From Amazon.com
THANK GOD FOR PRO TOOLS AND DIGITAL MASTERING
Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: I am so glad that Mr. Donahue took the time to get his hands on these long lost gems and finish them. Through the wonderful mastery of ProTools (I would imagine) or some other DAW technology these wonderful pieces have been carefully put together and a few things added (with a great deal of integrity I might add) to bring us a wonderful product that is both timeless and just plain great music. The wonderful rhythm section working together on Gypsy Davey almost like a fine Swiss clock on a simple rhythm but playing it so synchronously (listen closely to the way the band works together on this track..it's really something). There is a great track sung by Trevor called "Eppie Moray" that puts to shame anything ever recorded by Pentangle and rivals Fairport any day. Included also is the wonderful "Wild Mountain Thyme" in which Sandy rips your heart out once again. The "new" version of "Two Weeks Last Summer" is most certainly something to make Dave Cousins (the composer) very proud. It is just glorious in its simplicity and beauty. I was a bit taken aback at the new added vocals at first but it is truly beautiful. This is a grand feat for the surviving band members to have taken on and so successfully executed with integrity. Bravo, gentlemen! If you like Sandy or anything resembling Fairport, or Richard and Linda Thompson, you will cherish this piece of product....BUY IT IMMEDIATELY!
Fotheringay Too!
Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: There was a fecund explosion of excellent folk-rock coming out of Britain in the early- to mid-'70s, as evidenced by Fairport Convention, Pentangle, Steeleye Span, Forest, Trees, Mr. Fox, Linda & Richard Thompson, Albion Band, Morris On, Oyster Band, Traffic, Gryphon, and oh so many others (see the 6-CD sampler "New Electric Muse" for a deeper taste).
Fotheringay's lone 1970 self-titled album certainly made the pile, but to these ears it was never the pinnacle. The band, despite its stellar membership, hadn't quite gelled and could be heard searching for a unique musical personality.
Well oddly enough they found it on their sophomore release, although it lay uncompleted from 1971 until 2008 due to a confluence of unfortunate circumstances. Sadly the two lead vocalists/founders are no longer among the living, but the rest of the band reassembled, resurrected dusty tapes, added discreet overdubs and finally delivered on the promise that was cut short 38 years ago. Fotheringay has finally found its voice.
This album is one of the best new releases of the 1971 season.
Don't Want To Be Late To My Own Beheading!
Album Rating: (3 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: I heard about this project very early in the year, {it was leaked from a well known British Folk Rock band's website.} And, as it was known in the history books that production of the second Fotheringay record was in it's earliest stages when Sandy Denny decided to leave her bandmates for a proper solo career, I had no idea of what form {finished or unfinished} these songs, would be in.
With so much work done in many studios by guitarist/producer Jerry Donahue, I cannot find fault in his labor in getting such high quality instumental backing that really invokes the real Fotheringay sound from this. The problem here, is that the two main singers of this band, Sandy Denny and Trevor Lucas recorded: "guide vocals" and never returned to finish and complete their work on this.
Sandy, for my dollar is about the greatest English female vocalist of her day, and her singing is all about the emotion that she infuses into her words. The sad refrains that come forth in so many of her songs are so very far beyond almost any other singer that I have heard. Ms. Denny, uses her amazing instrument to full capacity on many Fairport Convention, Fotheringay and solo tunes, and she is untouchable as a talent when she does so.
Fotheringay 2, is not Sandy's or Trevor's best piece of recorded work, and it should not be reviewed as such. With the exception of: "Wild Mountain Thyme" and "Bold Jack Donahue", I have heard all of this music in various versions as done by Trevor, Fairport Convention and Sandy. And there is good to report here, "Knights of the Road" is much better than Fairport's later recorded take as there is so much more life in the music presented here. This version of: "John the Gun" is the best that I have heard it performed. The saxophone sounds fine to me, this is not folk music, but not everything that this band had recorded prior to this was folk music as well.
The problem here is quite evident on listening to: "Wild Mountain Thyme" the famous Scottish ballad of the ages. Sandy, is reading this, and she is learning it, she is not singing it yet, she is still very tentative with these words at this point. This song could have been the highlight of the second record, had Sandy been able to sing this song using all her powers, but this first run-through does not present that Sandy, this vocal was never meant as an completed take, but alas...here it is.
If you could hear any of the numerous live versions of: "Silver Threads & Gold Needles", that Sandy and Fairport performed in concert, this version would be blown right out of the water. "Late November". "Two Weeks Last Summer" and "I Don't Believe You" already exist is far superior versions than these rough takes.
Fotheringay 2, could have been a big record for this band, Sandy and Trevor, might have seen their careers rise up to match their talents. As we will never see the record that the band intended to release in 1971, we have this document of this project, in this fashion as: "baby steps."
I am glad to see this work released in ANY form, and I realize that this will never be considered a popular piece of music today. But, let's not let our love for Sandy, get in the way of good judgement here. This is not a: five-star recording, but it is an newly discovered work from a band that had a legend within it's ranks. Sandy Denny, had greatness, but this is not as she intended her music to be presented.
Thank you, Jerry for all your hard work, the music is beautiful. If this band had been able to complete this work, you can only imagine just how great this record could have been!
3.5 stars
Any Sandy is good Sandy
Album Rating: (3 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: Yes, it's been a long time coming, and I am grateful. I can now stop imagining this record based solely on scrappy BBC bootlegs made during these sessions.
I can't help feeling, however, that a more pristine version will be released over time. With only some understanding of the source material Mr. Donahue had to work with (mostly only demonstrative vocals were recorded, for instance), I cannot judge too harshly. However there seems to be some uneven splicing and a "canned" feel, especially to some of the vocals, unnecessary in today's era of digital wizardry.
There are some odd aspects of the album (I understand the historic aspect of the sax on "John the Gun," but agree with another reviewer that it sticks out like a sore thumb). I differ with the choice in sequencing, though the beauty of digital music is that it can be shuffled into any order one chooses, which I have done with this album for a greatly preferred "flow". I also have to wonder if some of these songs actually would have been included on a final cut. Of course this is conjecture and perhaps I have simply heard the overly limpid "Two Weeks Last Summer" too many times to give it credit here.
I'll end on a top note, though - this is one of Sandy's last workings of traditional songs and in this she excels. The instruments - the playing of the songs themselves - prove to be an intense and beautiful experience. Though never a big fan of Trevor Lucas, I find his tracks "Eppie Moray" and "Bold Jack Donahue" to be two of the best songs from Fotheringay. If Sandy rose to new heights with her reading of "Banks of the Nile" during the first Fotheringay sessions, Trevor has done the same for "Bold Jack Donahue" here. I look forward to the last few session tracks - an instrumental and Sandy's "Lowlands of Holland" - seeing the light of day at some point as well.
Not for a first-time listener, this album is a refreshing - I might say essential - addition to the British Folk Rock legacy. Now I'm going to go listen to "Liege and Lief" for the thousandth time.
At L-O-N-G Last The Second Fotheringay Album
Album Rating: (4 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: It took thirty-eight years, but the second album by Fotheringay, the short-live English folk-rock supergroup, is now at-hand. The band, created by ex-Fairport Convention vocalist Sandy Denny and her soon-to-be husband, Australian Trevor Lucas (ex-Eclection)were to take the new sound of British folk-rock away from primarily traditional songs into self-penned folk-styled compositions with the help of capable sidemen such as Jerry Donahue (guitar, producer of this new disc), Gerry Conway (drums), and Pat Donaldson (bass). Strains within the group almost from the start meant that the group was destined to disintegrate after a brief existence. The first album was critically acclaimed, but sold poorly, and concert performances were often ragged and seemingly disorganized. Despite having sufficient material in the can to create a second album, the group splintered and the record remained offically unissued...until now.
Bootlegs of various tracks showed an album of considerable promise, and even the widely traded BBC recordings by the band showed material that was of interest to fans of the growing British folk-rock scene. Still, it took great persistence by Jerry Donahue--starting many years ago--to assemble the leftover rough surviving session recordings by the band and turn them into a marketable product, now a lasting tribute to both the late Sandy and Trevor. The result is a fine companion to the first Fotheringay album with classic cuts such as "Gypsy Davey" and "Late November" (the latter re-recorded several times by Sandy for solo release). If there is a complaint is may be the well-intentioned, but somewhat inappropriate use of a saxophone on tracks such as "John The Gun" which had also been re-recorded several times by Sandy and (after her return) Fairport Convention. The solo instrument of choice in the 1970s was the fiddle (the sax made its way into the line-up with performers such as Richard Thompson and the Albion Band) and here Jerry should have considered employing veteran fiddlers such as Ric Sanders (of Fairport Convention) or even the venerable Dave Swarbrick to overdub a suitable fiddle accompaniment, in keeping with the original spirit of the times.
Having said that, however, the fact remains that this is yet another piece of the great puzzle of what was Sixties and Seventies British folk-rock that has been restored and made available to those who are still enthralled by the sound that was one of the most inspiring and haunting to have ever graced the airwaves and records players of the world.
Purchases
1 John the Gun
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