Fairpoint Convention

As a kid from the States, I wasn't plugged into the early UK folk/psych
scene at the time. (I'm not counting the acts that got famous, but some of
the more obscure ones). I've started to dig into this stuff and it is wonderful.
L&L and Unhalfbricking (or whatever that FC title is) are both wonderful- the
original island pink labels are pricey, but the pink rims can be found
relatively cheaply. I know someone who was very involved in this scene at
the time- he recommended that I read Joe Boyd's book, White Bicycles,
which was worthwhile. I've been digging into some of the more obscure
acts on Vertigo too- not exactly 'folk,' more psych/progressive- what an
interesting time in pop music. And stands up well today. Great fun to
discover what others already knew 40 plus years ago.

Lot's of stuff on the Net about 4 Men reissues. The only one I recall off the
top of my head is Dusty in Memphis, which was close to unlistenable. I later
replaced it with, I think, the Chad/Analogue Productions re-do. I'm not
against reissues, but I think you could find a UK pink rim for not a lot of
money. I haven't researched the deadwax for Fairport on Island but
because Island did not do its own pressings, there are sonic differences.
(Look up info on the '1 U', '2 U " vs the 'A' 'B' codes as it relates to
Island pressings - i think the difference is EMI v. Polydor but not sure how it
applies to the FC stuff). I have pink labels and pink rims of many of the
early Island releases. The early pressings sound more organic, but are
often noisier. The surfaces on the pink rims are quieter, but the records
aren't quite as vivid. That said, if you are willing to do the digging, you can
sometimes find pink rims with essentially the same deadwax info (and thus,
using the same metal parts/mastering) as the earlier pink label.
I have several records, including an early 'Free' record where the rim and
the earlier pink label have the same matrix info.
The rims are typically far cheaper than an early pink label and my suspicion
is, will sound much better than some newer reissue with questionable
source provenance.