Fairport Convention – "Babbacombe" Lee
Label: | Island Records – ILPS 9176 |
|---|---|
Format: | Vinyl, LP, Album |
Country: | UK |
Released: | |
Genre: | Rock, Folk, World, & Country |
Style: | Folk Rock |
Tracklist
| A | John's Reflection On His Boyhood, His Introduction To Miss Keyes And The Glen, His Restlessness, And His Struggles With His Family, Finally Successful, To Join The Navy. This Was The Happiest Period In His Life. All Looked Set Fair For A Career Until He Was Stricken With Sickness And Invalided Out Of His Chosen Niche In Life. Reluctantly And Unhappily He Turned To A Number Of Menial Occupations And Finally Returned To The Services Of Miss Keyes. Tragedy Now Strikes Hard. The World's Imagination Is Caught By The Brutal Senselessness Of The Apparent Criminal Who Slays His Kind Old Mistress. | |
| B | John Was Hardly More Than A Bewildered Observer At His Own Trial, Not Being Allowed To Say More Than A Few Words. The Tides Of Fate Wash Him To The Condemned Cell Where He Waits Three Sad Weeks For His Last Night On Earth. When It Comes, He Cannot Sleep, But When He Does, A Strange, Prophetic Dream Comes To Him, And Helps Him To Bear The Strain Of His Next Day's Ordeal As Scaffold And Its Crew Try In Vain Three Times To Take His Life. |
Companies, etc.
- Printed By – E.J. Day Group
- Made By – E.J. Day Group
- Published By – Warlock Music Ltd.
- Recorded At – Sound Techniques, London
- Pressed By – The Gramophone Co. Ltd.
Credits
- Bass, Mandolin – Dave Pegg
- Composed By [All Compositions By] – Fairport Convention
- Design [Album Design] – Roberta Nicol
- Design [Album Inner] – C.C.S.*
- Drums, Electric Piano – Dave Mattacks
- Engineer – John "Mildenhall" Wood*
- Fiddle, Mandolin – Dave Swarbrick
- Guitar, Dulcimer – Simon Nicol
- Lacquer Cut By – Pecko* (tracks: B), Porky (5) (tracks: A)
- Producer – John M Wood*, Simon Nicol
- Written-By [The Sailor's Alphabet] – Bert Lloyd*
Notes
Released on a "pink rim" palm Island label.
Issued in a gatefold cover with printed inner sleeve with lyrics, an 8-page booklet, and a "Don't Hang Babbacombe Lee" circular sticker. The sleeve opens from the inside of the gatefold to hold the disc.
On the label the release is called "John Babbacombe Lee".
[Sleeve]
Recorded at: Sound Techniques, Ltd.
All compositions by Fairport Convention except "The Sailor's Alphabet', for which, thanks to Bert Lloyd. Thanks to Swarb from the rest of the group for his enthusiasm which kept the ship afloat. All copyrights Warlock Music Limited.
℗ 1971
Runouts: stamped, 'PORKY' and 'PECKO' etched.
Issued in a gatefold cover with printed inner sleeve with lyrics, an 8-page booklet, and a "Don't Hang Babbacombe Lee" circular sticker. The sleeve opens from the inside of the gatefold to hold the disc.
On the label the release is called "John Babbacombe Lee".
[Sleeve]
Recorded at: Sound Techniques, Ltd.
All compositions by Fairport Convention except "The Sailor's Alphabet', for which, thanks to Bert Lloyd. Thanks to Swarb from the rest of the group for his enthusiasm which kept the ship afloat. All copyrights Warlock Music Limited.
℗ 1971
Runouts: stamped, 'PORKY' and 'PECKO' etched.
Barcode and Other Identifiers
- Matrix / Runout (Side A runout variant 1): ILPS 9176 A-1U PORKY A 1
- Matrix / Runout (Side B runout variant 1): ILPS 9176 B-1U PECKO M 1
- Matrix / Runout (Side A runout variant 2): ILPS 9176 A-1U PORKY H 1
- Matrix / Runout (Side B runout variant 2): ILPS 9176 B-1U PECKO R 1
- Matrix / Runout (Side A runout variant 3): ILPS 9176 A-1U T 1 PORKY
- Matrix / Runout (Side B runout variant 3): ILPS 9176 B-1U P PECKO 1
- Matrix / Runout (Side A runout variant 4): ILPS 9176 A-1U T 1 PORKY
- Matrix / Runout (Side B runout variant 4): ILPS 9176 B-1U RD PECKO 1
- Matrix / Runout (Side A runout variant 5): ILPS 9176 A-1U P 1 PORKY
- Matrix / Runout (Side B runout variant 5): ILPS 9176 B-1U R PECKO 1
- Matrix / Runout (Side A runout variant 6): ILPS 9176 A-1U R:: PORKY
- Matrix / Runout (Side B runout variant 6): ILPS 9176 B-1U V:: PECKO 2
Other Versions (5 of 38)
View All| Title (Format) | Label | Cat# | Country | Year | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Recently Edited | "Babbacombe" Lee (LP, Album, Stereo, Terre Haute Pressing, Gatefold) | A&M Records, A&M Records | SP-4333, SP 4333 | US | 1971 | ||
New Submission | "Babbacombe" Lee (LP, Album, Stereo, Gatefold) | Island Records | ILPS 9176 | Netherlands | 1971 | ||
New Submission | 'Babbacombe' Lee (LP, Album, Promo) | A&M Records | SP-4333 | US | 1971 | ||
Recently Edited | "Babbacombe" Lee (LP, Album) | Island Records | ILPS 9176 | Denmark | 1971 | ||
New Submission | "Babbacombe" Lee (LP, Album, Promo, Special Cut, DJ) | A&M Records, A&M Records | SP-4333, SP-4333-DJ | US | 1971 |
Recommendations
Reviews
Edited 4 years agoIf you are looking for a Folk Rock Opera in the equivalency of something like 'Pinball Wizard' then this might well be it, the tale of John 'Babbacombe' Lee's escape from the Hangman's noose where he was executed unsuccessfully three times in a row, his sentence of death rescinded and a tariff of 20 odd years incarceration imposed.
It's an oddly naive ramble. Lyrics that verge on the laughable and a rum tee tum tee fiddly tum into a sound and sensibility that for me at least recalled the heady days of first seeing the dwarves dance around Spinal Tap's mini 'Stone 'Enge'. if you are looking for Island's answer in 'Folk' to the indulgent navel staring excesses of Rock frippereedom, this might well be it. At times a work of utter indulgent genius and at others embarrassing naivety. Your call, I absolutely love it for the fact that it exists, it is there, there is no denying that people really did spend their money backing such a project. And in it's post Denny present Swarbs incarnation Fairport manage to exist and to continue onwards, however dubiously. Wonderful stuff.
Release
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