Album: North Star Grassman & The Ravens
Artist: Sandy Denny
Born: Wimbledon, London
Released: May 1971
Genre: Electric folk
Influenced: Kate Bush, Cat Power, Beth Orton, Joanna Newsom
By the time of her debut solo album, North Star Grassman & The Ravens, Sandy Denny had not only left Fairport Convention, but subsequently another group, Fotheringay. Denny was a pioneer for British solo female singer-songwriters, but she never enjoyed the success of some of her male counterparts, such as Richard Thompson and John Martyn (who both, like her, shared a mixed English-Scottish heritage). Perhaps her most successful musical venture of 1971 was providing the vocals to The Battle Of Evermore on Led Zeppelin IV. This was one of several Tolkienesque electric folk records released that year, alongside Caravan's In The Land Of Grey & Pink. The genre was exploding in many new directions (Steeleye Span's Please To See The King, Comus' First Utterance, Mr Fox's The Gipsy and Jethro Tull's Aqualung are all notable electric folk albums recorded in 1971), but Denny rejected these progressive leanings for a much more personal approach. Late November, the album's first track, was inspired by a dream involving Fairport Convention's drummer Martin Lamble, who died in 1969, and though the lyrics are obscure the singing and the piano playing are powerfully emotional.
Though I'm a big fan of Sandy Denny and this album, I can see how it wasn't just sexism that prevented her from getting the recognition she deserved. Her decision (or the label's, I'm not sure) to add a few blues numbers to this collection of songs really doesn't pay off, with Let's Jump The Broomstick a particular low. She may have been one of the best singers in pop & folk history but her voice, ethereal and pure, isn't well-suited to the gritty growl of the blues. Her cover of Down In The Flood (a song from Dylan's Basement Tapes sessions), on which she duets with Richard Thompson, is also unconvincing. But everything else is magnificent, especially The Sea Captain, Next Time Around, the title track and her version of Blackwaterside. Next Time Around is, like Late November, another powerful ballad that is as mysterious as the ocean (themes of nautical exploits and sailors appear often in Denny's songs), but supposedly a tribute to Jackson C. Frank, one of the leading lights in the London folk scene (check out Blues Run The Game) and her ex-lover. This remains my favourite of her solo albums, but I can't help nurturing a lingering regret whenever I listen to her music that she didn't stick with Fairport Convention just a little longer. All the same, she's one of Britain's great musical unsung talents and this album is one of the best introduction to her charms.
By the time of her debut solo album, North Star Grassman & The Ravens, Sandy Denny had not only left Fairport Convention, but subsequently another group, Fotheringay. Denny was a pioneer for British solo female singer-songwriters, but she never enjoyed the success of some of her male counterparts, such as Richard Thompson and John Martyn (who both, like her, shared a mixed English-Scottish heritage). Perhaps her most successful musical venture of 1971 was providing the vocals to The Battle Of Evermore on Led Zeppelin IV. This was one of several Tolkienesque electric folk records released that year, alongside Caravan's In The Land Of Grey & Pink. The genre was exploding in many new directions (Steeleye Span's Please To See The King, Comus' First Utterance, Mr Fox's The Gipsy and Jethro Tull's Aqualung are all notable electric folk albums recorded in 1971), but Denny rejected these progressive leanings for a much more personal approach. Late November, the album's first track, was inspired by a dream involving Fairport Convention's drummer Martin Lamble, who died in 1969, and though the lyrics are obscure the singing and the piano playing are powerfully emotional.
Though I'm a big fan of Sandy Denny and this album, I can see how it wasn't just sexism that prevented her from getting the recognition she deserved. Her decision (or the label's, I'm not sure) to add a few blues numbers to this collection of songs really doesn't pay off, with Let's Jump The Broomstick a particular low. She may have been one of the best singers in pop & folk history but her voice, ethereal and pure, isn't well-suited to the gritty growl of the blues. Her cover of Down In The Flood (a song from Dylan's Basement Tapes sessions), on which she duets with Richard Thompson, is also unconvincing. But everything else is magnificent, especially The Sea Captain, Next Time Around, the title track and her version of Blackwaterside. Next Time Around is, like Late November, another powerful ballad that is as mysterious as the ocean (themes of nautical exploits and sailors appear often in Denny's songs), but supposedly a tribute to Jackson C. Frank, one of the leading lights in the London folk scene (check out Blues Run The Game) and her ex-lover. This remains my favourite of her solo albums, but I can't help nurturing a lingering regret whenever I listen to her music that she didn't stick with Fairport Convention just a little longer. All the same, she's one of Britain's great musical unsung talents and this album is one of the best introduction to her charms.
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