Jewel in the Crown

"Jewel In The Crown" is a 1995 folk-rock album by Fairport Convention which is viewed by many as the best record produced by the line up which had been formed in 1985 for the one off project, Gladys' Leap. While few of the tracks were self-penned, it featured tracks from many of the band's favourite writers including Huw Williams, Ralph McTell and Julie Matthews. An album that had been recorded in two stages. Initially a few tracks had been partially recorded with recording engineer Tim Matyear. Tim's departure from Dave Pegg's Woodworm Studio led to producer-engineer Mark Tucker being hired to continue with recording the remaining material. At a very late stage in the production legendary producer Gus Dudgeon made a contribution to the album's production with Tucker and he completed some edits and final mixing. Overall it's generally considered one of the most satisfying of Fairport's releases, post-Nine. It was also the last studio album recorded by the Nicol, Pegg, Mattacks, Allcock and Sanders line-up