Glastonbury Fayre 1971

Though only 7.000 people went to see it, the Glastonbury Fayre Festival of 1971, held in coincindence with the summer solstice, is a legendary event in the history of British free festivals. The organizer Andrew Kerr was much more interested in mysticism than in getting rich with rock music. He had the idea to make a giant wooden pyramidal stage, that took eight days to be built, to concentrate the energy of the solstice. I don't know if it was because of the pyramid, but an atmosphere of magic and harmony made the festival really special, as can be seen in the documentary directed by Peter Neal. The artists appearing on this movie are: Arthur Brown, Melanie, Terry Reid, Fairport Convention, Family, Quintessence, Traffic. Unfortunately the exibitions of other musicians like David Bowie, Edgar Broughton Band, Gong, Pink Fairies, Gilberto Gil, Hawkwind, Mighty Baby, Brinsley Schwarz are not shown. Of course is worth looking also at the spontaneous happenings among the audience.

The two perfomances I chose are really compelling. The Fairport Convention plays a very loud, fast, almost frantic version of Dirty Linen, a traditional also present on their album Full House, one of the best folk-rock record ever.

The Traffic closed their concert of June 22 with an irresistible Gimme Some Loving, the famous song that a very young Steve Winwood composed when he still was in the Spencer Davis Group. On this occasion the band is joined by some African percussionists.

Both these songs are impossible to be listened to while remaining sitted on a chair.

A triple LP set, complete with a booklet and a poster, including songs from this festival and others gifted by various bands, was published in a limited edition of 5.000 copies. If someone who owns a copy of this record would be so kind to upload it somewhere I'd be very grateful.

If you can read Italian, you will find more informations about the festival and the record on this page.

Added on November 12: In the comments you can find the links to download the album, kindly uploaded by my Brazilian friend Carlos. Thank you!

Fairport Convention - Dirty Linen (1971)

Traffic - Gimme Some Loving (1971)

Password: http://musicforyoureyes.blogspot.com/

See you soon

Mirco