Fairport "hiatus"

[Tertonmike]

Like many of you I always make sure to buy the festival edition of R2 magazine at Cropredy every year.  Perusing this year's number at my leisure since getting home I noticed an intriguing snippet in the interview with Ralph McTell on p.39, as part of the feature on the background to the tracks on "Myths And Heroes".  He is quoted as saying that his song "Clear Water" was a response to some internal strife in Fairport:
     
"A couple of years ago there was a bit of a hiatus in the band and there were problems, and I said to Dave [Pegg], "After all these years and all the band's been through you should be looking at clear water. The time for waves, turmoil, storms, disasters and tragedies should be over."

Well, good on him for taking an interest and pouring oil on troubled waters (an apt metaphor for once), but what was that all about?  Can anyone shed any further light on this "hiatus" of which Ralph speaks?  I for one was unaware of any aggro.......

[davidmjs]

They were fairly open about it at the time...Peggy even left the Acoustic Band for a couple of years.  It was fairly soon after the divorce...  Alcohol may have been involved.

[Dan O.]

They were fairly open about it at the time...Peggy even left the Acoustic Band for a couple of years.  It was fairly soon after the divorce...  Alcohol may have been involved.

Peggy talks about this period here :

http://www.talkawhile.co.uk/yabbse/index.php?topic=26538.0

I managed to catch the Pegg-less version of the band 3 times - they were good, but some pieces worked better than others, and Peggy's presence vocally and bass-ically (is that a word ?   ) was definitely missed.

[Tertonmike]

Oh, I see!  Thanks for the replies.  
It was all a bit further back in time than I picked up from the R2 article.  Perhaps the McTell song was in gestation for longer than I realised!
And all's well that ends well.  Things seem to be - to stretch the marine metaphors even further - on an even keel again now.  

[Jim]

Oh, I see!  Thanks for the replies.  
It was all a bit further back in time than I picked up from the R2 article.  Perhaps the McTell song was in gestation for longer than I realised!
And all's well that ends well.  Things seem to be - to stretch the marine metaphors even further - on an even keel again now.  

A very even keel, in becalmed waters, going nowhere slowly.

[Tertonmike]

A very even keel, in becalmed waters, going nowhere slowly.

Harsh, Jim, harsh!

[Sir Martin]

A very even keel, in becalmed waters, going nowhere slowly.

Harsh, Jim, harsh!

But fair.

[JJ (Joanna)]

Oh, I see!  Thanks for the replies.  
It was all a bit further back in time than I picked up from the R2 article.  Perhaps the McTell song was in gestation for longer than I realised!
And all's well that ends well.  Things seem to be - to stretch the marine metaphors even further - on an even keel again now.  

And that is Ralph. Many songs are finished, sometimes, 30 years later....  

[koho (Koen)]

We had them - the fivepiece, not the acoustics - in Grolloo NL 7 Oct 2005. Vo Fletcher played the part of Dave Pegg very well indeed. I was slightly taken aback that there was no mention - as in at all - publicly / on stage about Peggy not being there. Almost as if they pretended Vo Fletcher was Dave Pegg, as if they could get away with that since they were abroad anyway. There were a few raised eyebrows, definetely. BUT to their credit, it was a good show and no one asked for money back (I organized so should know   ). And Vo Fletcher is one excellent musician and a very nice chap to boot.

[Peter H-K]

We had them - the fivepiece, not the acoustics - in Grolloo NL 7 Oct 2005. Vo Fletcher played the part of Dave Pegg very well indeed. I was slightly taken aback that there was no mention - as in at all - publicly / on stage about Peggy not being there. Almost as if they pretended Vo Fletcher was Dave Pegg, as if they could get away with that since they were abroad anyway. There were a few raised eyebrows, definetely. BUT to their credit, it was a good show and no one asked for money back (I organized so should know   ). And Vo Fletcher is one excellent musician and a very nice chap to boot.

That was pretty much exactly my experience at a folk festival in Balloch at the time (i.e., the silence about the situation and what have you). As it happens, it was one of the very best Fairport gigs I've ever seen, mainy because of the enormous enthusiasm of the crowd rather than anything Vo brought to table! (He was very good, though.)

[Phil Perry]

I'm more interested in the "hiatus" that occurred after the Farewell, Farewell gig. (because that was the period when I caught the FC bug, their absence making the band seem really legendary ! )  We all know that cropredy continued on an annual basis, but how long was it before the annual winter tours started up ? - certainly it was whilst Swarb was still in the band.  And i still wish that Meet on the Ledge was for cropredy only, as it was back in those days.

[davidmjs]

I'm more interested in the "hiatus" that occurred after the Farewell, Farewell gig. (because that was the period when I caught the FC bug, their absence making the band seem really legendary ! )  We all know that cropredy continued on an annual basis, but how long was it before the annual winter tours started up ? - certainly it was whilst Swarb was still in the band.  And i still wish that Meet on the Ledge was for cropredy only, as it was back in those days.

They played dates (other than Cropredy) every year from 1980 to 1985....not a vast amount but they had Winter dates (not a huge tour like 1986 onwards, but 4 or 5 dates generally) as well as a few one offs and warm ups.  As 'hiatuses' go, they were pretty rubbish at it.

[Jim]

I'm more interested in the "hiatus" that occurred after the Farewell, Farewell gig. (because that was the period when I caught the FC bug, their absence making the band seem really legendary ! )  We all know that cropredy continued on an annual basis, but how long was it before the annual winter tours started up ? - certainly it was whilst Swarb was still in the band.  And i still wish that Meet on the Ledge was for cropredy only, as it was back in those days.

In the dark and dismal days before talkawhile, compact discs and the start of the thatcher era and before the release of Gladys Leap, word didn't travel as quickly as today and one cold winters evening i was sat at home moping whilst thumbing through the listings page of the Manchester Evening News only to be amazed and somewhat astounded to see an ad for FC live one sunday evening at the Davenport theatre in Stockport!
       So the official line that they only existed at Reunion weekend isnt true. Certainly the Angel Delight  line up toured in the 79-85.Further evidence of this tour exists on the Fairport Home Movie much of which was shot at the Davenport show.
       I am also led to believe that they toured with Bruce Rowlands in the "disbanded" era
       For many bands this would have been a normal touring schedule but for FC i suppose it counts as a quiet period as no new records were made, but it was hardly an age when FC didn't exist.

[davidmjs]

Every time I saw them between '81 and '85 outside of Cropredy (about 6 times in total, 4 at Wimbledon Theatre, once in Croydon and once in, I think, Portsmouth) it was the Swarb, Pegg, Simon, Bruce lineup but I know that DM did play instead of Bruce sometimes.  I'n fairly certain that this latter 4-piece lineup also played some US dates in '83/'84....(I'm pretty sure I have a recording of them from around then at the Bottom Line Club).

[GubGub (Al)]

I'm more interested in the "hiatus" that occurred after the Farewell, Farewell gig. (because that was the period when I caught the FC bug, their absence making the band seem really legendary ! )  We all know that cropredy continued on an annual basis, but how long was it before the annual winter tours started up ? - certainly it was whilst Swarb was still in the band.  And i still wish that Meet on the Ledge was for cropredy only, as it was back in those days.

In the dark and dismal days before the start of the thatcher era

A pedant writes:

I would question your historical accuracy here. The hiatus coincided exactly with the Thatcher era as she came to power in '79, just as Fairport were bidding Farewell, Farewell. The period from the "break up" in '79 to Gladys' Leap in '85 spans her first term & a half in office.

[Jim]

I would question my use of the english language as well, it give the i.pression that i might have enjoyed the years 79-90 from a political pov, which i certainly didnt.

 V poor Campbell
Must do better

[Paul]

Every time I saw them between '81 and '85 outside of Cropredy (about 6 times in total, 4 at Wimbledon Theatre, once in Croydon and once in, I think, Portsmouth) it was the Swarb, Peggy, Simon, Bruce lineup but I know that DM did play instead of Bruce sometimes.  I'n fairly certain that this latter 4-piece lineup also played some US dates in '83/'84....(I'm pretty sure I have a recording of them from around then at the Bottom Line Club).

I certainly saw them in Bognor Regis in this period. Bruce, Peggy, Simon and Swarb. They had to restart one number, as Simon stopped and said, "I'll just wait for Swarb to get the last ounce of goodness out of that Capstan Full Strength".  

Paul

[Phil Perry]

Thanks - interesting replies. I have a reasonably "lavish" programme from one of the mid-80's Swarb tours, but I had not realised that there was so much FC activity post-'79. Of course, about half of the Swarbrick & Nicol material at folk clubs came from FC, so even if you did not see the band itself you did need not have missed out totally.