Track Listing

1. I Wish I Was A Fool For You (For Shame For Doing Wrong)
2. Stranger To Himself
3. I'm A Dreamer
4. Take Me Away
5. Nothing More
6. The Sea
7. The Lady
8. Gold Dust
9. Solo
10. John The Gun
11. It'll Take A Long Time
12. Wretched Wilbur
13. Tomorrow Is A Long Time
14. The North Star Grassman
15. One More Chance
16. No More Sad Refrains
17. Who Knows Where The Time Goes

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14211 in Music
• Released on: 1998-05-18
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 78 minutes

CD Description
In 1977, Sandy Denny returned to the concert stage after a two-year absence to embark on an 11-city British tour with asix-piece band. Their London concert, which resulted in this recording, was the last date. The show was also Denny's last performance--she died less than five months later. Unreleased for 21 years, the concert tapes required guitar and background vocal repairs to remove some sonic disturbances.
With a steel guitarist among the band members, there's a gorgeous sweep to the arrangements on GOLD DUST. And Denny's voice, fragile at some moments and powerful at others, is simply an awe-inspiring instrument. All of the songs were written by Denny with the exception of a song by Richard Thompson and a song by Bob Dylan. Drawing from British and American folk, pop, and more, GOLD DUST has a regal and spiritual quality that makes it timeless.

Customer Reviews

a superb album
a rough and ready album, with heartfelt vocals from sandy denny. this is incredibly moving to listen to. tends to get played when i roll home after friday night drinking. the powerful emotion of the songs are in total contrast to the shy 'thank yous' from denny inbetween. i grew up listening to liege and lief by fairport convention on sunday mornings whilst my mother cooked roasts, so the happy quality of that album is where i started. but this is tragically brilliant, moreso because denny died so soon afterwards. and i'm an enimen fan, so i wouldn't mislead anybody! denny's voice is strained at times, which only gives it more meaning, like julie covington on the white evita album, but better. if you have any soul at all, buy this.

Past her peak but still a great performance
This is a a remixing of a recording made at Sandy Denny's last concert appearance, at the Royalty Theatre in London, which came at the end of a short tour in November 1977. Billed as 'Sandy Denny and Friends' the band included Rob Hendry (electric/acoustic guitars), Trevor Lucas (acoustic guitar/backing vocals), Pete Wilsher (steel guitar), Pat Donaldson (bass guitar/backing vocals) and Dave Mattacks (drums). However, all is not what it seems, because during the remastering for CD much of the original guitar work has been replaced with new recordings by Jerry Donohue. Jerry was not part of the band at the concert, although he did play with Sandy as a member of Fotheringay and Fairport Convention. Similarly, the backing vocals have been overdubbed with replacements from Simon Nicol and Chris Leslie, who again were not in the original recording. Apparently the reason for this was 'technical problems on the guitar and backing vocal tracks'. However, nine of the undubbed tracks were released in Australia on a cassette some years ago and three of them are available on the Denny/Lucas CD 'The Attic Tracks 1972-1984' with no obvious technical problems.
More mysterious than the selective re-recording is the complete change to the running order of the original concert (I wasn't there, but it's documented in Clinton Heylin's biography of Sandy 'No More Sad Refrains'). The CD booklet even has the track listing under the heading "Tonight's Programme" when it bears no resemblance to the programme as performed.
Leaving aside the rights and wrongs of messing with an original event like this it is better to judge the CD by the musical content, and in this respect it is very good. With two exceptions - Bob Dylan's 'Tomorrow is a Long Time' and Richard Thompson's 'I Wish I Was a Fool for You' ('For Shame of Doing Wrong') - this is a showcase of Sandy Denny's songwriting in all its syles. She was an excellent songwriter and, although her voice is past its peak, when she gets into her stride she sings them magnificently here. I programmed the running order back to the original concert programme and it was worth it. From a hesitant opening with 'Solo' she warms up to a storming 'Gold Dust' and then alternates the tempos and moods through to 'Who Knows Where the Time Goes' and what was presumably the encore - 'No More Sad Refrains' (these last two are reversed on the CD).
So, judged on its content this is a good-value package with some superb performances from a great talent. The gloss is only slightly taken off it by the liberties taken with the original recordings and running order.

haunting
It is disappointing to read that some of the guitars and vocals have been overdubbed and that the original order of songs has been changed. I didn't know this but could tell that something wasn't quite right.

However, it doesn't spoil the beauty of this performance. Sandy Denny had such a deeply haunting voice that had such an empathy with what she sang about, it has to be heard to be believed.

Highlights for me on this are two of her own compositions; John the Gun and The Northstar Grassman and the Ravens. The former had never particularly floated my boat on the album version, but here it totally rocks. Check out the progression of the rythm section, the only problem is that the song stops too soon!

The North Star Grassman......is a fantastically mysterious, beautiful and evocative song. This live version is a real treasure.

I certainly agree with all those who say that Sandy Denny does not get the recognition that she deserves.

Of course, we also live in a world where inane, smiley, talentless cabaret acts dominate the popular music charts, so say no more........