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Fotheringay Album Review

R.D.

Reproduced from Hokey Pokey #3, April 1986
Copyright © 1986 Hokey Pokey. Reproduced by permission
Submitted by Dr. Levent Varlik from Turkey.

FOTHERINGAY (Island).
Fotheringay embody the parts of the Fairports that I liked best; the drawn-out traditional songs, plus that light funky quality derived from Dylan and The Band. Their first album is well up to their capabilities, particularly an eight-minute version of the anti-war ballad Banks Of The Nile, which sounds just as relevant now as it must have done in Thomas Hardy's days. But apart from that, the music on this track is perfectly stunning. Sandy stretches the line, hanging and suspending it as only she can do, while the guitars and drums play perfectly synchronised riffs behind. Banks Of The Nile is probably the best rock arrangement I've ever heard, simple as that, and the rest of the album isn't far behind, particularly their version of Gordon Lightfoot's The Way I Feel. Their success lies in the fact that as well as having a wonderful front-lady, they also have four musicians who are completely in sympathy and are able to subjugate the power of their playing with the kind of reticence which can produce great music. All of them - Trevor Lucas (rhythm guitar, vocals), Jerry Donahue (lead guitar), Pat Donaldson (bass), and Gerry Conway (drums) - are magnificent, and their album is likewise. This is the way that British music must go.

> Sandy Denny > Obituaries, Interviews and Articles > Fotheringay Concert

Fotheringay Concert

Melody Maker, 21 March 1970, by Jeremy Gilbert

Reproduced from Hokey Pokey #3, April 1986.
Copyright © 1986 Hokey Pokey. Reproduced by permission
Submitted by Dr. Levent Varlik from Turkey.

Fotheringay made the kind of debut artists usually only dream about and were given tremendous acclaim at Birmingham Town Hall on Monday.

The group brought together by Sandy Denny, ex-Fairport Convention, and Trevor Lucas, ex-Eclection is already well rehearsed, highly accomplished and musically orientated. Lead guitarist Jerry Donahue's style is ideally suited to the country rock bias of Fotheringay which shows shades of the early days of Fairport, and Gerry Conway (drums) and Pat Donaldson (bass) form a tight swinging rhythm section.

There were hang-ups between numbers with tuning and so-on. Sandy was in great vocal form throughout and her own numbers like The Sea and Winter Winds are excellent. But the most enjoyable were Claw, a nostalgic instrumental, the traditional Banks Of The Nile and two country numbers, Ned Kelly and Silver Threads And Golden Needles, which seemed to idealise their style.

Earlier the Humblebums had put the audience in the right frame of mind with a hilarious set. They seemed dogged by bad luck for they had to abandon their attempt to work with a band at the eleventh hour when pianist/bassist Daryl Runswick failed to arrive.