Author:Georgia Rose Lucas
As Richard Thompson said Sandy was “the most important singer of my generation, no one has come along to touch her since.”
I should say the reason I said I would review this book is because like several other books in the People’s History I contributed to this one too, although reading through I realise I gave the wrong date for my contribution, the photo of my 1975 poster even has the correct date on the 8th of October.
I’d seen a poster asking for contributions on a bookshop in Muswell Hill after I’d received the email asking for help as well as Georgia’s request for contributors.
Having read through it I realised there were other things I could have added such as after the record launch in a friend’s shop we adjourned after with the then three remaining members of Fotheringay for a curry and a chat.
with contributions from people who saw Sandy in concert either solo or with Fairport Convention or Fotheringay it also uses some old interviews of musicians who are no longer with us. Its a very comprehensive exploration of her life, music and the legacy she left behind. Quite a few of the contributions are from people who never saw her in concert but love her music having found it in roundabout ways ( Parental influences or contemporaries etc)
There is a detailed analysis through the book which draws on personal anecdotes, reflections by her peers and admirers her personal milestones as well as her doubts and insecurities.
Sandy’s influence and contributions to folk rock and her collaborations with other artists (some contributors came to know her for her vocal on Zeppelin’s Battle of Evermore)
Because of the wide range of contributions there is a very balanced view of her character and her work. There are photographs from people’s personal collection which have not been seen before.
It’s a fitting tribute to “The Lady”
The book also comes with a foreword by Richard Thompson and includes contributions from Mary Black, Chris Blackwell, Joe Boyd, Christine Collister, Barbara Dickson, Richard Digance, Simon Fowler, Aine Furey, Gordon Giltrap, Annie Haslam, Mick Houghton, Joan as Policewoman, Albert Lee, Chris Leslie, Ralph McTell, Gered Mankowitz, Dave Mattacks, Iain Matthews, Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg, Maddy Prior, Julianne Regan, Ric Sanders, Martin Simpson, Linda Thompson & Rufus Wainwright
Length of Read:Long
Might appeal to people who enjoyed…
Fairport, Fotheringay, The rock that is folk, Sandy Denny
One thing you’ve learned
Always check the date
Forgot to add this.
She was twice voted “Best British Female Singer” by Melody Maker and her song “Who knows Where the Time Goes” has been covered by more than a dozen artists (on a personal note my brother in law recorded “Peace in the End) and her music is still being discovered and interpreted by artists almost half a century after untimely death in 1978.
Anyway I now have to pack for Cropredy where the book is due to be released this week, though mine will be here when I return home.
I remember the first time Georgia came to Cropredy a few years ago. She was brought up on stage, and I think the band had paid for her to attend if memory serves. During Richard Thompson’s set I suddenly realised I was stood next to this diminutive figure – it was Georgia Lucas, and she was with Adam Wakeman, who is very tall! Had a bit of a moment, there I was watching RT with Sandy’s daughter. She now attends regularly and is very active in keeping her mother’s legacy alive.
Hubes, you may know the answer to this:
Many years ago I watched Fairport play the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury late one afternoon – must have been the late eighties or the nineties I’d guess – fog of time – and there was the inevitable call from the audience for ‘Who Knows…’.
I thought to myself that they would never play it, after all it’s Sandy’s song and the band was without a female voice. Someone, I think it was Simon Nicol, acknowledged the call from the audience and took to the microphone, whereupon he called a woman – he obviously knew her – standing either in the wings or at the very front of the crowd, to come up and join them and to sing it.
I didn’t catch her name, but her rendition was so good it brought me to tears. I’d love to know who she was.
I’m afraid I don’t know, there’s a few female singers that they’d used at that time.
This would have been 1984? First time I saw them play. Cathy LeSurf was standing in occasionally in those days – might that be it?
Certainly not her.
You seem *very* certain?
Unfortunately I’m not a fan of her vocals they would reduce me to tears but not in a good way.
Arf! I could hear your certainty, knowing the feeling well!
Vikki Clayton perhaps?
Chris While maybe? She guested with them a lot. There’s a killer version on the tube with her daughter Kelly too.
Juile Matthews too.
Waving an imaginary hand before my face and blinking a little, the better to briefly disperse the fog of time, I seem to recall that, whatever her name, she was a slip of a girl.
@Skirky‘s suggestion of 1984 would tally well with my foggy recollection – musically a really good Glastonbury that kicked off – for me anyway, unable to get away to attend as early as I’d like – with a stonking Black Uhuru performance (Sly and Robbie, Puma, the best ever line-up) at six-ish on the Friday. John Martyn (roll ’em, toke ’em), The Smiths (gladioli destruction and fans hurling themselves up onto the front of the – old pyramid – stage), The Waterboys (whole moon intact), EC plus Attractions, loads more. God, we’ve never had such an eclectic main stage lineup since! It got a bit damp nonetheless and we nearly needed towing out.
I found this photo, which might just be Fairport on stage at the time:
https://www.ukrockfestivals.com/glasto84-stage-phil-900.jpg
“Slip of a girl” might suggest Julianne Regan (All About Eve), but I think her window of “being a Sandy” came a bit later.
Yes she did that at Cropredy. I’m thinking Kellie While maybe? Lovely voice, Just getting going then. Christine Collister?
Christine sounds like a viable shout for that period.
Kellie While would have been eight at the time. Precocious, I’m sure, and a slip of a girl but, y’know… 😉
Sally Barker or Marion Fleetwood (who i saw together in concert on Saturday?). Seems the right era for Sally at least, although neither are especially slippy in build.
At the risk of sounding un-gallant that might preclude my suggestion of Vikki Clayton too, though her guest spots with Fairport started in 1991.
The though that it might have been Sally Barker (WHAT a voice!) makes me wonder if she’s the one. I do hope so, though unless an actual Fairporter pops up here to tell us who it was, we’ll likely never know.
Simon is quite chatty on various Fairport related Facebook groups.
As I recall, Weather Report started with an eight minute fuzz bass solo on the main stage on the Sunday.
That may have been the noise I thought was just the tyres slipping as we were being pushed out onto more solid ground by a bunch of hairy folk.
😄😅😂