TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

Three more Sandy LPs to get the "deluxe" treatment.

http://sandydenny.org.uk/news/

I'm as keen as anyone for Sandy's music to be more widely appreciated, but after previous "expanded" versions & 3 boxed sets, this just smacks of the p*** being taken.

I tend to agree.

With the North Star deluxe, all that was previously unreleased was an instrumental backing track.  I wonder if they'll be dangling any juicier carrots this time around....?

Jules

i can only wholeheartedly agree with Ian here and i posted  as such on facebook last night

Part of me says 'that's interesting', another part groans and sighs. ???

From the sandydenny.org website:

The expansive bonus material includes home and studio demos, alternate takes and live recordings pertaining to each release. Of special note is an radio broadcast on Disc Two of SANDY, containing eight unadorned songs recorded live on a tour of the US at Ebbets Field, featuring tracks from the SANDY, and THE NORTH STAR GRASSMAN AND THE RAVENS albums, as well as the only live performance of “At the End of The Day” from LIKE AN OLD FASHIONED WALTZ. There is also a previously unreleased band version of “The Lady” and a live version of “Whispering Grass” from Dutch Television and an alternate take of the R n’ B tinged “Take Me Away” from the RENDEZVOUS sessions among many other rare or deleted extra tracks.

widely available bootleg stuff then,i wont be bothering

Thanks Paul.

My problem is that I can no longer keep tabs on which of this stuff I have already.  I'm way past saturation point.   :(

Jules

I tend to agree.  How many more versions of XXXXX do I want/need?  If I knew they were things I didn't have already then I might be tempted.  But how can I be sure?  They need to say 'previously unreleased' and then I might go for it.

I'm pretty sure after getting the wonderful boxed set that I now have everything I could ever want that she recorded.

Yes, I definitely need major clues these days!

Jules

I have to agree. These new releases fail to arouse my interest.  :o

I have been wondering for a long time when they would finally get around releasing the 8 'Ebbets Field tracks' on CD. These indeed have been available for download everywhere and nowhere, but I always thought it a shame that they were never officially released. Those 8 tracks are among the most intense performances Sandy has ever recorded. They really are, in my opinion, the essence of Sandy Denny as a performer.

The Dutch tv-version of Whispering grass is more something of a curiosity. She's accompanied by Dutch musicians in a Dutch tv-show known as 'voor de vuist weg' by Willem Duys, who was world famous in the Netherlands in those days.

But for those who don't know the Ebbets Field tracks: buy that disk. You won't be disappointed.

--
Greetings from Holland
Hans Valk

Hans,

I've heard of the Ebbetts Field recordings and a friend here actually forwarded a couple of mp3 samples to me a few years ago.  They're wonderful and would certainly justify my purchase of the "Sandy" Deluxe CD.

Are the 8 tracks on the Deluxe CD the complete performance, or are there more songs out there in the ether?

I'm not sure if they are if they are the complete performance, but the bootleg that has been around contains just 8 songs. It is probably a recording of a radio program, maybe taken off air. I wonder what will be on the CD. Perhaps it has the original tape (that were broadcast) as a source. But I have never heard of any more then those 8 songs being available.
I have checked and the bootleg is still there. Google for it and you will find it. It contains mp3's, as you write. Or wait for the CD to appear. Or get both!

Ebbets Field was a small venue in Denver Colorado; actually the same place where Sandy played with Fairport about one year later. A CD of that gig also exists. With Sandy in not-so-good shape.
The eight songs we're talking about here were recorded in april 1973. Sandy is chatting in between songs, making silly jokes. She's obviously nervous. But once she starts playing all that's gone. she's powerful and intense. There are very few other recordings of her, that equal these performance-wise, in my opinion. The sound quality, as bootlegs go, is also pretty good. Her voice is close-miked and breathy. I was very pleased when I found these a few years ago. For some reason unknown to me they were not included in 19-CD box-set.

--
greetings from Holland,
Hans Valk

i have a pretty good idea as to why they weren't included in the 19 cd definitive box >:(

So they could produce a 20 cd definitive box?

Damn, so I may end up buying yet more Sandy.  There's a sucker born every minute....and I'm one.

Jules

Tell us more, Jim..

--
greetings from Holland,
Hans Valk

to screw more money from her fans

Yes, thats the simplest reason we can come up with.
 
Maybe there were still certain rights involved. Other than those who belong to the people who reign over the Denny estate.
Anyhow, this recording seems to have neglected by the powers that be until now. Which is strange, since they do Sandy so much more justice than (for instance) the Essen recording by Fotheringay, that was issued some time ago.

--
greetings from Holland,
Hans Valk

As long as they're at it, why not Fotheringay Deluxe with the entire performance from the Holland Pop Festival in Rotterdam?

Anyone?

Shhhh!  Dammit, don't give 'em any more ideas!   ::)

Jules

As you probably know a few of the songs played at that gig are included on the CD-re-issue of the first Fotheringay album. I believe the 19-CD box includes everything that was recorded at the Holland Pop Festival.  But I never bought the 19-CD box, so I know only the first-mentioned tracks. What I have heard there, in combination with the one track I know from the 'Essen'-CD, brings me to the question if Fotheringay really was as together as a live band as they have been made out to be in retrospect. I don't think the live recordings of Fotheringay that I have heard so far sound as a really tight band. In the case of Sandy solo more often than not it's the other way around. She's just as good or better live than on studio-recordings.
But you're proposition surely is in line with what seems to be happening now. All sort of goodies that originally were only on the 19 CD box are being used again, but now dispersed on several other re-issues. That's why inclusion of the Ebbets Field tracks on the 'Sandy' re-issue is so striking. The were NOT on the 19-CD box, and not even part of the Universal archive, I suspect.

--
greetings from Holland,
Hans Valk

I have one of the 19-CD behemoths (Christmas present from Mrs. John From Austin) - it included the Holland Festival songs sung and/or written by Sandy, only.  Therefore, we got full blown professional recordings of "The Sea"; "Two Weeks Last Summer"; "Nothing More"; "Banks of the Nile"; "Memphis Tennessee" and "Trouble".

Someone on an earlier thread noted that the full performance also included songs such as Too Much of Nothing and The Way I Feel, on which Trevor is the more prominent vocalist.  These were left off the box set.

I agree that Fotheringay were a loose live band.  However, Sandy's live vocals on Banks of the Nile give me shivers.  She could really bring it, live, when she was in her prime.  I'm greedy for every scrap I can get.

You're right, I made a mistake. The 19-CD set of course only contains the 'Sandy' tracks. Sandy's vocals at the Kralingen festival (as it is called in The Netherlands) are ok, but in 'Memphis Tennessee', for instance, the band sounds pretty shabby. But then again, Fotheringay was no R&R band.
Except for 'The Sea' and 'Trouble', all tracks you mention are on the 2004 CD-re-issue of the first Fotheringay album as well. But that's it. No 'To Much of Nothing' and 'The Way I Feel'.

--
greetings from Holland,
Hans Valk

The 'official' SD site kindly tells us exactly where each track has been released before. Apart from the Ebbett's Field concert, previous reports are right - 'new' tracks are:
Sandy - disc 1 - The Lady (Band version) - 1972 @ Sound Techniques, disc 2 - the Ebbett's Field tracks
LaOFW - disc 2 - Whispering Grass on Dutch TV. For those of you who haven't heard that one, go to: http://www.mcvax.org/~jghall/sandy/whisp.html  
Rendezvous - disc 1 - Easy to Slip and Losing Game, disc 2 - Take Me Away (it seems all from the April 1976 sessions at Basing Street).

Thanks, Steve, that's very helpful!

Jules

Well call me weak, but I finally caved in and ordered the 2 disc version of Sandy this morning.   ::)

Jules

I nearly did this, and may yet weaken and do so. Let mw know how it compares with the last remaster, Jules.

Please don't make me do an A/B comparison test, Alan!  The amount of Sandy releases is already doing my nut in!   :'(

Jules

Just had a sneak listen to these three outtakes and it would appear that the deluxe Rendezvous might even be the most essential of the 4, because these versions sound excellent.

Jules

i see the box has been delayed, this from amazon

Unfortunately, the release date for the item(s) listed below was changed by the supplier, and we need to provide you with a new estimated delivery date based on the new release date:

  Sandy Denny "The Notes and The Words: A Collection Of Demos & Rarities"
    Estimated arrival date: November 01 2012 - November 03 2012