TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

I jumped in and started a CD label called Radz Records. In the streaming age, so almost by definition it's limited edition stuff.
Proper albums in digisleeve format. Musicians paid. Nothing bootleggy.
The first Radz Records album is planned in April and it's:

Simon Nicol & Ric Sanders
Greetings From Grolloo
Live in The Netherlands 1 March 2003
Radz Records RADZ680012

The first ever Simon & Ric album. It has material which in the FC family is only available on this.
Bach's Double Violin Concerto, Here There And Everywhere and Summertime join more FC-familiar favourites like Crazy Man Michael, Rosemary's Sister and The Hiring Fair. The artwork has photos from the gig taken by Chris Bates of this parish.

As I type this I am checking the new master CD on headphones - crystal clear all the way from 2003 as recorded by Paul Smith that day ... and you will love this I am sure. I am waiting for Simon's sleevenotes - but they're on tour.

I will post updates and a sleeve etc.

Radz (and me) are based in The Netherlands but am looking at a way to have this available in the UK and maybe at Cropredy. No need to order yet.
I am chock full of CD release plans/ideas so wish me luck!

I do like a contrarian who launches a CD only label in 2024.  Good luck, Koen...

Well I do understand they fare better than some time ago. At my Roots aan de Zaan (hence Radz) gigs, CD merch regularly sells like hot cakes. I'm feeling slightly Don Quichote-ish in a way.

Yes, very best of luck, Koen! Looking forward to more info on this release, highly unlikely that I won't be ordering a copy...

I saw Simon n Ric together in about that time, so the set list may be similar… I will be ordering too.

Best wishes for the label!

I'll certainly be up for a copy of the Simon & Ric album. They were always good value live.

How much did Simon and Ric tour, then?  I seem to remember a tour late 80s or early 90s (not long after the last Simon and Swarb tours) but I don't think I was aware it had continued well into the 21st century...

Sounds great!  Well done, and I look forward to further details in due course

Excellent, and good luck!

Thank you's! It's quite possible this was their last duo gig, I don't think I saw the duo mentioned since. It was a very rare outing. At that festival, Iain Matthews and Ad Vanderveen played too. Ric guested with them. All recorded!. As was Little Johnny England. Twas a music filled day ...

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember (again, memory can be fallible), that the 2003 Simon & Ric duo tour started out as a Simon & Swarb tour with Ric ready on standby to complete the dates in the event of Swarb not being medically up to it. Hence the rarity of the occasion, and lack of publicity.

I'm intrigued by this forthcoming cd though, and will likely order one...

Interesting!

Simon & Ric in Grolloo 2003 was not part of a tour. I asked them; they said yes.
I'm not sure - but this was pre-Swarb's lung transplant so I don't think he performed for several years then?

Ah, makes sense if it was a one-off gig.

Swarb played at Cropredy in 2002 and 2003 - in 2003 they made a real fuss of him and gave him an extended showcase in the middle of the Saturday night FC set to play pieces from his just-released Naxos album "English Fiddler".

You've got a better memory than mine...although I do just about remember it. A decent album, that...and you can pick it up dirt cheap too...

This sounds such an exciting release, and I for one am really excited to purchase a copy (also @Koho - please see my other post for another potential release idea!).

It feels to me that there sued to be many more "ofshoots" of Fairport performing abck in the 1980s / 1990s / early 2000s? Simon and Maart did a few things together, I also think Mr Pegg and Ric played some gigs in the Birmingham area? There was also the Fairport "acoustic" Convention line up which is much missed. Does anyone know what happened and why it is we only see them as a singular collective nowadays?

Peggy also did a solo album which is long since forgotten but was quite nice and he had a go at singing. It's a shame Fairport don't let him sing any more, but I guess with Chris there isn't the same requirement now ?

I'd be interested to know more about these two combos...it's news to me.

Here's the front- and back cover! Whilst resizing this (I am no expert at this stuff!) it turned rather low res, is this readable?

If not --
1. introduction: Dick (02:33)
2. Sheriff’s Ride / Upton Stick Dance (trad. arr. Nicol/Sanders) (05:24)
3. Over The Lancashire Hills (Stuart Marson) (05:20)
4. Slipjigs & Reels (Steve Tilston) (05:49)
5. Bach’s Double Violin Concerto (1st Movement) (J.S. Bach, arr. Nicol/Sanders) (03:47)
6. Crazy Man Michael (Dave Swarbrick/Richard Thompson) (05:37)
7. Portmeirion (Ric Sanders) (07:07)
8. Travelling By Steam (Huw Williams) (05:06)
9. Sophisticated Lady (Ellington) / Here, There And Everywhere (Lennon/McCartney) (05:55)
10. Rosemary’s Sister (Huw Williams) (06:29)
11. Woodworm Swing (Ric Sanders) (04:32)
12. The Hiring Fair (Ralph McTell) / Summertime (Gershwin/Gershwin/Heyward) (14:56)
13. The Widow Of Westmorland’s Daughter (trad. arr. Nicol/Sanders) (05:23)
total running time 78:28

I wish I could remember more about it. I’m sure it was Maart and Simon solo together somewhere in Telford; to my memory it must have been around the mid-1990s as there was a bit of crossover between the Old, New, Borrowed, Blue material. It was mostly fairport material to be fair and some sets of tunes that I didn’t know. My ex-wife might remember more, but I really don’t want to have to ask her!

The Fairport Acoustic Convention line-up still exists in practice, if not in name, as a 4 piece when DM isn't available to play with them.  It started out as a drummer-less version of the band, and then Gerry would come along and play percussion.  Rather like they do for the opening set at Cropredy, with them all sitting down.

Of course.  And remember there was also a bassless (plus percussion) version for a couple of years as well (when Peggy had to sit on the naughty step for a bit).

Okay, this is interesting - so the Fairport Acoustic Convention was just 1990s era Fairport without DM? Was Chris Leslie not involved in that acoustic lineup somehow but in the Maart era?

So does anyone know when the Fairport 'Acoustic' Convention brand was dropped? They certainly used to make a big deal of it, but now they have dropped that name - which in my opinion is a great shame.

This year's Cropredy poster advertises Fairport Acoustic on Thursday. So it seems they have not completely dropped the name.

I'm fairly certain Chris had only guested with Fairport (FC or FAC) occasionally prior to joining.  He played Cropredy '92 as a replacement for Ric, of course...

Basically all FAC was, was a way of differentiating it from the larger venued, louder fully electric Winter touring band and opening it up to smaller sit down venues et al during the rest of the year.  Obviously as time marched on the boundaries between the two got blurred.  They were almost meaningless when Gerry was fully present for all dates.  

I remember at one FAC gig with Gerry, Simon explained that they were sitting on acoustic chairs.

At the first FAC gig I saw with Gerry, I think Simon said that they had found him sitting in the back of the van, so decided they'd better let him come along anyway!

Yes, the boundaries did get blurred - mainly the difference seemed to be whether Gerry was playing the cajon or a drum kit, and if they sat for the whole set or not, so probably they just decided the different name wasn't needed.

Has there not been a CD of this incarnation recorded at live shows last year on sale during the current tour? Or did I dream that? I can't say for sure as I didn't attend this year but will pick it up if it goes on sale in their web shop at the end of the tour, if indeed it exists.

Correct, there has been, and I imagine that it will be available soon, once the tour finishes.

It was on sale when I saw the 5 piece band in Swansea last week

Yes I bought it from Peggy in Lincoln, great set from Autumn 2023.