Search - Sandy Denny :: North Star Grassman and the Ravens

'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."

One of this artist's best

jblyn | Maryland, USA | 02/11/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Back when music came on vinyl albums with "sides" that you turned over to play, "Side Two" of this album got a workout on my turntable. It contains some of Sandy Denny's finest songs and finest singing, with two particular standouts, "Next Time Around" and the title song. On both, the qualities that those know and love in Denny come to the fore immediately---an earthy grit to her voice that is lovely rather than coarse, songs that defy any particular time and era to connect with the listener, combined with arrangements that enhance both these other traits. They're beautiful. The rest of the album is only slightly less arresting than those two songs, but "slightly" is the important word here. With the exception of a rather rote version of Bob Dylan's "Down In The Flood," Denny is in top-form throughout, ably assisted by long-time cohorts including Richard Thompson, Gerry Conway and her former husband Trevor Lucas.



Sandy Denny left this world far too soon, but the music she made still stands up today, for all seasons. Get this CD and listen....you won't be disappointed."