Sandy Denny

Pencil Portrait by Antonio Bosano.

Sandy Denny Pencil Portrait
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The quality of the prints are at a much higher level compared to the image shown on the left.

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A3 Pencil Print-Price £45.00-Purchase

A4 Pencil Print-Price £30.00-Purchase

*Limited edition run of 250 prints only*

All Pencil Prints are printed on the finest Bockingford Somerset Velvet 255 gsm paper.

P&P is not included in the above prices.

Comments

Universal/Island Records issued a 19-CD complete retrospective simply titled Sandy Denny in the fall of 2010. Containing her entire studio recordings, outtakes, demos, live recordings, unissued radio sessions and interviews, the set additionally offers over 100 previously unreleased recordings, and a 72 page hard back book that provided the most comprehensive visual record of Sandy’s career to date; plus a wealth of other memorabilia. The box set was released to universally good reviews, including a 5-star review in Uncut and a 4-star review in The Guardian.

If according such a thoughtfully compiled and annotated package for a singer/songwriter who died in 1978 at the appallingly premature age of thirty one, appeared mere marketing hyperbole, then the contents told a different story. What marked Sandy apart from her peers was a near effortless ability to sing like a nightingale.

Sandy Denny’s first two records, on the unhip Eros label, were collaborative, patchy affairs that only hinted at her abilities and could never be described as an artistic statement of intent but, as future mentor and producer Joe Boyd commented, “the experience she gained shouldn’t be underestimated.” She then joined The Strawbs for a year – made an underrated album with them – ‘All Our Own Work,’ but only played one UK date. Soon after the album was released she left the band thereby scuppering any chance they had of promoting it properly. Denny showed what Boyd called “strong will and clarity of vision” in leaving The Strawbs. She, and Boyd, knew that her future lay along a different path. How she came to join Fairport Convention six months later is one of many episodes in Denny’s life that apparently still remain open to interpretation but Boyd, as the band’s manager and a growing admirer of Denny’s talent and potential, was presumably a key player in this move. Judy Dyble was ousted from the band and Denny joined. She didn’t just replace Dyble though, her forceful nature changed the very fabric of the band. Boyd was initially afraid that she would “eat them for breakfast.” As Martin Carthy says : “there was a hooligan busting to get out in Sandy, and Fairport released that. I think they were sometimes fairly surprised at the size of the hooligan.”

Under construction

http://www.strawbsweb.co.uk/@f/f_fother.htm

Recommended viewing

Recommended reading

I've always kept a unicorn - The biography of Sandy Denny (Mik Houghton) 2015

http://www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/extract-ive-always-kept-unicorn-biography-sandy-denny

Surfing

Sandy Denny - The Official Website

http://www.sandydennyofficial.com/

An homage to Sandy Denny

http://sandydenny.org.uk/\

A tastefully designed homage to Denny.

Designed and compiled by Andrew Batt and Kyle Orosz, the site contains a concise biography for the uninitiated and a superb links section. Scans from several major rock journals bear testimony to her reputation as a major singer/songwriter.

If the website title reflects old styled english grammar, then it remains at least technically correct. The old rule was to combine an with a noun beginning with h yet is now so out of use in everyday spoken English that it seems wrong to say ‘an homage’. Still there are three reasons why I have not corrected the title – 1) I like old fashioned rules 2) ‘A homage’ sounds like a mouthful and 3) This is my website and I say what goes.