Glady's Leap

Gladys' Leap is the fourteenth studio album by Fairport Convention, released in August 1985. 40 years later and we are proud to re-release this special album on CD complete with new notes to celebrate its 40th Anniversary. It was originally recorded in April and May 1985 at Woodworm Studios, Barford St. Michael, Oxfordshire, UK. It was produced and engineered by Simon Nicol, Dave Mattacks and Dave Pegg and the assistant engineers were Tim Matyear and Mark Powell. The album features the first contributions to a Fairport album by founding member Richard Thompson since Rosie in 1973. Thompson wrote the opening track "How Many Times" and played lead guitar on "Head in a Sack". The title comes from Gladys Hillier, who was a postwoman for Cranham, a village near Stroud in Gloucestershire, England. As a short-cut, to save a two-mile walk, she used to jump a three feet wide brook, a tributary of Painswick Stream, on her round. In 1977 the Ordnance Survey agreed to name the spot in her honour and in 2005, when Hillier was 88, a footbridge was built across the stream (a signpost lists her period of service as 1942-1977). Fairport heard the story, and named the album in Gladys' honour.