A Pocketful Of Starlight by Bridget St. John

So, I was sitting in my kitchen today, staring out of the window and pondering my next move, when suddenly there was a knock on the door. It was the postman delivering a package. It contained a CD A Pocketful Of Starlight, The Best Of Bridget St. John. I had ordered it a few nights ago after I heard a song by Bridget played on BBC 6 Music. I knew her name but somehow, I had never heard her music before.

There are nineteen tracks on the album and I must say after two plays that I like this album very much indeed. It was the influential DJ John Peel who gave Bridget her first break when she recorded sessions for his radio show. Peel also started his own record label called Dandelion and Bridget released three albums on that label, the first being in 1969.

The first track is called Fly High and features her life long friend John Martyn on acoustic and electric guitars. This is followed by Some Kind Of Beautiful which is a very upbeat reggae type song. You can dance to this song, there is some fabulous wah wah bottleneck guitar playing on this song. Curl Your Toes is a celebration of sitting by the fire and relaxing. John Martyn plays guitar again. This track and most of the other songs have a timeless quality that all great music has. Music like this can never go out of fashion because it never was in fashion in the first place. If You’ve Got Money is a rocker with a message. Kevin Ayers features on this track and his guitarist of the time, a certain Mike Oldfield. The next track yep was written by Kevin Ayers and Daevid Allen who would go on to form the band Gong. Bumper To Bumper isn’t about traffic jams. It features some nice guitar and vocals by Pete Berryman. 

Jumblequeen by contrast is quite a sombre song and possibly inspired in part by a bad air flight to Belfast. The River was written by John Martyn and is taken from one of those Peel sessions, Bridget’s version of this song is fabulous. Thank You For was the title track of one of her albums, a love song and Bridget plays twelve string guitar. I think her favourite guitar players are John Martyn and Michael Chapman. Back To Stay is another hauntingly beautiful John Martyn song. On first listen Goodbaby Goodbye was my favourite song but now I’m on my third listen I like all the songs. City Crazy has some very lush arrangements of string and brass. Long Long Time is a beautiful melancholy ballad and features two members of Ten Years After, namely Leo Lyons and Chick Churchill. Autumn Lullaby is inspired by the wonders of nature. I really like A Day Away, with it’s jolly woodwind sound it reminds me slightly of another great singer of psychedelic folk which is Vashti Bunyan. Nice features some tasteful pedal steel guitar by Gordon Huntly who I remember from Matthews Southern Comfort. The Hole In Your Heart is possibly the saddest, most profound song on the album. It was inspired by the 9-11 tragedy. Ask Me No Questions was the title track of Bridget’s first ever album in 1969. Again, it features John Martyn on guitar, but I love the way birdsong and church bells are mixed into it. It reminds me a bit of early Pink Floyd. This track is seven minutes of pure magic. I have put a video below. The final track is Catch A Falling Star which everyone associates with Perry Como, but Bridget’s version makes it her own.

This album is wonderful, it made my afternoon. I urge you to listen to Bridget St. John because she deserves to have far more recognition. Actually, I see she contributes a song to a Nick Drake tribute CD which is in Mojo magazine. I must try and get that.