All Shall Be Well by Virginia Astley.

Tuesday morning and I sit in my little yard gazing indolently at four cabbage white butterflies who are performing an aerial ballet. They appear to be dancing to the sound of my new CD which is drifting from the kitchen. It is called All Shall Be Well by Virginia Astley. It is an excellent album, but not the album by Virginia Astley that I really wanted. That one is called From Gardens Where We Feel Secure. Sadly though, that album is unavailable and second-hand copies sell for amounts that are far beyond my pocket. I first heard of Virginia Astley when her name kept cropping up alongside the likes of Bridget St John and Vashti Bunyan and also on radio stations such as BBC 6 Music. I listened to the album on YouTube. It uses natural sounds such as birdsong and church bells to accompany Virginia’s improvised playing. It reminded me slightly of Granchester Meadows by Pink Floyd or English classical composers such as Delius. I wanted a hard copy but could not get one. I settled for All Shall Be Well, but even that cost me quite deep in the purse for a second-hand CD. I think it is high time Virginia’s back catalogue was reissued.

The opening track My Smallest Friend has a cello introduction. I have always liked the sound of the cello. The ‘smallest friend’ in question is her daughter Florence who would have been about four years old when this album was made in 1992. She can be heard singing towards the end of the song. I believe that Florence grew up to be an accomplished cellist herself and accompanies her mother at poetry readings. I am not sure how to describe the music on this album. I have heard it described as dream pop, but I would not say that. It is kind of ambient chamber folk music. A string quartet play on the album which gives it a pastoral English feel. Virginia’s father Edwin (Ted) Astley was a noted English composer who is best known for writing the theme music for such TV series as The Saint & Danger Man. He wrote the arrangements here for three of the tracks My Smallest Friend, Although I Know, and I Live For The Day.

Virginia had a classical music education and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and that is an obvious influence on this album. I think it was at university that she met Kate St John and Nicky Holland where they formed a group called The Ravishing Beauties. I have been a fan of Kate St John for a long time, especially when she was in Van Morrison’s band and with The Dream Academy. Kate plays oboe and cor-anglais on this album and vocals on Blue Sky, White Sky which she co-wrote with Virginia. It is my favourite track and based on a theme by Mozart.

The final track is an instrumental version of the opening song. I have enjoyed listening to this album today. In recent years Virginia seems to spend more time pursuing other interests such as poetry, nature writing and photography. She has recently published a book called The English River. I still think that From Gardens Where We Feel Secure should be re-released though.