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===1970s: A time of change=== [[File:Optreden op Holland Popfestival in het Kralingse bos, 1970 - 16.jpg|thumb|Fairport Convention, [[Holland Pop Festival|Kralingen 1970]]. Left to right: Dave Pegg, Dave Mattacks, Richard Thompson, Dave Swarbrick, Simon Nicol.]] Disagreements arose about the direction of the band in the wake of this success. Ashley Hutchings wanted to explore more traditional material and left to form two groups that would rival Fairport for significance in English folk rock: [[Steeleye Span]] and [[the Albion Band]].<ref>Humphries, p. 52.</ref> Sandy Denny also left to found her own group [[Fotheringay]]. Dave Pegg took over on bass guitar and has been the group's one constant ever since, in an unbroken membership of over four decades. The band made no serious attempt to replace Denny, and, although she would briefly return, the sound of the band would now be characterised by male vocals. Despite these changes the band produced another album, ''[[Full House (Fairport Convention album)|Full House]]'' (1970), which was remarkably successful as a project. Like its predecessor, it combined traditional songs, including a powerful rendition of "[[Sir Patrick Spens]]", with original compositions. The latter benefited from the writing partnership of Thompson and Swarbrick, most obviously on "Walk Awhile", which would become a concert favourite. Despite the loss of Denny the band still possessed four vocalists, including the emerging voices of Nicol and Swarbrick, whose tones would dominate the sound of this period. It was favourably reviewed in Britain and America, drawing comparisons with [[the Band]] from ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine who declared that "Fairport Convention is better than ever".<ref>[https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/fairportconvention/albums/album/126568/review/5942290/full_house_uk_bonus_tracks ''Rolling Stone'' Reviews retrieved on 14 January 2009] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090202110321/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/fairportconvention/albums/album/126568/review/5942290/full_house_uk_bonus_tracks |date=2 February 2009}}.</ref> The album reached number 13 in the UK Chart and stayed in the chart for eleven weeks.<ref name=officialcharts/> The same year the band released a single, "[[Now Be Thankful]]", and made its American debut, touring with [[Traffic (band)|Traffic]] and [[Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young]].<ref>[http://www.richardthompson-music.com/bio.asp Richard Thompson Official Website retrieved on 14 January 2009] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080218101756/http://www.richardthompson-music.com/bio.asp |date=18 February 2008}}.</ref> [[File:Fairport Convention - TopPop 1972 7.png|thumb|Fairport Convention on a Dutch television show in 1972. Left to right: Dave Swarbrick, Roger Hill, Dave Pegg. Tom Farnell (drums) is hidden behind Swarbrick.]] In the recurring pattern, soon after the album's release Thompson left the band to pursue other projects and eventually his solo career. This left Simon Nicol as the only original member, and Dave Swarbrick emerged as the leading force in the band. In 1970 the members and their families had moved into The Angel, a former pub in [[Hertfordshire]], and this inspired the next album ''[[Angel Delight (album)|Angel Delight]]'' (1971) the band's first to chart in the US, peaking at number 200 on the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]] and their only top ten album in the UK.<ref>[http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/_/fairport%20convention The Official Charts website retrieved 18 June 2014].</ref> The next project was an ambitious folk-rock opera developed by Swarbrick, based on the life of [[John Babbacombe Lee|John "Babbacombe" Lee]], "the man they couldn't hang" and released with the title ''[[Babbacombe Lee (album)|Babbacombe Lee]]'' (1971). The concept format, originally without clear tracks, excited considerable press interest, and it received good air play in the United States where it reached number 195. A version was produced by the BBC for TV in 1975 with narration by [[Melvyn Bragg]].<ref>[http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/fairport/records/babbacombelee.html (Mostly) English Folk Music retrieved 13 January 2009] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121002133313/http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/fairport/records/babbacombelee.html |date=2 October 2012}}.</ref> These two albums were also notable as the first time that Fairport had recorded consecutively with the same line-up, but inevitably stability did not last; Simon Nicol left early in late 1971 to join Ashley Hutchings' [[Albion Country Band]], and he was soon followed by Mattacks.<ref>Humphries, pp. 95β97.</ref> Only Pegg and Swarbrick remained, and the following few years have been dubbed 'Fairport confusion' as a bewildering sequence of band members came and went, but by 1973 Mattacks had returned and two former members of Sandy Denny's [[Fotheringay]] had joined the band, Denny's Australian husband [[Trevor Lucas]] on vocals and guitar, and American [[Jerry Donahue]] on lead guitar.<ref>{{cite book |last=Frame |first=Pete |title=The Rock Family Trees, the Development and History of Rock Performers |publisher=Omnibus Press |year=1983 |isbn=978-0-711-90465-1}}</ref> From these line-ups the band produced two studio albums: ''[[Rosie (Fairport Convention album)|Rosie]]'', notable for the Swarbrick-penned title track (1973) and ''[[Nine (Fairport Convention album)|Nine]]'' (1974), the ninth studio album by the band. The last of these contained writing contributions by Lucas to five of the nine tracks, which together with Donahue's country influences and outstanding guitar pyrotechnics gave the album a very distinctive feel. Denny rejoined the band in 1974, and there were considerable expectations, both artistic and commercial, placed on this line-up. Denny was featured on the album ''[[Rising for the Moon]]'' (1975), which became the band's highest US chart album when it reached number 143 on the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]] and the first album to reach the top hundred in the UK since ''Angel Delight'', reaching No. 52.<ref name=officialcharts/> During the ''Rising'' sessions, Mattacks fell out with producer [[Glyn Johns]] and was replaced by former [[Grease Band]] drummer [[Bruce Rowland (drummer)|Bruce Rowland]]. Poor UK sales for ''Rising'' did not aid morale and, despite the relative success of the line-up, Lucas and Donahue left the band, as did Denny in 1976. She died aged 31, in 1978, of a [[cerebral haemorrhage]] after falling down a flight of stairs.<ref name=":7">{{cite news |title='You had to hold on to the furniture when Sandy sang': Live fast, die young ... John Harris pays tribute to the one-woman maelstrom that was Sandy Denny |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/may/06/popandrock |newspaper=The Guardian |date=5 May 2005 |access-date=17 January 2013}}</ref> Rowland, Pegg, and Swarbrick fulfilled their remaining contractual obligations to Island Records by turning what had originally been a Swarbrick solo effort into the album ''[[Gottle O'Geer]]'' (1976) under the name 'Fairport' (as opposed to Fairport Convention) in the UK, and as 'Fairport featuring Dave Swarbrick' in the US, and with various session players and production by Simon Nicol, who subsequently rejoined the band. They then signed with Vertigo, but record sales continued to decline; after producing the first two of four albums for which they were contracted, ''[[The Bonny Bunch of Roses (album)|The Bonny Bunch of Roses]]'' (1977) and ''[[Tipplers Tales]]'' (1978), Vertigo bought them out of their contract. It is claimed by members of the band that this was the only recording money they had seen up to that point.{{sfn|Redwood|Woodward|1995|p=14}}
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