Gold Dust (Sandy Denny album)

Gold Dust
Live album by Sandy Denny
Released June 1998 (UK)
Recorded Royalty Theatre, Portugal Street, London, 27 November 1977
Genre folk rock
Label Island IMCD 252/524 (UK)
Producer Jerry Boys, Jerry Donahue, Trevor Wyatt
Sandy Denny chronology
The BBC Sessions 1971-1973
(1997)		 Gold Dust
(1998)		 No More Sad Refrains: The Anthology
(2000)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

Gold Dust is a live album by English folk rock singer Sandy Denny. It documents one of Denny's last public performances and was recorded at London's "Sound Circus" venue at the Royalty Theatre, Portugal Street, near Aldwych, London (now the Peacock Theatre) on 27 November 1977. The album features many of her classic songs both as a solo artist and as a member of Fairport Convention and Fotheringay and remains the most extensive documentation of Sandy's live work with a backing band. The album was not released at the time of original recording owing to stated technical problems with the master tape, and was only released in 1998 after various guitar and backing vocal tracks parts were re-recorded by Jerry Donahue and others.

Album Information

Denny had not performed live for about two years and her solo studio release from earlier that year, Rendezvous, had shown a departure from traditional folk music. She had been quoted as saying shortly before this recording "If I have to sing "Matty Groves" one more time, I'll throw myself out of a window."[2] Denny's voice is well captured on this recording, although some critics claim that it was sub-par due either to the effects of a cold or to wear-and-tear compounded by the effects of her long term smoking.[2] The performance was the final concert of an 11-date tour[3] although one source claims erroneously that it was the first date[4] (both the first and last dates were played at the same venue). The included songs comprise one from her pre-Fairport days and recorded with both the Strawbs and with Fairport on Unhalfbricking (Who Knows Where the Time Goes?), two from Fotheringay (Nothing More and The Sea), three from The North Star Grassman and the Ravens (John the Gun, Wretched Wilbur and that album's title track, although John the Gun was also originally performed and recorded with Fotheringay), three from Sandy (The Lady, It'll Take a Long Time and Tomorrow is a Long Time), one from Like an Old Fashioned Waltz (Solo), two from Rising for the Moon (produced during her second stint with Fairport) (Stranger to Himself and One More Chance) and five from Rendezvous (I Wish I Was a Fool For You (For Shame of Doing Wrong), I'm a Dreamer, Take Me Away, Gold Dust and No More Sad Refrains). Containing as it did three-fifths of the original Fotheringay group with the addition of Dave Mattacks on drums, two other guitarists and Pete Willsher on pedal steel guitar, the band has a distinctly Fotheringay feel, an impression further enhanced by the later replacement of many guitar parts by fourth ex-Fotheringay member Jerry Donahue (see below), who was unavailable for the original concerts being on tour himself with Joan Armatrading at the time.[5]

While originally intended for a live album, the tracks were unreleased for 20 years owing to stated "technical problems on the guitar and backing vocal tracks". Finally in 1997-8, most of the guitars (except for track 13) were re-recorded by Jerry Donahue and replacement backing vocals were added on some tracks by Simon Nicol and Chris Leslie (who were not part of the original band line-up), while in addition the running order on the CD was also changed from the original.[6] Some fans consider this an unforgivable interference with/departure from the original live concert performance while for the CD producers, it was considered the only way to produce an acceptable product suitable for commercial release. A subset of rough mixes of the original, unadulterated concert performances have been released separately on a fans-only cassette compilation, "The Attic Tracks Volume 3" and on a subsequent CD compilation "The Attic Tracks 1972-1984".[7] Owing to restrictions of time for the finished CD, most song introductions and between-song talk are omitted; however, a composite audience tape from an earlier date on the same tour (at Croydon, on 11 November) preserves much of the latter and also the contributions of the original lineup.[8] (A tape of the Birmingham show on 16 November also exists, although the audio quality is somewhat poorer,[9] as described here.[10])

In an interview with Sandy recorded in late 1977, posted by Karl Dallas, she can be heard discussing the upcoming tour and her choice of musicians and material, among other subjects.[11]

Track listing

All tracks credited to Sandy Denny unless otherwise stated

  1. "I Wish I was a Fool For You (For Shame of Doing Wrong)" (Richard Thompson) - 4:32
  2. "Stranger to Himself" - 3:45
  3. "I'm a Dreamer" - 4:53
  4. "Take Me Away" - 4:42
  5. "Nothing More" - 4:15
  6. "The Sea" - 5:10
  7. "The Lady" - 3:45
  8. "Gold Dust" - 3:53
  9. "Solo" - 4:46
  10. "John the Gun" - 4:47
  11. "It'll Take a Long Time" - 4:59
  12. "Wretched Wilbur" - 2:59
  13. "Tomorrow Is a Long Time" (Bob Dylan) - 3:57
  14. "The North Star Grassman" - 3:46
  15. "One More Chance" - 8:21
  16. "No More Sad Refrains" - 2:27
  17. "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?" - 6:38

Musicians

Production credits

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. 1 2 CD booklet notes written by Pamela Murray Winters
  3. ↑ "Amazon.ca: Reviews". www.amazon.ca. Retrieved 2010-02-25.
  4. ↑ "allmusic ((( Gold Dust: Live at the Royalty > Overview )))". www.allmusic.com. Retrieved 2010-02-25.
  5. ↑ "Joan Armatrading concert - Odeon Leeds (Leeds, England), Nov 17, 1977". Retrieved 2013-08-06.
  6. ↑ "Sandy Denny: Gold Dust: Live at the Royalty page on "Mainly Norfolk" site". Retrieved 2013-08-02.
  7. ↑ "Sandy Denny Official Site: Gold Dust: Live at the Royalty". Retrieved 2013-07-30.
  8. ↑ "Unofficial recordings available at SugarMegs Audio site: S (look for links labelled "SandyDenny1977-11-11FairfieldHallCroydonUK")". Retrieved 2013-07-30.
  9. ↑ Heylin, Clinton (1989). Gypsy Love Songs & Sad Refrains - the Recordings of Richard Thompson + Sandy Denny. Sale, Cheshire: Labour of Love Productions.
  10. ↑ "Page for Birmingham concert on musictravellerstwo.blogspot.com.au". Retrieved 2013-08-01.
  11. ↑ "Sandy Denny's Last Interview". Retrieved 2013-09-28.
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