Listening To Vashti Bunyan.

I didn't do much today, it was dark and rainy so I stayed in reading most of the day. Vashti Bunyan is mentioned in Joe Boyd's book, so I thought I would dust off a piece I wrote about her a few years ago...  The story of Vashti Bunyan must be one of the most interesting in the history of music. I had never heard of her until a few weeks ago when I stumbled across her on Youtube. It was her name that first intrigued me. It was so unusual, like a mixture of Russian and English and I immediately thought of John Bunyan who wrote Pilgrim's Progress. The song she was singing in the youtube clip was called I Want To Be Alone.
She  reminded me of Marianne Faithfull. I looked up Vashti Bunyan on Wikipedia. It told me that Vashti was born in London in 1945. In the early 1960's, she studied Fine Art and Drawing at Ruskin College Oxford but was expelled because she couldn't decide between art and music. At 18 she travelled to New York and discovered the music of Bob Dylan and decided to become a full-time musician. Returning to London she was discovered by the Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham, and, in June 1965  released her first single, written by Jagger & Richards called Somethings Just Stick In Your Mind, it was backed with her own song I Want to Be Alone.

Her early records all flopped and then Vashti turned her back on the city and decided to travel with her boyfriend Robert in a gypsy caravan pulled by a horse called Bess and a dog called Blue to the Isle Of Skye to join a commune planned by a friend, fellow folk singer Donovan. The epic journey was to take 2 years, stopping along the way to doing casual work and odd jobs to get some money and the occasional gig. During the trip she began writing the songs that eventually became her first album Just Another Diamond Day. I got interested because her story reminded me of another singer who I had written about previously called Anne Briggs. I have always been interested in people who have a brief flirtation with fame and then disappear such as Karen Dalton, Jonathan Kelly and The Trees. I discovered that in 1968 Vashti met the producer Joe Boyd who I have always admired through his work with Fairport Convention and others. In 1969 Vashti made her first album which featured Simon Nicol and Dave Swarbrick from Fairport and also Robin Williamson of the Incredible String Band who I also like. The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter', by the ISB is a favourite of mine. The album came out in December 1970 and despite warm reviews it disappeared without trace and so did Vashti. She moved to the Outer Hebrides and then Ireland and spent the next 3 decades in total obscurity, raising her family and looking after animals.
30 long years went by, and as the years turned into decades word about her album slowly acquired mythic proportions among serious music collectors and gradually the few copies in existence became some of the most sought after items in music. Vashti was totally oblivious to the fact that her work was acquiring a cult following. One copy apparently sold on Ebay for $2,000. Her music reached the ears of a new wave of folk singers such as Devendra Banhart and Joanne Newsom and in 2000 her album was re-released and this time it was noticed by the public and it was acclaimed as a work of genius. Suddenly Vashti had become the god mother of a new genre known as Freak Folk

I knew i wouldn't be satisfied until I owned this album. A quick look on eBay and 3 days later the cd popped onto the carpet through my letterbox. As soon as the opening  song began I knew that it was something good. There is no percussion on this record just tasteful guitar accompanies some tracks and there is some flute, whistle, piano, harp, banjo, mandolin and strings, but any more instruments would be intrusive as this album is so intimate you can almost hear Vashti breathing in between the lines of the songs. The lyrics have a childlike simplicity and are like nature poems.I think John Clare or William Blake would enjoy this album. I can understand some people wouldn't like the album. If you like rap or heavy metal I dare say you would hate it, but if like me you like folk records like Fairport, Nick Drake, String Band, or Donovan  then  you will love it. The song I am listening to at this very moment Come Wind Come Rain clops along just like the gypsy caravan, and you almost feel like you are on it.

Unlike Annie Briggs who I mentioned earlier who has shown no interest in recording or performing again, Vashti seems to welcome her new fame and finally got to record the album that was planned as the follow-up to Diamond Day. It is called Lookaftering and after a 35 year gap since her first album this one was also hailed as a classic. I haven't heard it yet though, but i will. Also in 2008 a documentary film was made which retraced Vashti's journey from London to the North of Scotland. It was called From Here To Before.

 

Blind Boy Grunt.

Dylan Eric Von Schmidt & Richard Farina.

There are several mentions in the Joe Boyd book of Eric Von Schmidt. He was a folk singer, songwriter, guitarist and painter who was a leading light of the American folk scene of the late 50’s and early 60’s. He was also a close friend of Bob Dylan. Bob even mentions Eric on his very first album when he said that he learned Baby Let Me Follow You Down from Eric. He also gave him another plug three years later. If you look carefully at the cover of the Bringing It All Back Home album you will see an album by Eric right near Bob’s hand.

To cut to the chase, when I was reading about Eric this afternoon I suddenly remembered that I have an album by him. I haven’t got many vinyl albums left but somehow this album has survived. It is called Dick Farina & Eric Von Schmidt. Dick or Richard Farina was another singer and writer of great promise. He married Carolyn Hester and later Mimi who was the younger sister of Joan Baez. He is best remembered for his novel Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me. Tragically his career ended in 1966 when he was killed in a motorcycle accident. The album was recorded at Dobell’s Record Shop in London in January 1963. It was released in England on the Folklore label. My copy is the very rare first pressing which says LIMITED EDITION on the record label.

My Copy.

What makes this LP so interesting to me (and many others I would imagine!) is that there is a guest player on the record who went by the name of Blind Boy Grunt. He doesn’t sing on the album, just plays harmonica, I wish he did sing though because Blind Boy Grunt is better known the world over as BOB DYLAN!. I can’t remember ever playing this album and I don’t know how it came into my possession. I haven’t had a record turntable for at least 25 years so I can’t listen to it now. I did listen to a couple of tracks on youtube this afternoon and I wasn’t all that impressed I’m afraid.

Not My Copy.

Because of the Dylan connection this record is much sought after by collectors. Mint copies of this rare limited-edition change hands for £50-£!20. Sadly, my copy isn’t in a very good state, the cover is quite worn & tatty and there are some scratches on the vinyl. However, it is probably worth a few quid even in this condition. Anyway, it was good fun finding out about it today and it gave me something to write about..   

       

Bridget St. John - Live (French TV May 1970)

I was listening to Bridget St. John this morning. She is great and should have got a lot more recognition than she did. Here she is in 1970. My favourite song here is Ask Me No Questions
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White Bicycles

Today I have started reading a book that I bought on eBay called White Bicycles, Making Music In The 1960’s.  The reason I was interested in it was because it is written by Joe Boyd who produced some of my favourite music of all time. The list of his achievements is endless, I was just looking through my cd collection and spotted several classic albums produced by Joe such as The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter by The Incredible String Band, What We Did On Our Holidays, Liege And Leif, Unhalfbricking & Full House by Fairport Convention, Just Another Diamond Day by Vashti Bunyan and Kate And Anna McGarrigle. He produced three Nick Drake albums and other people he worked with that I like include Fotheringay, The Albion Band, John & Beverley Martin, 10,000 Maniacs and Richard Thompson.

ISB, Vashti Bunyan, Richard Thompson, Nick Drake.

The title of the book comes from a song by a band called Tomorrow and was about an anarchist movement in Amsterdam in the 60’s to paint all bicycles white so they could be used by everyone. I’m only in the early stages of reading the book so I can’t tell you all that much about it yet but I’m sure I’ll find it fascinating. There are some fabulous rare photos as well of the likes of Anne Briggs, The Watersons, Fairport Convention, Bob Dylan Jimi Hendrix, Muddy Waters, Incredible String Band and many more.

Apart from that I haven’t done much today. I did post off a book which involved a long walk which I quite enjoyed, and I put my Robert Crumb book in my bookshop because I decided I didn’t want to read it. I had a quick look through it and decided that it was a bit dated in the modern age. Great music on the other hand such as that produced by Joe Boyd will never seem dated.

Up The White Horse.

It was a bright sunny morning and when I looked out of the kitchen window my little garden was covered in frost. I was determined to go out today because I had been in all the previous day and I would get cabin madness unless I went out. I put on lots of layers of clothes and my hat and set off walking as quickly as I could to warm up. By the time I reached the top Of Alfred Street I had forgotten how cold it was and when I had completed the steep bit past the equestrian centre I was actually sweating. When I finally got to the top by the White Horse I felt really pleased that I had made the effort to get outdoors and have some exercise. 

There were quite a lot of people up there, a few dog walkers and people from the hang-gliding, para-gliding and micro-lite fraternity all happily throwing themselves off the edge of the hill and soaring away on the thermals. It was really windy, I had to be careful my hat didn’t get blown away.

I watched for a while and filmed one of the flyers for a couple of minutes which you can see below. I did consider walking down to the village of Bratton and back along the lower Westbury road but decided I didn’t want to, I had enough exercise for one day, so I strolled back the way I came. 

When I got back to town, I had a look in the Air Ambulance Charity Shop and for only 20 pence I found a nice copy of the Robert Crumb Handbook. That took me back a bit to my old hippy days. I’ll go for another walk tomorrow, weather permitting.

Westbury White Horse 23/1/2019

I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight.

I got up at 2.30 this morning hoping to see the super blood red moon. I went downstairs and peered out of the kitchen window, but it was too cloudy. I couldn’t see a thing. I went back to bed till 9.00. I had to go to the post office so caught the 11.25 over to Warminster. After posting the package I headed to the music shop because I thought I deserved another cd. I bought I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight by Richard & Linda Thompson. I have several Richard Thompson albums but I have never owned this one and have been meaning to purchase it for ages. Feeling quite pleased with myself I bought a J2O in Wetherspoons and waited  for my friend Sian to turn up. When she finally arrived I bought her a chardonnay but I didn't have one as it was day 21 of dry January. Only ten days to go. It has been a breeze not drinking. I haven’t missed it at all and feel a lot better for it.

We had a chat for an hour or so and then I made my way home. It was a nice afternoon, cold but sunny. I played my new album and I must say it is a classic. I knew it would be. Released in 1974 it was the first album RT made with his wife of the time Linda Thompson. I like her singing on this album. I also like the contributions of all the ensemble, including a brass band. The songs are about the homeless, thieves, beggars, and drunks. The subject matter doesn’t depress me though, I found the music very uplifting. The title track is my favourite at this stage (See video below) , but I love all of it. Withered And Died is another song I think is a classic and Down Where The Drunkards Roll. Every track is worthy of praise though. If you haven’t heard this record before then I urge you to do so.

This evening I have just been watching the telly. University Challenge first, and I’m just watching a series about icons of the 20^th century. The viewers have to vote for their favourite icon. Tonight, was about activists and the choices were Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Emily Pankhurst and Helen Keller. That is a difficult choice to choose the most deserving of those. I think I might choose Gandhi because I think his achievements through non-violent protest were a big influence on Martin Luther King.

Fairport Convention, Richard & Linda Thompson : I Want To See The Bright...