review by daniel

"Unhalfbricking" came out only months before “Liege and Lief”, Fairport Convention’s most well known and praised album (actually Fairport released three albums that year). Consequentially this one is somewhat overshadowed by the more famous release that year. That is alright with me because it really should be; “Liege and Lief” is simply a (slightly) better and more even album.

There are eight songs here. Four were written by the band (Richard Thomson and Sandy Denny wrote two each), three (!) are Bob Dylan covers and one is a traditional song. The songs written by the band are completely uninteresting and the Bob Dylan covers stink. Exactly what these covers are supposed to contribute to the album is beyond me. Maybe three albums in a year were too much and they needed some fillers. Still, I must recommend the album to people interested in folk-rock. The reason is the traditional arrangement “A sailor’s life”. It starts out calmly with beautiful vocals and sparse instrumentation, then it gradually gathers intensity to end with a frantic five minute folk-rock jam, with electric guitar, bass and drums to support the more traditional instruments. An amazing track and it alone makes the album worth its price.