YMMV / Fairport Convention

• Alternate Aesop Interpretation: When a band covers hundreds-of-years-old songs, this is pretty much inevitable. Songs like "Matty Groves" and "Tam Lin" are very likely interpreted highly differently by modern audiences (and the band themselves) than they were by contemporary audiences at the time they were written. For example, "Matty Groves" was very likely intended by its author as a cautionary tale about adultery, but to modern audiences it looks like a condemnation of the class system and arranged marriages. Values Dissonance (on the original authors' part), Deliberate Values Dissonance (on the band's part), and The Cover Changes the Meaning may be in play with some of these songs as well.
• Covered Up: Judy Collins' version of "Who Knows Where the Time Goes" is much better known than the band's own version. Meanwhile, the band's recordings of traditional folk songs like "Matty Groves" and "Tam Lin" are in many cases by far the best known performances.
• Fanon Discontinuity: Toward the albums without Sandy Denny or Richard Thompson.
• First Installment Wins: Their classic album is usually said to be Liege & Lief. On the one hand, it is their fourth album by their fourth lineup. On the other hand, it was released in December 1969, and the band are still touring and recording in the 2020s, more than fifty years later. (Similarly, the second most common choice for best album, Unhalfbricking, was their third album, released in July of the same year.)
• Older Than They Think: A British band that mixes rock and folk? What do you mean you're not thinking of Mumford & Sons?
• Tear Jerker: "Crazy Man Michael" is a particularly poignant example: it's a tale of a man who encounters a raven that predicts that his "true love will die by [his] own right hand", strikes down the raven, and then finds his love dead. Musically, it has a poignant arrangement with a superb performance by the late violist Dave Swarbrick. They have others as well.
• Tough Act to Follow: None of the band's vocalists after Denny have been anywhere near as renowned as she was. The three albums they recorded with her remain their most popular, as well.

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