Babbacombe Lee (album)

Infobox Album
Name = Babbacombe Lee
Type = studio
Artist = Fairport Convention


Released = November 1971
Recorded = August-September, 1971
Genre = Folk-Rock
Length =
Label = Island Records
Producer = John Wood & Simon Nicol
Reviews =
* Allmusic Rating|3|5 [http://wc07.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:fifyxqy5ld6e link]
Last album = "Angel Delight" (1971)
This album = "Babbacombe Lee" (1971)
Next album = "Rosie" (1973)

"Babbacombe Lee" is the seventh album by English folk rock group Fairport Convention, and was released in 1971. It tells the life story of John "Babbacombe" Lee, a Victorian-era murderer who, although condemned to death, was reprieved after the gallows failed on three occasions to work properly. After the commercial and chart success of its predecessor, "Angel Delight", the album sold disappointingly, and although critically acclaimed, it has its place in musical history as the first "folk rock opera".

Album concept

The album is a concept album that follows John "Babbacombe" Lee's life story. The events of his life are described in song, from his boyhood through his conviction for murder, sentence of death, and the failure to carry out the sentence. The songs describe his boyhood poverty, his time in the Royal Navy, and his being invalided out. The album then describes how Lee went to work in the service of a Miss Keyes. While Lee was in her service, she was murdered, and he was accused, tried and convicted of the crime, and sentenced to death. However, when authorities attempted to hang him, the gallows failed three times, resulting in his release. These events are all told in song, and all but one of those songs are originals.

Dave Swarbrick has explained that he conceived the album after discovering a file of old newspaper clippings in a junk shop; this file contained John Lee's own copies of the newspaper articles and was bound by him, signed and dated January 30, 1908.

Because of its relatively complete narrative structure, Babbacombe Lee has been called a rock opera, and because of the band's musical style, in particular the the first folk rock opera. [cite book | last = Laing | first = David | coauthors= Robin Denselow, Robert Shelton | title = The Electric Muse | publisher = Eyre Methuen Ltd | location = London | year = 1975 | isbn = 0 413 31860 5 | pages = 162]

Track listing

Songs written by Fairport Convention

The original album listed tracks episodically rather than as discrete tracks, reflecting the structure of the narrative.

ide one

# "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." - 6:19
# "This was the happiest period in his life. All locked 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." - 10:12
# "Tragedy now strikes hard. The world's imagination is caught by the brutal senseless [ness] of the apparent criminal who slays his kind old mistress." - 3:57

ide two

# "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." - 7:32
# "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." - 13:20Each of the five sections is composed of a number of songs and fragments of songs that were not listed spearately on the original album.

2004 Compact Disc listing

The later release of the album abandoned the original five-part division of the album and lists the songs as separate tracks complete with songwriting credits, as follows:

# The Verdict (Read by Philip Sterling-Wall) - 0:28
# Little Did I Think (Dave Swarbrick) - 2:19
# I Was Sixteen (Part 1} (Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg) - 1:29
# John My Son (Nicol, Pegg) - 0:44
# I Was Sixteen (Part 2) (Nicol, Pegg) – 1:17
# St Ninian's Isle (Ronald Cooper) / Trumpet Hornpipe (Trad. Arr. Swarbrick) - 1:14
# Sailor's Alphabet (Trad. Arr. A.L. Lloyd) - 5:50
# John Lee (Swarbrick) - 3:04
# Newspaper Reading (Read by A.L. Lloyd) - 0:46
# Breakfast In Mayfair (Nicol) - 3:09
# Trial Song (Swarbrick, Pegg) - 3:55
# Cell Song (Swarbrick) - 3:35
# The Time Is Near (Pegg) - 2:31
# Dream Song (Swarbrick, Pegg) - 5:24
# Wake Up John (Hanging Song) (Swarbrick, Pegg) - 5:25

Two additional bonus tracks appear on some post-2004 CD releases:

16. Farewell To A Poor Man's Son (Swarbrick) - 4:55
17. Breakfast In Mayfair (Nicol) 3:59

These tracks were recorded in late 1974 for the BBC 2 documentary about John Lee narrated by Melvyn Bragg. The programme was broadcast in the BBC 2 "2nd House" Series as "The Man They Couldn't Hang - John Lee" on February 1, 1975. The tracks are performed by a different lineup of the band than on the original album, one formed after the departure of Simon Nicol and the return of lead singer Sandy Denny.

Personnel

*Simon Nicol - guitar, dulcimer
*Dave Mattacks - drums, electric piano
*Dave Swarbrick - fiddle, mandolin
*Dave Pegg - bass, mandolin.
*Trevor Lucas
*Jerry Donahue
*Sandy Denny - vocals on "Breakfast In Mayfair"

Notes and references

* [http://www.http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=10:pxfm968o3ep1 All Music review by Bruce Eder]
* [http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/fcfansite Expletive Delighted, a Fairport Convention fan site]