Album Preview: Fotheringay, 2 (Fledgling)
The Independent's chief rock critic gives an exclusive preview of this month's releases
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Independent Minds
Fotheringay was the group formed by Sandy Denny and her partner Trevor Lucas, when they left their respective folk-rock outfits Fairport Convention and Eclection.
Their debut album, though patchy, was well-received, and hopes were high for the proposed follow-up. Sadly, it never appeared, the band proving a short-lived affair when Denny opted to pursue a solo career less than a year after Fotheringay’s inception. Aided by the rhythm section of Gerry Conway and Pat Donaldson, guitarist Jerry Donahue has collated and mixed all the material recorded for their second album, so we can finally hear it 38 years later.
The original dichotomy between Denny’s elegant folk stylings, and Lucas’s muscular country-rock leanings is partially resolved in songs such as “Knights Of The Road”, the folk-rock equivalent of a country-music trucker's death song, and “Silver Threads and Golden Needles”, a country ballad prefiguring Gram Parsons’ later style.
With Donahue essaying Richard Thompsonesque, serpentine guitar breaks throughout, the results are reminiscent of prime era Fairport, never more so than on a “Wild Mountain Thyme”.
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