Search - Sandy Denny :: North Star Grassman & The Ravens

Denny's First Solo Album!

Morten Vindberg | Denmark | 08/07/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Sandy Denny's first solo album was recorded shortly after she had disbanded her group Fotheringay in late 1970. All Fotheringay members were present at the recordings of Sandy's album, so it's no surprise that quite many songs sound like Fotheringay. The opening song "Late November" was actually intended for a second Fotheringay album, that was never finished. Fotheringay did record the song and that version is included among the bonus-tracks. Though only one song , the great "Blackwaterside", is a traditional folk-song, there is a very folkish feel to many of Sandy's own songs. Especially on "John the Gun" and the title track.



Other songs are quite complicated, both musically and lyrically ( her lyrics at times are pretty cryptic ). "Next Time Around", "The Optimist" and "Wretched Wilbur" may be the easiest songs to get into, but eventually they are bound to grow on you.



Two tracks "Down in the Flood" and "Let's Jump the Broomstick" ( and 2 more among the bonus-tracks ) are rockers a little in the same vein as the "Bunch" project recorded in early 1972 with most of the same people, who are backing Sandy on this album. Among them the outstanding guitarist and song-writer Richard Thompson.



Though the album may sound slightly more dated than her other solo-albums, it's still a great album.



My favourites are "Blackwaterside", "Wretched Wilbur", "Crazy Lady Blues" and both versions of "Late November"



"

Sandy's Best

M. R. Sheffield | Herkimer, NY | 07/10/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I read a magazine review calling this recording an "uneven masterpiece." It IS a masterpiece, but it is not uneven. Every song on it is strong. Several are now classic. Sandy's voice was in its prime at this time. The newly-remastered CD version is an absolute delight, with an alternate take of "Next Time Around" and a few added tracks. The voice and music of Sandy Denny will live on forever and her first solo album, "The North Star Grassman and the Riverns," is her best."

'Crazy Lady Blues'

Paul Ess. | Holywell, N.Wales,UK. | 06/16/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Even the much-maligned (by me) 'bonus tracks' on 'TNSGATR' are good. Unforced. Segueing with the album proper so you don't see the join. With no hint of that desperate lets-cram-any-old-garbage on, and watch the fans cream themselves at the very notion of 'previously unreleased'- there's usually a good reason why things are 'unreleased....'



The album itself is perfection. Soulful, powerful, lyrical, in fact everything you could want from a music, regardless of your preference or bias. This level of haunting beauty has 'broad' appeal.



Denny sings like a Guinnessed-up chorister. Her voice, (inspiration to every-one from Stevie Nicks to the criminally under-rated Gay Woods {!}) is sharp and worldly. You can sense her vibrancy as a person from the wacky but intense 'Brit Folk World'; a faintly Shire-type neverland, all festivals, 'herbs' and cider and she's magnificently supported by the completely heroic, (and fellow 'BFW' inhabitant) Richard Thompson, whose musicianship is faultless throughout.



I've always found the Fairports to be a bit deep (anti-shallow would be a better term) but Denny takes 'TNSGATR' to much murkier depths of moodiness and mystery. Each song has a beguiling darkness, and with Thompson in rich unison they take on an intoxication which almost induces light-headedness in the emotional listener.



It's not quite Joy Division, (though there are STARTLING similarities!) but we're certainly not dancing round the fertility pole on May-Day here. 'John the Gun' for example, could appear on a horror film soundtrack. Beautiful in all the right places, but violent lyrically with a violin part that'll rattle your sensibilities then prompt you to check the sleeve photos and have a good hard look into Sandy Denny`s eyes....



It's an album you have to listen to in it's entirety, you can't just play individual tracks. It blows an addictive breath across its completeness, and that voice....

Haunting and harrowing. You know she suffered, but you can't help celebrating. We're glad we've got the music, however morbidly disrespectful that sounds.



The only duffer is a bland cover version of 'Let's Jump the Broomstick', but that's brutal nit-picking.

'TNSGATR' is stinging, timeless music, and in this instance the dreaded phrase 'bonus tracks' doesn't bring you out in a stress-rash but it is in fact, an acute critical appraisal.

The whole album's a bonus."