What We Did on Our Holidays

"Meet on the Ledge" b/w "Throwaway Street Puzzle"
Released: December 1968, Island Records WIP 6047
"I'll Keep It With Mine" b/w "Fotheringay"
Released: 1969, USA-only

Alternative cover

US self-titled release on A&M Records

What We Did on Our Holidays, released in 1969, is the second album by the band Fairport Convention, and was the first to feature Sandy Denny, whose "haunting, ethereal vocals gave Fairport a big boost", according to Allmusic's reviewer.^[1] The album also showed a move towards the folk rock for which they 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".^[2]

History

Following the departure of Judy Dyble, the band conducted auditions for a replacement singer, and Sandy Denny became the obvious choice. Simon Nicol has said "it was a one horse race really...she stood out like a clean glass in a sink full of dirty dishes".^[3]

The album has been described by author Richie 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".^[4] Simon Nicol has cited the album as his favourite.^[5]

The cover features a sketch of the band performing, described in the album credits as "from a blackboard assaulted by Fairport Convention"^[6] and the reverse of the original sleeve 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 (SP-4185), containing an identical track listing but featured new cover art, and was retitled Fairport Convention.^[7]

In 2008 Four Men With Beards released a 180 gram version of the album that is being distributed by City Hall Records.

Reception and influence

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	^[1]
Robert Christgau	A−^[8]
Rolling Stone	(favourable) ^[9]

Neal Casal, of Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, lists What We Did on Our Holidays as one of his favourite albums of all time.^[10]

Track listing

Side one
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Fotheringay"	Sandy Denny	3:06
2.	"Mr Lacey"	Ashley Hutchings	2:55
3.	"Book Song"	Iain Matthews, Richard Thompson	3:13
4.	"The Lord Is in This Place...How Dreadful Is This Place" (based on "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground" by Blind Willie Johnson)	Hutchings, Thompson, Denny	2:01
5.	"No Man's Land"	Thompson	2:32
6.	"I'll Keep It With Mine"	Bob Dylan	5:56

Side two
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Eastern Rain"	Joni Mitchell	3:36
2.	"Nottamun Town"	traditional, arranged by Denny, Matthews, Thompson, Simon Nicol, Hutchings, Martin Lamble	3:12
3.	"Tale in Hard Time"	Thompson	3:29
4.	"She Moves Through the Fair"	traditional, arr. Denny, Matthews, Thompson, Nicol, Hutchings, Lamble	4:14
5.	"Meet on the Ledge"	Thompson	2:50
6.	"End of a Holiday"	Nicol	1:07

Bonus tracks on reissue
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
13.	"Throwaway Street Puzzle"	Hutchings, Thompson	3:30
14.	"You're Gonna Need My Help" (recorded live for BBC Radio's "Symonds on Sunday" show, producer John Walters and engineer Tony Wilson; first transmission: 9 February 1969)	McKinley Morganfield	4:11
15.	"Some Sweet Day"	Felice and Boudleaux Bryant	2:32

Personnel

Sandy Denny (as Alexandra Elene MacLean Denny) – vocals, acoustic & 12-string acoustic guitars, organ, piano, harpsichord
Iain Matthews – vocals, congas
Richard Thompson – electric, acoustic & 12-string acoustic guitars, piano accordion, sitar on "Book Song"^[11] (uncredited), vocals
Ashley Hutchings – bass, backing vocals
Simon Nicol – electric & acoustic guitars, electric autoharp, electric dulcimer, backing vocals
Martin Lamble – drums, percussion, violin, tabla & footsteps

Additional personnel

Bruce Lacey & his robots 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 – backing vocals on "Meet on the Ledge"
Peter Ross – harmonica on "Throwaway Street Puzzle"

Production and other credits

Recorded at Sound Techniques, London and Olympic Studio No. 1, London (except "The Lord Is in This Place..." recorded at St. Peter's Church, Westbourne Grove, West London). Further work recorded at Morgan Studios
Engineered by John Wood, Sound Techniques, London
Photography by Richard Bennett Zeff & Annie Brown
Design by Diogenic Attempts Ltd.

References

1 2 3 Unterberger, Richie. "Fairport Convention: What We Did on Our Holidays > Review" at AllMusic. Retrieved 7 October 2011.
↑ "Fairport Convention: Meet on the Ledge". www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
↑ "Sold on Song – Song Library – Who Knows Where The Time Goes". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 3 August 2008.
↑ "THE BIRTH AND HEYDAY OF FAIRPORT CONVENTION". Retrieved 4 May 2008.
↑ "Fairport Convention – Keeping Cropredy in the Happy Family". Retrieved 5 April 2008.
↑ Liner notes
↑ "Fairport Convention: What We Did on Our Holidays". www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
↑ Christgau, Robert. "Fairport Convention". RobertChristgau.com. Retrieved 7 October 2011.
↑ Mendlesohn, John (6 September 1969). "Fairport Convention". Rolling Stone. San Francisco: Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc. (41): 28.
↑ "Interview: Neal Casal (Ryan Adams & the Cardinals)". stereokill.net. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
↑ http://archive.richardthompson-music.com/QAgeartunings.asp

Fairport Convention

Simon Nicol Dave Pegg Ric Sanders Chris Leslie Gerry Conway Richard Thompson Ashley Hutchings Shaun Frater Martin Lamble Judy Dyble Iain Matthews Sandy Denny Dave Swarbrick Dave Mattacks Roger Hill Tom Farnall David Rea Trevor Lucas Jerry Donahue Paul Warren Bruce Rowland Dan Ar Braz Bob Brady Roger Burridge Maartin Allcock Discography

Studio albums	Fairport Convention (1968) What We Did on Our Holidays (1969) Unhalfbricking (1969) Liege & Lief (1969) Full House (1970) Angel Delight (1971) "Babbacombe" Lee (1971) Rosie (1973) Nine (1973) Rising for the Moon (1975) Gottle O'Geer (1976) The Bonny Bunch of Roses (1977) Tipplers Tales (1978) Gladys' Leap (1985) Expletive Delighted! (1986) In Real Time: Live '87 (1987) Red & Gold (1988) The Five Seasons (1990) Jewel in the Crown (1995) Old New Borrowed Blue (1996) Who Knows Where the Time Goes? (1997) The Wood and the Wire (2000) XXXV (2001) Over the Next Hill (2004) Sense of Occasion (2007) Festival Bell (2011) By Popular Request (2012) Myths and Heroes (2015)

Singles	"If I Had a Ribbon Bow" (1968) "Meet on the Ledge" (1968) "I'll Keep It with Mine" (1969) "Si Tu Dois Partir" (1969) "If (Stomp)" (1970) "Now Be Thankful" (1970)

Live albums	Fairport Live Convention (1974) Live at the L.A. Troubadour (1977) Farewell Farewell (1979) Moat on the Ledge - Live at Broughton Castle (1982) House Full (1986) Heyday (1987) 25th Anniversary Concert (1992) Cropredy 98 (1999) The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood (2004) Journeyman's Grace (2005) Live at the BBC (2007) Off the Desk (2008) Live at Cropredy 08 (2009) Babbacombe Lee - Live Again (2012)

Compilations	History of Fairport Convention (1972) Tour Sampler (1975) Fairport Chronicles (1976) The Woodworm Years (1991) A Chronicle of Sorts 1967 - 1969 Meet On the Ledge: The Classic Years 1967-1975 Some of Our Yesterdays Fairport Convention (2002 compilation) Then & Now 1982 - 1996: The Best of Fairport Convention Rhythm of the Times (2003) Across the Decades (2003)

Box sets	The Cropredy Box (1998)

Related articles	Fairport's Cropredy Convention (Cropredy Festival) Fairport's Cropredy Convention Line-ups (Cropredy Festival) Electric folk Jethro Tull

Sandy Denny

Solo albums	The North Star Grassman and the Ravens Sandy Like an Old Fashioned Waltz Rendezvous Gold Dust

Live albums	Gold Dust 19 Rupert St

Compilations	It's Sandy Denny Who Knows Where the Time Goes? The Best of Sandy Denny The Attic Tracks 1972–1984 The BBC Sessions 1971–1973 Listen Listen - An Introduction to Sandy Denny No More Sad Refrains: The Anthology The Best of Sandy Denny (20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection) The Collection A Boxful of Treasures Where The Time Goes - Sandy '67 Live at the BBC The Best of the BBC Recordings The Music Weaver: Sandy Denny Remembered Sandy Denny The Notes and the Word: A Collection of Demos and Rarities

Albums with the Strawbs	All Our Own Work Sandy Denny and the Strawbs All Our Own Work: The Complete Sessions Remastered

Albums with Fairport Convention	What We Did on Our Holidays Unhalfbricking Liege & Lief Fairport Live Convention Rising for the Moon Heyday: the BBC Radio Sessions 1968–69

Albums with Fotheringay	Fotheringay Fotheringay 2

Albums with The Bunch	Rock On

Collaborations	Alex Campbell and His Friends Sandy and Johnny (split album with Johnny Silvo) Don't Stop Singing (Thea Gilmore)

Guest appearances	Led Zeppelin: "The Battle of Evermore" The Who: Tommy The Young Tradition: Galleries Stefan Grossman: Ragtime Cowboy Jew

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