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Fairport Convention's annual festival in the otherwise sleepy Oxfordshire village of Cropredy has become a much-loved institution for the group's many fans, ever since the band first played there for a reunion gig after splitting up at the end of the 1970s. By 1998 when this concert was filmed, they were enjoying new-found success, thanks to the continuing faith of the fans who just refused to let the band fade away--fashion and musical trends notwithstanding. Cropredy had become a byword for the best in British folk-rock. Beyond the Ledge is a straightforward account of their Cropredy concert, interspersed with a few brief comments from crowd members. As ever, the yearly Cropredy gig amounts to a greatest-hits show. Newcomer Chris Leslie was just finding his feet with the band in 1998 and had yet to make his mark as a songwriter (he achieved that on their album The Wood and the Wire). So here much is made of their impressive back catalog, including Sandy Denny's "Who Knows Where the Time Goes," their increasingly baroque arrangement of the traditional ballad "Matty Groves" (now a climactic showpiece medley), and of course Richard Thompson's evergreen anthem, "Meet on the Ledge." But the highlights are the instrumental numbers where the band members get to show off their virtuosity: fiddlers Leslie and Ric Sanders play jigs and reels with improvised abandon, locking together or trading riffs with one another, while Dave Pegg's marvelously fluid bass holds everything together. As with any concert video, it's always going to be more fun for those who were there. But most Fairporters will have made the pilgrimage to Cropredy at least once, so they'll understand what it's all about. Non-initiates may be forgiven for being puzzled by the sight of these middle-aged folk-rockers inhaling helium from balloons before breaking into a traditional jig. --Mark Walker, Amazon.co.uk
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