Search - Sandy Denny :: Sandy

Sandy Denny's best original work and best solo album

Lawrance M. Bernabo | The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota | 05/09/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Just think of how many millions of people there are who have heard Sandy Denny sing only one song. That would be when she sang "The Battle of Evermore" with Robert Plant on "Led Zeppelin VI." For far too many people Sandy Denny was reduced to being a Led Zep trivia question, the same way that Merry Clayton was for the Stones for singing on "Gimme Shelter." But Sandy Denny was the pre-eminent female English folk singer of her generation, whether it was fronting groups such as Fairport Convention and Fotheringay, recording with them as she did with the Strawbs, or producing solo albums as she did with this simply titled effort from 1972. For those who want to know more about the woman who recorded "Who Knows Where the Time Goes" before Judy Collins (or before 10,000 Maniacs if you are Generation-X rather than a Baby Boomer), this is a good place to start.



"Sandy" was Denny's second album after leaving Fairport Convention, and is something of a transitional effort in that she is still singing in what we would call the traditional manner of a folk singer, but with attention being paid to the arrangements and instrumentation that are more sophisticated. Listen to a song such as "Listen, Listen," where the mandolin is reinforced by the sound of strings to evidence the point. But at this point it is a traditional song, like "Quiet Joys of Brotherhood," done in layered a cappella by Denny, but with a violin solo at the end by Dave Swarbrick, that stands out although obviously it is something she could not do in concert. The only other non-original song on the album is a cover of Bob Dylan's "Tomorrow Is a Long Time," which provides another opportunity to compare Denny and Collins signing the same song. Denny latter did a live version that had much more of a country twang. For that matter, go back and check out Bert Jansch's version of "Quiet Joys of Brotherhood" for a different but equally compelling version of that song. Once you start getting into the British folk music scene you are going to find plenty to listen to for quite some time.



Other standout tracks on this album are the first one, "It'll Take a Long Time," the story of John the Gypsy in "It Suits Me Well," and "The Lady," which produces the production values about as far as I want to go when listening to Sandy Denny sing. It terms of presenting original compositions, "Sandy" is far and away the best of Denny's albums. I also like this period of Denny's work, when things are still relatively simple. This is a five star album without the bonus tracks, but there are five fo them including a French language version of "Ecoute, Ecoute," and "It'll Take a Long Time" done live with Fairport Convention. Unfortunately, Denny would die at the age of 31 in 1977 as a result of injuries sustained when falling down stairs. Of course, that does not have the cache of the drug overdoses that claimed so many stars of her generation, otherwise we would have more reason to be listening to Denny's songs today. There are several solid collections honoring Denny's body of work, but that is much to be said for the stellar simplicity of this particular solo album."

Listen, Listen

Wayne Klein | My Little Blue Window, USA | 03/08/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sandy Denny's second solo album represents her best work. While there were other terrific albums in her brief life, this captures the magic of her songwriting and singing. The remastered CD from Island sounds terrific. Sound quality is exceptional crisp with nice detail and depth. The original artwork has been redesigned for the CD booklet with liner notes by David Suff.



I was one of those people who discover Sandy via Led Zepplin's "Zo-So" (or "Led Zepplin IV")with her work on "The Battle of Evermore". Her rich, powerful voice took possession of the song from Robert Plant immediately and that, by itself, was quite an accomplishment. I finally replaced the old vinyl version of this album with the CD once it was remastered with bonus tracks and am glad that I made the transition.



This edition features five bonus cuts. The first two are from the soundtrack to "Pass of Arms", a demo, "Listen, Listen" with the vocals recorded in French and a live track of a recording of "It'll Take a Long Time" recorded with Fairport Convention. The only thing missing that might have made this set better is a collection of these tracks aside from "It'll Take a Long Time" performed live.



The sad part is that the cult of Sandy remains that--a cult of people who love and are devoted to her music. Sadly, in our homogenized world of radio pap Sandy's music is nowhere to be found. It would enrich radio and there's certainly a place for her work it's just that there are so many people that have never heard of her that her work falls between the cracks. Heck, I've even heard Nick Drake's stuff played as muzak. Never Sandy's music. Maybe that's a good thing though because the music hasn't been cheapened but it would be nice if her resonate voice and songwriting could find a larger audience because she deserved so much more."

The music lasted so much longer than Sandy did

A. T. Smith | Williamsport, PA USA | 08/07/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I too bought this album in 1972, not knowing anything about Sandy Denny other than a positive review of the album from Rolling Stone. Played the first side regularly for 30 years. It was only when I bought this CD recently and really delved into the entire work (and extra tracks) that I could see how ahead of her time Sandy was. [Somewhere in the second chorus of "Listen Listen" you'll hear what I've always thought was Chrissie Hynde's signature ululation -- nope, she stole it from Sandy.] The writing on the best songs is so spare and engages the listener's intellect (what a concept!), and the musicianship still sounds fresh, a third of a century on. This is a voice, both in her writing and singing, that was only just starting to realize its potential, and anyone who values truly beautiful, conservatively adorned music will be rewarded in exploring Sandy Denny. Would that she were still alive!"