowned broadcaster and Pet Shop Boys dancer, Katie Puckrik; Iggy Pop and David Bowie guitarist, Kevin Armstrong; guitarist, Luis Correia, who’s toured internationally with Earl Slick; and classical pianist, composer, and touring member of Heaven 17, Florence Sabeva.
10. Gaelic singer Kim Carnie – debut album ‘And So We Gather’
Gaelic singer, Kim Carnie, launched her solo career in 2018 with the release of her EP, In Her Company. Since then she’s worked with the bands, Mànran and Staran, been much in demand as a session vocalist and in 2021 won the Gaelic Singer of The Year prize at the MG Alba Trad Awards. In June this year she released her debut album, And So We Gather.
Tony Fox Sales, the legendary bass player from Iggy Pop’s Lust For Life album and David Bowie’s Tin Machine has released a brand-new version of ‘Success’ from Lust For Life. The single is released ahead of a tour to mark forty-five years since the release of the classic album. The all-star line-up on the single features Tony Fox Sales alongside Blondie drummer, Clem Burke; vocalist, broadcaster and Pet Shop Boys dancer, Katie Puckrik; Iggy Pop and David Bowie guitarist, Kevin Armstrong; guitarist, Luis Correia, who’s toured internationally with Earl Slick; and classical pianist, composer, and touring member of Heaven 17, Florence Sabeva.
Tony Fox Sales:“The Lust For Life album as a piece of work itself meant so much to me. To work with David and Iggy in Berlin was the highlight of my career at that point. It was a very creative and inspiring project to work on. It’s been fun for me to revisit ‘Success’ and re-record it with Clem and the others. I’m forty-five years older. I put a different bass track on it and I’m very proud of our new version. It moves. It’s going to be a lot of fun to perform it live. I hope you come and see us. Everybody’s pumped to do this.”
Vocalist, Katie Puckrik, adds:“Out of all the great songs on Lust for Life, ‘Success’ has a tangy little hold on my heart, which is why I wanted it as the single for our project. The glammy swagger of the tune is so damn cocky, but it’s the wit of the lyrics that tickles my pickle. After a tally of the winner’s spoils (a car, a Chinese rug), the line “here comes my face” cracks me up every time I sing it. It’s braggadocio meets neediness, the perfect distillation of the fame game.”
“It was a blast to perform this wry, sly song along with Tony Fox Sales’ thundering, musical bass, Clem Burke’s rhythms-within-rhythms drumming, and Kevin Armstrong’s soaring/slashing guitar. So thanks to some of the coolest musicians in the world—here comes my face.”
The single is available from 16th December on all the main digital platforms.
The same line-up will be touring next year, with a full UK tour alongside dates in Ireland and Japan. On the tour, the band will perform the Lust For Life album in full, as well as revisiting songs from across the individual band members’ careers with legendary artists such as Blondie and David Bowie.
Looking forward to the tour, Tony adds:“I’m very excited to get back on the road. I haven’t been on the road since I last toured with David Bowie and Tin Machine in 1991, but I’ve been a professional musician since I was twelve years old and I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Following my books on The Sweet andSuzi Quatro I’m absolutely delighted to confirm that my third book for Sonicbond’s ‘Decades’ series, Slade In The 1970s, is published on 26th May 2023.
You can order from Amazon’s website here and via the publisher’s online shop at Burning Shed here as well as other major retailers.
Launch event at The Trumpet, Bilston, 17th June – details here
Slade In The 1970s – synopsis
Slade were one of the biggest British bands of the 1970s. One of the early pioneers of glam rock they enjoyed an incredible run of six number one singles, five top-ten albums and a succession of sell-out tours. However, after a failed attempt at an American breakthrough in the mid-1970s, Slade returned to Britain and faced dwindling record sales, smaller concert halls and a music press that had lost interest in them. By the end of the decade, they were playing residencies in cabaret clubs and recorded a cover of a children’s novelty song. But then came a last-minute invitation to play the 1980 Reading Festival, setting into motion one of the most remarkable comebacks in rock history.
As we come to the fiftieth anniversary of Slade’s 1973 annus mirabilis that saw ‘Cum On Feel The Noize’, ‘Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me’ and ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ all enter the UK charts at number one, this book celebrates the music of Slade. From the band’s beginnings in the mid-1960s through each year of the decade that gave them their biggest successes, every album and single is examined, as well as their raucous live shows and colourful media profile.
About the Author
A former politician, Darren Johnson spent many years writing about current affairs but after stepping away from politics he was able to devote time to his first love: music. His first book, The Sweet In The 1970s, was published by Sonicbond in 2021, followed by Suzi Quatro In The 1970s in 2022. Now he turns his attention to the first band he truly fell in love with: Slade. A keen follower of both rock and folk, he maintains a popular music blog Darren’s Music Blog and has reviewed albums and gigs for a variety of publications. He lives in Hastings, East Sussex
The Resolve are a five-piece rock band from Kent who channel the big choruses, catchy melodies and high energy delivery from bands like Oasis, Kasabian and The Who with those stadium-sized guitar riffs instantly reminiscent of the mighty Foo Fighters.
Formed in 2019 as the covers band, Paisley Park, they cut their teeth on the local music scene around London and Kent and soon gained a faithful following, rapidly progressing to regular slots at local festivals – including headlining the Danson Park Firework Spectacular for an audience of 35,000. Now, with a new name and a new determination to create high-quality original music, The Resolve released their debut double A-sided single. ‘Satisfy’ / ‘So You Say’ on 25th November.
The Resolve:“After a number of years working the circuit as a covers band, we cannot wait to release our own music. We are so excited to finally get the songs out there, and to see where this new path will take us. The first track of our debut double A-side is ‘Satisfy,’ which is a song that jumps straight in to capture that feel of a great classic rock tune. For the second track, ‘So You Say’, we wanted a song that grabbed your attention from the start and then took you on a journey, from its mellow acoustic feel early on into that huge great chorus!”
“The inspiration for our music has come from all over, and from knowing exactly what a crowd wants through all our past work as a go-to covers band. Our mission is to channel the high energy from bands like The Who and The Foo Fighters with the crowd-pleasing, catchy choruses that define all of those great songs from The Beatles, The Jam and Oasis.”
The Resolve are:
James Cox – Drums
Simon Hawkins – Lead Guitar
Matt Kemp – Rhythm Guitar
Chris Regan – Bass
Tom Wiltshire – Vocals
Both tracks were recorded at The Joplin House studio by producer Dan Lucas who says of The Resolve: “After nearly twenty years in the production chair, it’s amazing how many bands I’ve encountered who can play but can’t really write a ‘song’. I had my faith restored this weekend. So many artists are out there with cobbled-together tunes, throwaway lyrics or tracks that are devoid of any substance. There’s a reason the ‘90s was such a successful decade for guitar music!”
Work is currently underway on The Resolve’s debut album, scheduled for release in 2023. The album promises everything from hard hitting rock tracks to melodic catchy belters.
‘Satisfy’ / ‘So You Say’ – released 25th November on all the main digital platforms.
In advance of their forthcoming album, Burnt Out Wreck have released a second single. ‘Ain’t Done Nothing Wrong’ follows an earlier single, ‘Stand And Fight’, which will also be the title track of the new album when it is released on 2nd December.
Formed by Gary Moat, drummer and chief songwriter of 1980s rock/metal band Heavy Pettin’, Burnt Out Wreck released their debut album, Swallow, back in 2017. That was followed by This Is Hell in 2019. Their brand of swaggering, old-school, rock and roll boogie immediately found a receptive audience and many comparisons to Bon Scott-era AC-DC have been made in the five years that followed. That basic template remains unchanged but Moat is especially proud of this latest album.
Gary Moat: “These are eleven of the best songs I’ve written. This really was the ‘difficult third album’, inspired by the worst one and a half years in my life, but the end result was worth the struggle, and this is something I’m really proud of. I invite you all to ‘Stand And Fight’.”
Burnt Out Wreck are:
Gary Moat: lead vocals and rhythm guitar Alex Carmichael: bass guitar and backing vocals Andy McLaughlan: lead guitar and backing vocals Richard Upson: lead guitar and backing vocals. Paul Gray: drums
Back in the day Diamond Head seemed to be one of those bands I constantly read about but somehow passed me by, neither seeing the live nor owning one of their albums. I’ve made up for it in recent years and this is now the third time I’ve seen them. Hugely influential as early pioneers of the NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) era and later lauded by bands on the US thrash scene, like Metallica, they never really quite got the recognition they deserved to make it into the big league. But after being absent for the latter part of the 1980s and much of the 1990s the band reformed in the early 2000s and have been solidly active ever since.
Lead guitarist, Brian Tatler, has been the one constant presence in every line-up of the band from the start but the latter-day Diamond Head are a really strong unit and seem to have carved out a niche for themselves as a go-to support act. I saw them at this same venue three years ago supporting Uriah Heep and it’s great to see them, once again, now supporting Saxon. While there may be something of an ‘always-the-bridesmaid-never-the-bride’ about that, it is nevertheless fantastic to see them perform on a big stage in decent-sized venues like De la Warr. The band’s combination of hard riffing and bona fide heavy metal classics assure them a hugely appreciative audience tonight. Definitely, a support band you don’t want to miss.
While some veteran rock acts might be content to ease off on the writing and recording of new material and focus primarily on a greatest hits set for their live shows, Saxon continue to deliver some excellent albums and this tour is very much about promoting the latest, Carpe Diem, released earlier this year. Indeed, the name of this tour (‘Seize The Day’) comes from a line in the album’s title track. There’s no shortage of material from the new album on this tour and the first part of the set is heavily dominated by tracks from Carpe Diem. Having bought the album when it first came out back in February, I’ve had a good few months to familiarise myself with it. So as the band blast out tracks like the aforementioned ‘Carpe Diem (Seize the Day)’, ‘Age Of Steam’ and ‘Dambusters’, they sound more like welcome old friends than strangely unfamiliar new material. It helps, of course, that Saxon have always had that knack of turning out memorable songs with great riffs.
There’s room, of course, for plenty of the old classics, too. ‘And The Bands Played On’, ‘Wheels Of Steel’, ‘747 (Strangers In The Night)’, ‘Denim And Leather’ and ‘Princess of the Night’ all get a welcome airing before the end of the evening. Unforgettable anthems of heavy metal all of them, they have ensured Saxon have remained up there as my personal favourite to come out of the NWOBHM scene.
Biff Byford is in fine voice and remains a compelling frontman, the band power through the songs with incredible energy as those trademark heavy riffs are unleashed and the songs, whether new or old, make for a hugely memorable gig. Thank you, Saxon!
The Cathodes are a Greater Manchester-based synth-rock band and their debut album, So Clear, came out this summer. The band describe themselves as “influenced by the melodies and sounds from the ‘80s with a small dash of the ‘60s thrown in.”
The three-piece are Dave Forward (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Paul Cargill (bass, backing vocals) and Barbara Verrall (keyboards, backing vocals). Although relatively new all three are experienced musicians with an extensive track record playing in local bands. Classically-trained, Barbara Verrall teamed up with Dave Forward after meeting at a local church. The duo then came across Paul Cargill at an open mic night in the Derbyshire village of Charlesworth on the outskirts of Greater Manchester. The Cathodes was born, the trio finally coming up with the name just two days before the UK went into lockdown back in 2020.
Although I must confess to often finding a lot of the music of the ‘80s a little synthetic and over-produced and it wasn’t particularly my thing at the time (even though it’s the backdrop to my youth!), So Clear is a tasteful and intelligent album with great melodies and thoughtful lyrics. Songs like ‘North Of England’ (written by Forward’s then musical collaborator, Jon Dean, and originally recorded by the duo back in the 1980s) perfectly captures a mood and immediately takes me back to my own teenage years in Preston around that time.
‘In From The Cold’, meanwhile, is the band’s latest single and, like the majority of tracks on the album, is written by Forward. Written back in 1990 and inspired by Forward’s many late-night freezing walks as a student, it was finally recorded in 2021 and features some superb lead guitar from guest guitarist, Dave Townson, but also includes some classic analogue sounds from the 1980s giving the track a real ‘80s feel.
The album was voted number one in the Chart Of Gold over nine consecutive weeks and for any lovers of ‘80s synth-rock is well worth seeking out.
Released: July 2022 by Creative Dreams & Music Network
Kent-based blues rock band, Big River, have been picking up airplay left, right and centre along with a slew of glowing reviews for their latest EP. Deservedly so, Beautiful Trauma is a very classy release. As the band acknowledge, they’ve been on something of a journey since their debut album, Redemption, was released back in 2019.
Bass-player, Ant Wellman, departed recently to be replaced by Simon Gardiner but the biggest change has been the acquisition of front-man, Adam Barron, who replaced original vocalist, Adam Bartholomew, back in 2021. Barron had already made an impact as a contestant on TV’s The Voice, and was snapped up by Mick Ralphs for his own solo band, the Mick Ralphs Blues Band, prior to Ralphs’ debilitating stroke putting an end to that. I’d witnessed Baron in action with Mick Ralphs a couple of times previously, and once with another ex-Bad Company alumni, Dave Bucket Colwell. And I’ve been following the career of Big River with interest ever since they first formed so when the two joined forces it seemed like a match made in heaven to me. And this EP is definite proof of that!
As drummer, Joe Martin, says: “These songs have been performed live and have gone down a storm with all audiences. Through the changes Big River have maintained their thunderous live sound, but it’s that bit sweeter. The future is bright.”
‘Don’t Hold Out’, with its upbeat acoustic passages (courtesy of Barron on ukulele), a blinding guitar solo from Damo Fawsett and its summery vibe opens the four-track EP nicely, showcasing Adam’s Barron’s soulful, bluesy vocals to perfection.
The band then come in hard and heavy for the next track ‘The Long Way’, a great slice of meaty, classic rock which is then followed by another rocker, ‘Slow Burn’, with its striking, jaggedy riff, superb bass and powerful energy. The band then take things down a notch for the final track and the EP’s title rack. With shades of Free and early Whitesnake, ‘Beautiful Trauma’ is everything you could ask for from a classic blues rock song: soulful, emotive, anthemic, with some gorgeous guitar and vocals to die for, not to mention meaningful, relatable lyrics.
Now at a pivotal point in their career trajectory, Big River have delivered an EP of pure class. Anyone with any love of classic-era blues rock is urged to buy Beautiful Trauma right now. You will not be disappointed!
With all the performers originally booked for 2020, then rescheduled for 2021, then rescheduled again for 2022, a lot has happened since this festival line-up was first announced at the back-end of 2019. Festival mainstay, Richard Digance, could no longer make it. He had a booking at the Edinburgh Fringe this year so his Saturday lunchtime set was given over to Seth Lakeman. Matthews Southern Comfort, who had originally been down for the early Saturday evening slot, had now morphed into The Matthews Baartmans Experience, the band having gone their separate ways during their Covid-enforced career interlude leaving just Iain Matthews and BJ Baartmans to fly the flag as a duo. And for myself (who had originally booked tickets for me and my now ex-partner) I would now be accompanied by Simon (below right) who has stacks and stacks of camping experience but had never been to a musical festival before.
Simon’s verdict:“I couldn’t believe how well-organised it was . It was just like a proper campsite. I was expecting it to be really rowdy and nowhere near as civilised as it was.”
Day One – Thursday:
I’ve been at Cropredy in all sorts of weather conditions, from thunder and lightning to torrential rain to baking hot sun, but it soon became clear that we wouldn’t be able to just sit in the field all day watching pretty much every band that came along. Me and heatwaves don’t mix. I could just about cope with the mid-day sun and the late evenings were exceptionally pleasant once the sun had dipped below the horizon but after downing several pints waiting for Fairport Convention’s twenty-minute opening acoustic set on the Thursday afternoon it soon became abundantly clear that a very different strategy was needed this year.
This was fine as pretty much all of the artists I really, really wanted to see had either early lunchtime slots or later evening slots. It meant I would miss out on the experience of trying out some new bands in the afternoon but even a jam session with the reincarnation Elvis and Jimi Hendrix would not have got me back on that festival field in the afternoon sun.
Following a snooze to recover and then listening to Edward II from the comfort (and shade) of our campsite gazebo, we headed back over for Clannad. A band I’d long wanted to see, their set was absolutely stunning and a fitting finale to their 52-year career. Back in 2020 they had decided to call it a day but the pandemic has meant a two-year delay to the completion of their farewell tour. When Cropredy 2020 was cancelled I treated myself to a copy of their double-disc career retrospective so I was pretty familiar with pretty much all of their set-list (not just the ubiquitous TV theme-song classics) by the time it came to Cropredy. Well worth the wait.
When they last played Cropredy in 2017 The Trevor Horn Band went down an absolute storm. However, not particularly being a fan of either Buggles or 80s-era Yes, back then I decided to take a break for a snooze. I soon realised I’d made a big mistake as we heard Horn and co. churn out hit after hit from the comfort of the campsite. No such snobbery from me this time around and we made sure we were there for a set that encompassed songs from the back catalogues of Frankie Goes To Hollywood, 10CC, Tears For Fears, David Bowie, Dire Straits and many more – not to mention the obligatory Yes and Buggles hits. There were numerous guests, including Lol Crème from 10CC, Steve Hogarth from Marillion and the wonderful Toyah Wilcox and Robert Fripp who became those surprise YouTube sensations during lockdown. It was fun, brilliantly-performed and a wonderful party atmosphere, even for me who is generally quite snooty about 80s chart hits.
Day Two – Friday:
Our heatwave survival strategy came into play whereby we would catch a couple of lunchtime acts and then retreat from the afternoon sun until the evening. BBC Young Folk Award 2019 winner, Maddie Morris, finally got to perform and wowed the crowd with her sweet voice, socially-conscious lyrics and powerful advocacy of LGBT rights. Next up was Australian singer-songwriter, Emily Barker, who I’d enjoyed twice before, once doing an in-store performance promoting her wonderfully-soulful Sweet Kind of Blue album (recorded in Memphis) and once on tour with Marry Waterson (daughter of Lal) of the legendary Waterson family. The was no Marry on stage this time but we did get a wonderful rendering of the Watersons’ ‘Bright Phoebus’, alongside Emily Barker’s own unique blend of soulful Americana.
It was then time to escape the sun and also meet a late-comer to our ten-strong Cropredy camping group so I spent some time in one of the marquees at the Cream of The Crop campsite in Field 8 which runs its own parallel small festival alongside the official Fairport one. Anyone with a wristband for the main festival can get in and while I, unfortunately, missed the brilliant Dandelion Charm I did catch some other great music. After showing our new arrival to the camp it was then time to head off to the main stage for Turin Brakes.
Formed at the turn of the millennium their chilled-out and gorgeously-melodic brand of indie rock was just perfect for a summer evening and one of the weekend highlights for me. Playing a mixture of old favourites like their 2005 top five hit, ‘Painkiller (Summer Rain)’ alongside newer material, they certainly looked happy to finally be performing and it was an emotional moment for drummer, Rob Allum, when it was revealed his first visit to Cropredy was as a youngster way back in 1980.
If the previous night ended with the party sing-along atmosphere of the Trevor Horn Band’s set, this was not exactly what Steve Hackett was offering. I can dip in and out of early Genesis but this seemed very much a strictly-for-fans only set, I’m afraid, and after grabbing some pictures of the stunning full moon over the festival crowd we decided to call it a night.
Day Three – Saturday:
Seth Lakeman never disappoints at a festival and although his set is a world away from the entertaining mix of sentimentality and silliness served up by Richard Digance, he was an inspired choice to fill the latter’s regular Saturday lunchtime slot and a big enough name to guarantee that the field would be full by the time he came on stage to open proceedings.
After Seth Lakeman we slipped away, once again, before the afternoon sun really started doing it’s worst but were back at the main stage by early evening.
Early Fairport alumni, Iain Matthews, always seems as comfortable playing solo with just his guitar as he is playing with a full band, so the duo format suits him down to the ground. Playing a mixture of Matthews Southern Comfort and solo material, plus some well-chosen covers (including ‘Reno Nevada’, a regular live fixture from Fairport Convention’s early days) the Matthews Baartmans Experience are nicely timed to start off an evening of Fairport and friends. Richard Thompson (who would be back on shortly for both his own set and Fairport’s) comes on for one song. In a colourful shirt and baggy shorts sans his usual black stage uniform, he joins the duo to perform a crowd-pleasing cover of Joni Mitchell’s ‘Woodstock’, Matthews Southern Comfort’s biggest and best-known hit.
Then it’s straight into a set from Richard Thompson. With a great mix of old favourites (‘Genesis Hall’, ‘1952 Vincent Black Lightning’, ‘Beeswing’, ‘Bright Lights’ et al) and newer material (‘Singapore Sadie’, ‘The Rattle Within’), he’s always a star turn any time he’s been at Cropredy and he had the crowd roaring for him from the word go. The voice, that guitar, those songs: this was always going to be a winning combination at Cropredy. And it was. Iain Matthews returned the favour by providing vocals on the wonderful ‘From Galway To Graceland’ and, all in all, it was the perfect prelude to the grand finale.
2020 marked the fiftieth anniversary of Fairport Convention’s first post-Sandy Denny album, the much-celebrated Full House) and two years later they finally get to perform it in full with all of the original line-up from that album, bar Dave Swarbrick (whose place was taken by current member, Chris Leslie, taking on the late Swarb’s fiddle and vocal parts). First, however, the current line-up deliver a handful of old favourites not from that album like ‘Ye Mariners All’ and ‘Fotheringay’, alongside a very hefty dose of songs from the most recent studio album, Shuffle And Go, which was released back in 2020. On their 2022 Winter Tour earlier this year Dave Pegg joked that given they had not had chance to flog them on tour for the last couple of years, there were still stacks of these albums sitting in his garage and so they were making no apologies for heavily pushing it. Clearly, the same rule applied but there are some pretty entertaining songs on the album and the musicianship is never less than excellent.
The moment virtually all of us were waiting for, however, was the start of the Full House segment and it was a really special seeing ex-Fairporters Dave Mattacks and Richard Thompson taking their places alongside Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg and Chris Leslie. Together they captured the drama, intensity and outright weirdness of that classic 1970 album – and some more. All are seasoned players compared to their younger selves and while Dave Swarbrick’s presence was sorely missed, they played and sang with such confidence and swagger that it almost felt better than the original album.
The between-song banter in the early part of the set and the non-negotiability around playing the Full House album in full meant that they had started to run short of time towards the end of the set, where they were up against an equally non-negotiable curfew. ‘Matty Groves’ was unceremoniously dumped but we still got a beautiful rendition of ‘Who Knows Where The Time Goes’ with a lovely video introduction from Sandy Denny’s daughter, Georgia Lucas, as well as the traditional end-of festival emotional sing-along that is ‘Meet On The Ledge’.
I didn’t mind missing ‘Matty Groves’. My only real niggle is that I felt there should have been a proper on-stage tribute to original vocalist, Judy Dyble, who sadly passed away in 2020. I was expecting something to be played from the first album and perhaps an accompanying video tribute. Yes, she was only around for one album but she participated in numerous reunions and was an enthusiastic attendee of the festival each year.
Nevertheless, it was great to be back, it was a spectacular evening courtesy of Fairport and friends and it was an emotional end to the festival. It all comes round again (eventually).
Following publication of my recent book on Suzi Quatro, I was delighted to be interviewed by the force of nature that is Plastic EP. He’s had a huge range of guests from big-name musical stars to dedicated music lovers like myself. We talked Suzi, The Sweet, my love of the 70s glam era and the two books I’ve had published for Sonicbond’s ‘Decades’ series (with a third on the way!)
You can catch the full interview with Plastic EP here:
Among the 800 guests he’s had on so far, Plastic EP has interviewed Suzi, herself, of course. You can catch one of his interviews with Suzi here, where he’s joined by co-host, Sabine Brignell.
Plastic EP and Sabine also interviewed Don Powell recently, which you can catch here:
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