"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" - The 2017 Film - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...You Just Need Love...Listen To Your Heart..."

Just come from the cinema and like the entire audience - the better half and I were quietly blown away by the hard-hitting, wildly funny and genuinely heart breaking - "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri".

I’m also reminded of "Darkest Hour" in that all the talk is of Gary Oldman and his amazing central performance – so too here it’s Fargo’s own Francis McDormand – ragged and boiler-suited and burning with an inner rage at the unsolved loss of her daughter savagely taken from their family seven years earlier. But while McDormand gets the juicy lead role and is allowed to scene steal as her character Mildred Hayes gets to kick local lazy-assed racist cop butt at every possible turn – like "Darkest Hour" it's the support cast and their unexpected character arcs that absolutely lift this movie up into something really special indeed.

If I was to single out anyone – it’s the local sloppy cops. Both Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell have put in great performances before in a huge array of Movies/TV - but here they've been given parts as the Chief of Police Willoughby and his not-so-bright sidekick Officer Dixon that make them glisten – roles that will have even the most weary of film-buffs renew their admiration for this mighty pairing of actors. And just when you think you know exactly what their characters are (a whole community stained and brutalised by a callous horror they'd rather forget) – they climb out of their personal holes and grow right in front of your eyes (you could feel the audience enjoying the rich writing). Clocking up what has to be career bests in the same movie - both Rockwell and Harrelson must surely be up for statue glory come the 2018 awards season.

But perhaps the biggest winner here is the stunning Script and Direction from Martin McDonagh (the Script especially). McDonagh wrote the brilliant and acidic "In Bruges" that starred Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell and also helmed "Seven Psychopaths" where the British Director first worked with Sam Rockwell - so if you know those excellent movies - you'll know his penchant for crude and rude spliced and diced with brains and real-life pathos. "Three Billboards..." offers more of that same freshness and manages to surprise you too.

Throw in quality actors and great dialogue for the likes of Peter Dinklage, Abbey Cornish, Caleb Landry Jones, Zeljko Ivanek, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Amanda Warren and even a small but sweet part for Ireland's Kerry Condon (the lady jockey in the TV series "Luck") and a Carter Burwell Soundtrack that adds even more power at just the right moments whilst not getting in the way of the story - and you're on a filmic winner.

"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" is great cinema and frankly I wouldn't want to spoil anyone's viewing of it by giving away too much story-tell - because like "Darkest Hour" this movie is intensely moving and another must see before the statues start flowing in Spring. Well done to all involved...

"Liege & Lief" by FAIRPORT CONVENTION (May 2002 Universal/Island Remasters 1CD Reissue - Gary Moore Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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1960s and 1970s MUSIC ON CD - Volume 2 of 3 - Exceptional CD Remasters  
As well as 1960s and 1970s Rock and Pop - It Also Focuses On
Folk, Folk Rock, Country Rock, Reggae, Punk and New Wave

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"…Come All Ye Rolling Minstrels…"

Voted in 2006 as the 'most influential Folk album ever' by those lovely peopleoids at the BBC - "Liege & Lief" finished out an astounding year for FAIRPORT CONVENTION - 1969. They gingerly popped out "What We Did On Our Holidays" in January, "Unhalfbricking" (with "Who Knows Where The Time Goes") in July and the mighty "Liege & Lief" in December of that momentous year. 

Other bands who put out three great studio albums in one year are The Rolling Stones in 1965 (USA), The Lovin' Spoonful in 1967 (USA), Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1969 (USA) and with a slight Fairport tie-in - Matthews Southern Comfort in 1970 in the UK. 

But with their three 1969 albums (all on Island Records) - England's Fairport Convention practically introduced Folk-Rock to the world as well the gigantic singer-songwriter talents of vocalist Sandy Denny and guitarist Richard Thompson. "Liege & Lief" was some achievement really. Here are the Rakish Paddies, Crazy Man Michaels and Farmers Tossing Feathers...

Released May 2002 - the single CD version of "Liege & Lief" by FAIRPORT CONVENTION on Universal/Island Remasters IMCD 291 (Barcode 731458692928) breaks down as follows (55:21 minutes);

1. Come All Ye [Sandy Denny and Ashley Hutchings song]

2. Reynardine [Traditional Air Arranged By Fairport Convention]

3. Matty Groves [Traditional Air Arranged By Fairport Convention]

4. Farewell, Farewell [Richard Thompson song]

5. The Deserter [Traditional Air Arranged By Fairport Convention] - Side 2

6. Medley: The Lark In The Morning, Rakish Paddy, Foxhunter's Jig, Toss The Feathers [Traditional Air Arranged By Fairport Convention]

7. Tam Lin [Traditional Air Arranged By Dave Swarbrick]

8. Crazy Man Michael [Dave Swarbrick/Richard Thompson song]

Tracks 1 to 8 are their 4th album "Liege & Lief" - released December 1969 in the UK on Island Records ILPS 9115 and May 1970 in the USA on A&M Records SP 4257.

9. Sir Patrick Spens (Sandy Denny Vocal Version) [Traditional Air Arranged By Fairport Convention]

10. Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood (Take 1) [Traditional Air Arranged By Sandy Denny, Words by Richard Farina]

Both 9 and 10 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED (Take 4 of "Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood" was released on the 1986 retrospective box "Who Knows Where The Time Goes" - not Take 1)

The 16-page booklet on this single-disc remaster is a pretty affair - colour montages of the band, historic references and plates on subjects that inspired the songs, liner notes by original Producer JOE BOYD and band member ASHLEY HUTCHINGS remembering the making of. GARY MOORE carried out the gorgeous and warm remaster with both Joe Boyd and Ashley Hutchings in attendance. Moore's name has graced Thin Lizzy, Elton John and T.Rex remasters for Universal and his much-praised work is of the same calibre here - warm, detailed and full of life.

Recorded across 4 sessions (16, 22, 29 October and 1 November) - the band was Sandy Denny (Vocals), Richard Thompson and Simon Nicols (Lead Guitars), Dave Swarbrick (Violin and Viola), Ashley Hutchings (Bass) and Dave Mattacks (Drums). Retreating to a large country house called 'Farley Chamberlayne' in Hampshire to recover from a horrific car crash that took the life of Drummer Martin Lamble and Richard Thompson's girlfriend Jeannie Taylor - the circumstances surrounding the recordings couldn't have been worse (on the verge of breaking up). Yet somehow digging down deep into English Roots for material and the warmth of the area and place seemed to heal and galvanize the proceedings. And although "Liege & Lief" is categorized as 'Folk' (the jigs of "Toss the Feathers" are purely that) - I've never heard the album in that straightjacket way and many Rock buyers thought so too. For us Folk-Rock had arrived.

Side One opens with an absolute belter "Come All Ye" - a Denny/Hutchings song that sounds like its been in someone's repertoire for 300 years or so - and just now dusted off for the modern world. The first Traditional "Reynardine" is a ballad where 'old music is played on new instruments' - floating like its haze on a country river in the morning. The eight-minute "Matty Groves" is likely to send many an English schoolteacher into a Morris Dance - Dave Swarbrick's Violin and Richard Thompson's guitar licks trading off a gorgeous Sandy Denny vocal. In fact we must talk about Sandy. When Australian Trevor Lucas joined with her in Fotheringay - the two shared lead vocals - and while he has a fabulous voice - Sandy Denny had a tone that felt like vocal honey. Her English charm and sincerity seemed unforced, real and effortless. When she begins the gorgeous Side One finisher "Farewell, Farewell" - there's a faint croak in her notes - yet it works precisely because it's so fragile (a little like herself). Ghosts of Sandy Denny fill every Kate Rusby album.

"The Deserter" is a soldier's lament given a Swarbrick/Thompson background of floating Violin and plucked Guitars. The three-part "Medley" leads us into proper Folk Music with the added backbeat of drums. You can just hear a whole pub chucking aside their wooden stools as they prance about to the jigs and reels like - well drunken sailors. "Tam Lin" and the pretty "Crazy Man Michael" bring proceedings to the close with history and melody. Of the two extras - there's a barnstormer. The ten-minute "Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood" (based on "She Moves Through The Fair") is a trippy Acid Folk workout where a lone bongo is accompanied by a violin and what sounds like a fuzzed-up Jews harp - all of it wrapped around sublime Sandy vocals. It's a properly fabulous extra.

Groundbreaking, first past the post and now a timeless classic - "Liege & Lief" has stood the test of musical time. And this cheap-as-chips deep-in-the-purse CD remaster does that legend proud and cries out for a place in your straw bed and homemade ale casket...

"Unhalfbricking" by FAIRPORT CONVENTION (March 2003 Island Remasters 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue - Paschal Byrne Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"Unhalfbricking" by FAIRPORT CONVENTION from 1969

"...No Thought For Time..."

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Fairport Convention were to have an extraordinary year in 1969 - one of only a handful of bands to release three studio albums in one year - "What We Did On Our Holidays" in January with the mighty "Liege & Lief" in December and this - their 2nd platter "Unhalfbricking in July 1969. Other bands that achieved three in a year were The Rolling Stones in 1965 (USA), Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1969 (USA) and Matthews Southern Comfort in 1970 (UK). While those other bands should be name-checked for such voluminous original output - by the time the Fairports had placed "Unhalfbricking" at No. 12 in the UK LPs charts with "Liege & Lief" to follow at the tail-end of that extraordinary year at No. 17 – our Muswell Hill Heroes had practically invented the genre 'British Folk Rock' or 'Electric Folk' and changed music forever.

Yet despite its higher chart placing at No. 12 - it's "Liege & Lief" that gets all the plaudits, the hero worship and general trembling on ancient British knees. I'd like to argue that the humble but unfairly forgotten "Unhalfbricking" with the eleven-minute World-Music/Irish Traditional/British Folk structures of "A Sailor's Life" and the jaw-dropping beauty of Sandy's "Who Knows Where The Time Goes?" is just as influential and should be just as hallowed. And besides any album that has Nick Drake's house on the front cover – a silly made-up name from Sandy Denny - and makes three old Bob Dylan songs sound like new again gets an automatic five-star rating from me. "Million Dollar Bash" indeed! Here are the CD reissue details...

UK released March 2003 - "Unhalfbricking" by FAIRPORT CONVENTION on Island Remasters IMCD 293 - 063 596-2 (Barcode 044006359625) is an 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue and Remaster with Two Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (48:18 minutes):

1. Genesis Hall [Side 1]

2. Si Tu Dois Partir

3. Autopsy

4. A Sailor's Life

5. Cajun Woman [Side 2]

6. Who Knows Where The Time Goes?

7. Percy's Song

8. Million Dollar Bash

Tracks 1 to 8 are their 3rd studio album "Unhalfbricking" - released July 1969 in the UK on Island Records ILPS 9102 in Stereo and November 1969 in the USA on A&M Records SP 4206. Produced by JOE BOYD, SIMON NICOL and FAIRPORT CONVENTION (Engineer JOHN WOOD) - "Genesis Hall" and "Cajun Woman" are Richard Thompson songs - "Autopsy" and "Who Knows Where The Time Goes?" are Sandy Denny songs - "A Sailor's Life" is a Traditional cover with "Si Tu Dois Partir", "Percy's Song" and "Million Dollar Bash" all being Bob Dylan covers.

BONUS TRACKS:

9. Dear Landlord [Bob Dylan song] - an outtake from the "Unhalfbricking" sessions

10. The Ballad Of Easy Rider [Byrds song written by Roger McGuinn] - an outtake from the "Liege & Lief" album sessions

FAIRPORT CONVENTION was:

SANDY DENNY - Lead Vocals

RICHARD THOMPSON - Lead Guitars and Vocals

SIMON NICOL - Second Guitar

ASHLEY HUTCHINGS - Bass

MARTIN LAMBLE - Drums

Guests:

DAVE SWARBRICK - plays Fiddle on "Cajun Woman", "A Sailor's Life", "Si Tu Dois Partir" - Mandolin on "Million Dollar Bash"

TREVOR LUCAS - plays Triangle on "Si To Dois Partir"

MARC ELLINGTON - sings on "Million Dollar Bash"

IAN MATTHEWS - sings on "Percy's Song"

DAVE MATTACKS - plays drums on "The Ballad Of Easy Rider"

Even after all these years (2019 will be 50) – the wildly-different American A&M Records front sleeve with three circus elephants and a woman astride on top still throws me for six – what were they thinking! (Its pictured on Page 8 of the 16-page booklet). Original Band Member ASHLEY HUTCHINGS penned the new liner notes and gives really interesting insight into the songs – the fantastic rearrangement of "A Sailor's Life" with its early World Music incantations and how guest musicians like Fiddle Player Dave Swarbrick and Drummer Dave Mattacks were such a comfortable fit that they soon became permanent members of the band. Long-time Audio Engineer PASCHAL BYRNE handled the original tapes and his typically excellent skill gives this CD reissue a gorgeous sound. There's also a wad of Colour and Black and White photos of the Famous Five - Sandy goofing about and Richard Thompson looking like he needs to see a good barber and soon.

The album opens with the first of two Thompson originals "Genesis Hall" (the other on here is "Cajun Woman") and immediately the guitars and Sandy's voice create a magical sound. The lyrics "...to see both sides...to judge without hate..." still impress too. The first of three Bob Dylan covers sees his "If You Gotta Go, Go Now" transformed into a daft-as-a-brush French knees up on Fiddle and Washboard. Bizarrely the July 1969 UK 7" single on Island WIP 6064 with Richard's "Genesis Hall" on the flipside was a No. 21 hit and brought the hairy-mob into a Top Of The Pops studio for the first and only time. Things settle back down with Sandy's "Autopsy"- a song that's both sleepily pretty and strangely bleak at one and the same time - it's 4:20 minutes punctuated by beautifully economic and played guitar work from RT. Side 1 ends with a monster - the 11:08 minutes of "A Sailor's Life" - a Traditional air sweetly sung by Sandy. But then as it progresses it's transformed into a drone that encompasses Irish Folk, Indian Rhythms and British Folk Rock - Swarbrick's looming Fiddle slinking in while Thompson plucks and flicks on the guitar - both battling it until the end. It's fantastic stuff...

Side 2 opens with the second Thompson original - where he lets rip on the wild partying "Cajun Woman" - a song that seems two decades ahead of its sound yet strangely out of place here (if that makes sense). But then 'it' happens - the magic - "Who Knows Where The Time Goes?” Re-listening to it for the millionth time and I'm still floored by its beauty and pathos. I often imagine a Mum watching her grown-up daughter from out of a kitchen window taking to her Dad with her new beau in the garden - introducing the one she'll marry. The mum is listening to Sandy sing on her mini stereo - fixing things on her counter-top (just so) - her precious child now a woman and leaving for her own life. No thought for time - except where has it gone and how did it go by so fast...

The Extras actually feel like Bonus Material - an outtake cover of Dylan's "Dear Landlord" where the band sound relaxed and Sandy effortless in her rendition. The Byrds cover for "The Ballad Of Easy Rider" actually hails from the "Liege & Lief" sessions later in 1969 but Hutchings says in the liner notes that its sound is more in keeping with "Unhalfbricking" - and he's right - in fact it sounds like a sort of dry-run for "Who Knows Where The Time Goes?" - very pretty indeed.

When you think that you couldn't locate the original British vinyl LP with its black-eyed Island Records logo for under £250 - then the three-quid cost of this fabulous CD reissue seems like a garden fence I'd want to climb. Fab and then some...

"Finbar and Eddie Furey/Traditional Irish Pipe Music/The Lonesome Boatman/The Dawning Of The Day" by FINBAR and EDDIE FUREY (June 2017 Beat Goes On Reissue - 4LPs onto 2CD - Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry

This Review Along With 300+ Others Is Available In My

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1960s and 1970s MUSIC ON CD - Volume 2 of 3 - Exceptional CD Remasters  
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"...Good Tidings..."

In the hot and sweaty summer of 1979 – I was a young Dubliner living in the Fair Strumpet City and it was near impossible to escape how huge the traditional air "The Green Fields Of France" was by The Fureys - a Number in Ireland for an astonishing 28 weeks.

Prior to that - the two brothers of four from the dog-rough Ballyfermot area of Dublin couldn't get musically arrested any where else for decades (no pun intended) despite having played their beloved Traditional Irish Music since they were lads of 14 (Finbar had won 23 All-Ireland Pipe Playing championships by 1966). To put this into a real world context - I ran the Rarities Dept. in Reckless Records in Berwick Street for the guts of 20 years (one of the great used record shops in the capitol) and I can count on one finger the number of times I saw actual vinyl copies of 'any' of these four UK-issued LPs. Released between 1968 and 1972 on Transatlantic and Dawn Records - they fell into that nether-world category of being physically rare three/four decades later - but not necessarily valuable. They're forgotten almost completely now of course – seriously receded back into the hairless hairlines of old fogeys like me.

Which brings us hopping gaily and bleary-eyed to this quite brilliantly put together 2CD set from England's 'Beat Goes On'. It finally brings together four of those rarities (three by the Duo and one Solo for Finbar) and all of it in quality presentation and properly gorgeous Audio too. Let's get to the Rakish Paddies and Sally who sits weeping...

UK released Friday, 30 June 2017 - "Finbar and Eddie Furey/Traditional Irish Pipe Music/The Lonesome Boatman/The Dawning of The Day" by FINBAR and EDDIE FUREY on Beat Goes On BGOCD 1299 (Barcode 5017261212993) offers 4LPs Remastered onto 2CDs and plays out as follows:

Disc 1 (66:35 minutes)

1. The Spanish Cloak [Side 1]

2. Come By The Hills

3. Sliabh Na Mban (The Mountain Of The Women)

4. Dainty Davy

5. Jig: Tattered Jack Welch

6. The Flowers In The Valley

7. Reel: Pigeon On The Gate

8. Jig: Graham's Flat [Side 2]

9. Leezie Lindsay

10. Set Dance: Piper In The Meadow Straying

11. The Curragh Of Kildare

12. Eamonn An Chnuic (Ned Of The Hills)

13. This Town Is Not Your Own

14. Jig: Rocking The Baby

Tracks 1 to 14 are their debut LP "Finbar and Eddie Furey" - released 1968 in the UK on Transatlantic Records TRA 168. Produced by BILL LEADER - FINBAR FUREY plays the Irish Uilleann Pipes and Penny Whistle - EDDIE FUREY sings Lead Vocals, plays Guitar and Bodhran

15. Rakish Paddy [Side 1]

16. The Hag With The Money

17. Castle Terrace

18. Madam Bonaparte

19. The Young Girl Milking The Cow

20. Fin's Favourite

21. Peter Byrne's Fancy [Side 2]

22. O'Rourke's Reel

23. Roy's Hands

24.  Planxty Davy

25. The Bonny Bunch Of Roses

26. Eddie's Fancy

27. The Silver Spear

Tracks 15 to 27 are Finbar Furey's first solo album "Traditional Irish Pipe Music" - released 1969 in the UK on XTRA Records XTRA 1077. Produced by BILL LEADER - FINBAR FUREY plays the Irish Uilleann Pipes, Acoustic Guitar and a Variety of Whistles

Disc 2 (79:55 minutes):

1. Bill Hart's Favourite [Side 1]

2. Dance Around The Spinning Wheel

3. Let Me Go To The Mountains

4. McShane

5. Colonel Fraser

6. The Lonesome Boatman [Side 2]

7. Carron Lough Bay

8. The Prickly Bush

9. Bogy's Bonny Belle

10. The Fox Chase

Tracks 1 to 10 are their second duo album "The Lonesome Boatman" - released 1969 in the UK on Transatlantic Records TRA 191. Produced by BILL LEADER - FINBAR FUREY plays Irish Uilleann Pipes and Penny/Indian Whistles - EDDIE FUREY sings Lead Vocals, plays Guitar, Mandolin and Bodhran

11. Drops Of Brandy [Side 1]

12. My Lagan Love

13. Farewell To Tarwathy

14. Locks And Bolts

15. William Hollander

16. Crowley's reel

17. Jennifer Gentle

18. Barney Hare

19. Her Father Didn't Like Me Anyway [Side 2]

20. Reynardine

21. The French Drink Wine

22. Blackbird

23. The Dawning Of The Day

24. Coppers And Brass

25. Tie The Bonnet

26. Sally Sits Weeping

Tracks 11 to 26 are their third duo album "The Dawning Of The Day" - released May 1972 in the UK on Dawn Records DNLS 3037. Produced by BARRY MURRAY - FINBAR FUREY plays the Irish Uilleann Pipes and Whistles - BRIAN BROCKLEHURST plays Bass and EDDIE FUREY sings Lead Vocals, plays Guitar and Bodhran. All songs are Traditionals except "Her Father Didn't Like Me Anyway" by Gerry Rafferty and "The French Drink Wine" by Seamus McGrath.

The substantial 28-page booklet reproduces the original album liner notes, musician credits and other production details (lyrics that came with the Dawn Records LP "The Dawning Of The Day" in 1972) and features superlative new liner notes from JOHN O’REGAN – a long-time associate with BGO and a good egg at this CD reissue malarkey (his notes cover their entire career and not just the four albums involved – internet references and sources name). Good as they are (and the card slipcase makes all these BGO reissues look classy too) – ultimately it’s the new ANDREW THOMPSON Remasters from original tapes that makes this 2-Disc sucker sing. The sound on all four records is superb – even the bare bones of "Traditional Irish Pipe Music" where a lot of the time its simply Finbar on the Uilleann Pipes – is lovely and warm. Tracks like "Roy’s Hands" which combines Acoustic Guitar with the wailing elbow-pipes or the truly lovely "My Lagan Love" have a sweetness that is enhanced by the glorious Audio. To the material...

The Fureys Folk is thankfully free of political posturing and full of genuine tunes, slow airs, jigs and reels. In fact when you hear Contemporary Folk singers like Judy Collins, Eddi Reader and Sinead O’Connor – you can so hear why they would be drawn emotionally and spiritually to melodies like "Farewell To Tarwathy", "Lezzie Lindsay" and "My Lagan Love" (in that order) – while master Irish piper Liam O ’Flynn from Planxty and The Chieftains did the gorgeous air of "Sliabh na mBan (The Mountain Of The Women)" on his 1998 CD album "The Piper’s Call".

The lone solo outing here by piper Finbar "Traditional Irish Pipe Music" not surprisingly has some of the most haunting and authentic-sounding melodies.  Eddie (God Bless Him) hasn’t got the greatest nor most expressive voice in the known Universe but he still gets to shine on "The Lonesome Boatman" and a rare moment of immigrant bitterness - "This Town Is Not Your Own". And by the time they’re contract was up with Transatlantic Records in the early Seventies – signing to Dawn Records was a smart move. Although Dawn had Prog Rock/Hard Rock leanings with the likes of Comus, Atomic Rooster and Fruupp – they’d also debuted Folk and Folk-Rock acts like Trader Horne, Prelude, Donovan and Heron (Mike Heron of The Incredible String Band) not to mention the Jug Band swing of Mungo Jerry. By the time we reach 1972 and "The Dawning Of The Day" LP with its elaborate gatefold sleeve and lyric insert (a luxury release in those days) – they were even getting songs gifted to them by future songwriter luminaries. The Fureys were pals with Folk/Comedy duo The Humblebums (Gerry Rafferty and Billy Connolly) and before Rafferty debuted his own version of the witty and Folky "Her Father Didn't Like Me Anyway" – Gerry gave the boys the tune. Dawn clearly thought it was goer and issued the song as the album's lone 45 in the UK on Dawn DNS 1025 (May 1972) with the Traditional "Reynardine" on the B-side (another album cut). But despite John Peel declaring "Her Father..." as his 7" single of 1972 – the public ignored it - the LP too.

Perhaps they’ll give it another go round on this timely and sweetly flowing 2CD reminder. Recommended...