Yes, there was a discontinuity, and a fair bit of that was probably down to the lack of Swarb - the last couple of albums had gone back down the 'trad. arr.' route, and without him on board Simon, Peggy and DM took it away from that again, and followed their own musical interests so that there has been very little of that in the past 40 years, and a lot more songs from Ralph, Steve Tilston, How Williams ,etc, etc, and subsequently from Chris.  

Yes, Ric has a very different style, and as one who came on board with the Gladys line-up, he was what I have always been used to.  And he has calmed down (or been calmed down, as he says in the interview) over the years from the days when he would go very 'cosmic' in his solos.  I don't know quite what happened with Simon's singing - whether he had some lessons, or whether his voice just matured - but it certainly improved to the point where he was happy to be the main vocalist.

If we're all going to Cropredy maybe we should arrange to meet up together, and see if we create a wormhole in the space-time continuum, or if either/both of us disappear in a puff of logic!

To me, it's fairly obvious - there is a kind of continuity from the early band to the Bruce lineup.  Through all of the lineupery one can still sort of see why one album sounds as it does in relation to the one before....and yet the 1985 onwards band sounds (in their new material, and in their playing of the old) like a completely different entity.  Much of that is Ric, and the rest is the 'electronic' feel of the keyboards, the production values etc.  So I get it - for myself, even if that doesn't make any sense to anyone else.  Also, Simon started singing completely differently....(discuss).

I too hope they honour the new boy's tenure.  Nearly 30 years for Chris too which is kind of bonkers....

Ah but have you been seen in that same space together at the same time  

I remember the first gigs by the Ric/Maart lineup at the Half Moon, Putney. All the old Swarb-heads were going around muttering 'Bloody 'ell, they've got Eddie Van Halen on fiddle' into their pints of Young's Special  

Nice interview, thanks for sharing. Don't ask me where but I've seen the story before about his recruitment as essentially second choice. But Whippersnapper being active in 1984 it isn't surprising that as Ric says, Chris would have been reluctant to join. To each their own as always of course, but since I came to Fairport in 1987 Ric was who I heard first, and was my first time hearing violin in that context. Eventually I heard Swarb and of course loved his playing, and of course I love Chris' playing also. And I could probably if required rattle off a list of 50 other violin players I love, all with their own styles.  A big moment for me was around Old New Borrowed & Blue when Ric started playing a more back to basics violin. As I have said on here before, despite what Ric says in this interview, he can actually 'fiddle', but it isn't what what he cut his teeth on.

One hypothesis I have is that if Chris, or a folk fiddler had joined the band in 1985 for the effective role of Swarb pt 2, would Maart have joined? Would Chris have been happy being defined as Swarb 2?  Would the band have made something like  17 albums since Gladys' Leap?  I know opinions about them vary, but it is still a legacy within the greater legacy of the band's story.  Would Fariport have grown, along with Cropredy like it did throughout the 1980's and early 90's? All hypothetical of course. Obviously Swarb was dynamic, a leader, and an innovator. But do we have this discussion about Peggy replacing Ashley, Jerry replacing Richard, DM replacing Martin, etc, etc? I don't think we often do, and for some reason the change from Swarb to Ric is seemingly polarizing, and I don't quite get it.

Just my thoughts, I think it is amazing that its been 40 years in the band for Ric, and I hope at Cropredy they will honor that somehow.

Sadly I can no longer remember who was in the band...I wonder if anyone knows Ric could ask him to talk more about those years playing midlands jazz clubs etc.

Who was in that with him?

Yes.  The number of times ive had conversations with friends and acquaintances that go 'Did you see.... oh you haven't got a TV have you...'

I don't mind. There's plenty of time for radio, books, records, visits to the cinema etc.

Ah, well there we go then.

I know other people who don't have TVs. On one level, I admire them for it, but then you realise how it removes so many cultural reference points from the conversations.

Jules