''What We Did on Our Holidays'' (released as ''Fairport Convention'' in the United States) is the second album by British band Fairport Convention, released in 1969. It was their first album to feature singer-songwriter

Sandy Denny Alexandra Elene MacLean Denny (6 January 1947 – 21 April 1978) was an English singer who was lead singer of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. She has been described as "the pre-eminent British folk rock singer". After briefly w ...

. The album also showed a move towards the

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers s ...

for which the band became noted, including tracks later to become perennial favourites such as "Fotheringay" and the song traditionally used to close live concerts, "

Meet on the Ledge "Meet on the Ledge" is a song written by British singer-songwriter Richard Thompson and recorded by British folk rock band Fairport Convention in 1968 on Island Records. It was their second single. Background The song was taken from the albu ...

History

Following the departure of

Judy Dyble Judith Aileen Dyble (pronounced ''Die-bull''; 13 February 1949 – 12 July 2020) was an English singer-songwriter, most notable for being a vocalist and a founding member of Fairport Convention and Trader Horne. In addition, she and Ian McDona ...

, the band conducted auditions for a replacement singer, and

became the obvious choice.

Simon Nicol Simon John Breckenridge Nicol (born 13 October 1950) is an English guitarist, singer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He was a founding member of British folk rock group Fairport Convention and is the only founding member still in the ...

has said "it was a one horse race really... she stood out like a clean glass in a sink full of dirty dishes". According to author

Richie Unterberger Richie Unterberger (born January 19, 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' ...

Denny's "haunting, ethereal vocals gave Fairport a big boost". The album has been described by Unterberger as "a near-ideal balance between imaginative reworkings of traditional folk songs ... quality covers of contemporary folk-rock singer-songwriters, some quite obscure ... and original folk-rock material by various members". In 2008 Simon Nicol described the album as his favourite, and it was voted number 281 in

Colin Larkin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', described by ''The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged". Along wit ...

's ''

All Time Top 1000 Albums ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'' is a book by Colin Larkin, creator and editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. The book was first published by Guinness Publishing in 1994. The list presented is the result of over 200,000 votes cast by th ...

'' (2000). The cover features a sketch of the band performing, drawn on a blackboard by

Martin Lamble Martin Francis Lamble (28 August 1949 – 12 May 1969) was the drummer for British folk rock band Fairport Convention, from just after their formation in 1967, until his death in the band's van crash in 1969. He joined the band after attending ...

and

in a classroom at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

and the reverse of the original sleeve shows a photograph of the band performing. The Island Masters 1990 re-release IMCD 97 also features a portrait of Sandy Denny. In the USA, the album was released by

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

(SP-4185) with an identical track listing but featuring new cover art, and was re-titled ''Fairport Convention''. The album was also released in Australia and New Zealand by

Festival Records Festival Records (later known as Festival Mushroom Records) was an Australian recording and publishing company founded in Sydney, Australia, in 1952 and operated until 2005. Festival was a wholly owned subsidiary of News Limited from 1961 to ...

with the ‘blackboard’ front cover and an entirely different back cover to both the US and UK releases. The

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...

website gives no less than 54 different versions of the album.

Reception and influence

In a contemporary review for ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...

'', American critic Robert Christgau deemed Fairport Convention the "most interesting unknown group" he had listened to in some time, highlighting their take on " Pentangle-style ballads" and

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

's "

I'll Keep It with Mine "I'll Keep It with Mine" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1964, first released by folk singer Judy Collins as a single in 1965. Dylan attempted to record the song for his 1966 album '' Blonde on Blonde''. Dylan's versions Dylan recorded a vo ...

Neal Casal Neal Graeme Casal (November 2, 1968 – August 26, 2019) ...

, of

Ryan Adams & the Cardinals The Cardinals were an American rock band that were formed in 2004 by alternative country singer-songwriter Ryan Adams and fronted by him until 2009. The band was featured on Ryan Adams and the Cardinals albums, ''Cold Roses'', '' Jacksonville ...

, later listed ''What We Did on Our Holidays'' as one of his favourite albums of all time. Reviewing the 2008 re-issue of the album Pitchfork.com said: "The album mixes new interpretations of traditional ballads like "

Nottamun Town Nottamun Town, also known under other titles such as "Nottingham Fair" and "Fair Nottamon Town" (Roud # 1044) is an American folk song. Although sometimes suggested to be an English song of medieval origin brought to North America during the earl ...

", here rendered almost as a raga, with much newer songs, such as their soulful take on Dylan's "I'll Keep It With Mine" and their ponderous version of Mitchell's "Eastern Rain". The best material on ''Holidays'', though, may be their own—the stomping blues-rock of "Mr. Lacey", the racing "No Man's Land", and the stirring afterlife anthem "

1999 album

The album title was re-used for the 1999 CD release ''What We Did on Our Holidays - An Introduction to Fairport Convention'' on Island Records as IMCD 263.

Track listing

Personnel

Fairport Convention

(as Alexandra Elene MacLean Denny) – vocals, 6 & 12-string acoustic guitars, organ, piano, harpsichord *

Iain Matthews Iain Matthews (born Ian Matthews MacDonald, 16 June 1946) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. He was an original member of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention from 1967 to 1969 before leaving to form his own band, Matthew ...

– vocals, congas * Richard Thompson – electric, 6 & 12-string acoustic guitars, piano accordion, sitar on "Book Song" (uncredited), vocals * Ashley Hutchings – bass, backing vocals *

– electric & acoustic guitars, electric autoharp, electric

dulcimer The word dulcimer refers to two families of musical string instruments. Hammered dulcimers The word ''dulcimer'' originally referred to a trapezoidal zither similar to a psaltery whose many strings are struck by handheld "hammers". Variants of ...

, backing vocals *

– drums, percussion, violin,

tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

& footsteps

Additional personnel

Bruce Lacey Bruce Lacey (31 March 1927 – 18 February 2016) was a British artist, performer and eccentric. After completing his national service in the Navy he became established on the avantgarde scene with his performance art and mechanical constructs. He ...

& his

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may ...

s on "Mr. Lacey" * Claire Lowther – cello on "Book Song" * Kingsley Abbott – coins on "The Lord Is in This Place...," backing vocals on "Meet on the Ledge" * Paul Ghosh, Andrew Horvitch &

Marc Ellington Marc Floyd Ellington OStJ DL HonFRIAS (16 December 1945 – 17 February 2021) was an American-born British folk and folk-rock singer-songwriter, guitarist and bagpiper. He recorded in Britain in the late 1960s and 1970s, and became active in ...

– backing vocals on "Meet on the Ledge" * Peter Ross – harmonica on "Throwaway Street Puzzle"

Production and other credits

*Recorded at

Sound Techniques Sound Techniques was a recording studio in Chelsea, London that was operational between 1965 and 1976. Housed in a former dairy, it was founded by recording engineers Geoff Frost and John Wood. The studio became well known as the place where man ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and Olympic Studio No. 1, London (except "The Lord Is in This Place..." recorded at St. Peter's Church,

Westbourne Grove Westbourne Grove is a retail road running across Notting Hill, an area of west London. Its western end is in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and its eastern end is in the City of Westminster; it runs from Kensington Park Road in th ...

, West London). Further work recorded at

Morgan Studios Morgan Studios (founded as Morgan Sound Studios) was an independent recording studio in Willesden in northwest London. Founded in 1967, the studio was the location for recordings by such notable artists as Jethro Tull, the Kinks, Paul McCartney, ...

, London *Engineered by John Wood, Sound Techniques, London *Photography by Richard Bennett Zeff & Annie Brown *Design by Diogenic Attempts Ltd.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:What We Did On Our Holidays 1969 albums Fairport Convention albums Island Records albums Albums produced by Joe Boyd A&M Records albums Hannibal Records albums Albums recorded at Olympic Sound Studios Albums recorded at Morgan Sound Studios