Fairport Convention - Liege and Lief

An acclaimed and seminal album in the advancement of British 'Folk-Rock', "Liege & Lief" is the fourth album by Fairport Convention. Released in the UK on Island Records in December 1969 and supported by a sell-out concert at London's Royal Festival Hall, it resided in the UK's album charts for 15 weeks.

Recording:
Prior to recording, the band suffered the tragic loss of drummer Martin Lamble and Richard Thompson's girlfriend, Jeannie Franklyn, when their tour-bus crashed. In addition, Iain Matthews left, later to create "Matthews' Southern Comfort". The band regrouped and began rehearsals in a country house in Winchester, with Dave Mattacks filling Lamble's role and with violin virtuoso Dave Swarbrick joining the band full time, both of whom had appeared on the group's previous release, "Unhalfbricking". The band was completed by Richard Thompson & Simon Nicol on guitar, Ashley Hutchings on Bass Guitar and Sandy Denny on vocals. The producer was Joe Boyd, with engineering by John Wood at Sound Techniques, London.
Members Hutchings and Denny had departed the band by the time this was released in the USA.

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