Sandy Denny was one of the great English singers, and its been good to see her getting some of the attention her genius deserves. She emerged out of the late 'sixties folk scene to join Fairport Convention. For them, she brought classic songs like Fotheringay and Who Knows Where the Time Goes, as well as lending her glorious voice to the classic folk songs and Thompson/Swarbick classics that made up the epochal Liege and Lief. With that she left the band, though continue to be part of a wider Fairport circle of musicians. She produced four solo studio albums: the first two pretty brilliant, though all undermined on occasions by overly bombastic string arrangements (perhaps owed to her record company's pressure for sales). For many, she is only known for her singing on Led Zep's Battle of Evermore. Tragically, she died young.
Recent years have seen increasing interest in her work. As a result, some of those songs have emerged in more stripped down forms, notably on the box set A Boxful of Treasures. These songs were from The North Star Grassman and the Ravens and Like an Old Fashioned Waltz:
mp3 Sandy Denny: Next Time Around
mp3 Sandy Denny: At the End of the Day
On the same box set is a lovely song which was left off Rendezvous, in full and stripped down versions. Here's the later:
mp3 Sandy Denny: Full Moon
As a bonus, Mark Olson (once of the Jayhawks) produced this song on his new album, The Salvation Blues:
mp3 Mark Olson: Sandy Denny
I will return to matters Fairport et al anon.
Buy Sandy Denny here; Mark Olson here
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