Fairport Convention: Dave Swarbrick's Violin, Used To Record The Landmark Album Liege And Lief,
German, circa 1900,
indistinct label believed to read Domenico Montagna sud al Signe fecit Venius anno 1799, with jack socket and additional wooden strip, internal wiring, front with small hole filled in, back with three-screw plastic plate, in fitted case with engraved white metal rest plates and bow, 23 1/2in (59.6cm) long
Footnotes:
Provenance:
Offered by Jill Swarbrick-Banks.

In an in-depth article in Uncut magazine, Michael Bonner describes Fairport Convention's Liege And Lief as '...the record that invented - and set the benchmark for - folk rock in Britain.' Released in December 1969, this, the band's fourth album, came out of the trauma of the motorway crash involving the band's van in May of that year, as they were on their way home from a gig in Birmingham. Their 19-year-old drummer, Martin Lamble was killed, as was guitarist Richard Thompson's American girlfriend, Jeannie Franklyn. Thompson, bassist Ashley Hutchings and rhythm guitarist Simon Nicol all received hospital treatment. Vocalist Sandy Denny had been travelling in another vehicle.

Regrouping after the accident, Fairport recruited Dave Mattacks as drummer, following his appearance on their third album, Unhalfbricking, and another guest musician, violinist Dave Swarbrick, became another full-time member of the band. Shortly afterwards, in July, the band took up residence in Farley House in the village of Farley Chamberlayne, Hampshire. It was hoped that the seclusion and rural setting would help them recover from the accident. Richard Thompson has said of this period: 'We were only a few months after losing Martin Lamble, and I think we were still in shock, so this was a healing time. The environment was perfect, and the mission kept us sane.' Over the next few months, working long hours, the band rehearsed and honed the material that would become Liege And Lief. Photographer Eric Hayes, who had shot the cover for Unhalfbricking, stayed with the band at Farley House and captured the essence of their time there. Writing to the vendor in 2020, a lasting memory of his stay was waking up in the morning to the sound of Dave's fiddle coming up the stairs from the living room.

The band eventually emerged from this rural idyll to appear at a hugely successful comeback concert in London's Royal Festival Hall on 24th September. In October they then went into the Sound Techniques studio with producer Joe Boyd and engineer John Wood to record the album's eight tracks, a mix of new compositions and traditional British folk songs and jigs.

The band's adoption of amplified instruments for music that was hitherto an acoustic genre posed a problem for Swarbrick in how to amplify his sound to match that of the guitars and drums. Early attempts involved dismantling a telephone and strapping the receiver to the violin. John Wood, writing in July 2021, recalled the recording of Dave's violin or viola when electrified. Although some devices were then available for amplifying acoustic guitars, there were none suitable for use on a violin. For Liege And Lief, a simple contact microphone was attached to the top of the instrument and then fed to an amplifier. However, the combination of the poor response from the microphone, a tendency to feedback with the amplifier and Dave's hearing difficulty made this unsophisticated set-up very difficult to record as the tracks were all recorded live with few overdubs. The resulting album, however, belies such problems. In an effort to find a more satisfactory solution to the problems, Dave then spent some time consulting Cyril Jones who worked for Sound Techniques at their manufacturing facility in Suffolk.

Although reasonably successful on release, reaching No. 17 in the UK Top 20 album chart, Liege And Lief has in the subsequent decades achieved a somewhat iconic status. At the 2006 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, it was voted as Most Influential Folk Album Of All Time and in 2007 Mojo magazine listed it at No.58 in its 100 Records That Changed The World.

Literature:
Uncut, Michael Bonner, June 2016, the article originally published in the September 2007 issue.

Playwear, consummate with use; pegs replaced; small hairline crack to side of neck; rear of head with small vertical hole; body with evidence of repair/modifications; small chip to top edge.