Customer Reviews

Like an Old Fashioned Waltz

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was Sandy Denny's third solo-album. On her second album, the much acclaimed "Sandy", she had begun a slow departure from her folk-music roots. On this album you probably would not have thought of there being any folk-roots at all, if it had not been for her backing band consisting of people with strong roots in Britsih folk-rock - people like Richard Thompson, Dave Pegg, Dave Mattacks, Jerry Donahue, Gerry Conway, Pat Donaldson and several more.

Sandy and her husband/producer Trevor Lucas were seeking a broader approach with a wider range of styles, using heavier production; often with use of strings; which some people thought a progress, and other people hated.

The opener, the gorgeous "Solo" is one of Sandy's very best songs ( I would buy the album for that song alone ). The nostalgic title-track is almost as strong, in spite of a quite unrestrained use of strings. The bonus-track version proves the use strings quite unnecessary.

Her covers of two old romantic jazz-ballads, "Whispering Grass" and "Until the Real Things Comes Along" are actually quite good, though some people find them out of place on a Sandy Denny album.

"Friends" is another highlight on the album - a classic Sandy Denny song; according to the liner notes on the "No More Sad Refrains" anthology, the lyrics were written about Pete Townshend; not a very flattering picture drawn of him there.

"Carnival" is a tune in the same vein as "Friends" - though darker and not quite as melodic.

"Dark the Night" is a light tune, but with dark lyrics. "I'm not good at singing happy songs", I believe Sandy stated at a certain point.

"At the End of the Day" has such a beautiful melody line, and possibly her ultimate love song. The bonus-track version with no strings is my favourite.

The closing track "No End" with its strange, but thought-provoking lyrics, gives the album the perfect end.

"King and Queen of England" is an outtake from the sessions, but was probably thought not strong enough when the final track-listing was to be made. I think I'll agree to that, though some might have preferred it to one of her jazz-covers.

In spite of some flaws ( too much strings ) the album as a whole is her most consistent and enduring, with Denny on top in her song-writing.

A wonderful, romantic, joyous, sad album that Sandy made at the point where her songwriting was at its strongest. But why is Amazon advertising all her reissues as featuring EXPLICIT LYRICS? None of Sandy's albums features so much as one swear-word? Amazon - why are you deliberately dissuading people from discovering Sandy by this dishonest and blatant misrepresentation of her music. She's no Lil' Kim. What are you doing, and why?

It took me a long time to get this one, but it was well worth the wait. I knew and loved 'Solo', but hadn't heard any of the other tracks. All are just great and stand up to repeated listening. Sandy was just wonderful.

I have this album on vinyl. This is one of the most haunting collections of music I have ever heard. Sandy Denny is an artist of all artists. She transends over all decades. I am looking forward to having this record on CD. Dottie

I can't believe Rykodisc/Carthage CD copies of this album are now going for upwards of $130 used or new, they've gotta bring this back in print yet again (remastered and with some bonus tracks perhaps). I recently got a mint condition but original pressing 1973 vinyl copy of this album to replace my worn-out 80s cassette copy, wow was I glad I did, it sounds stupendous on vinyl in particular. The basslines on this record alone is worth buying it for, but I believe this album is an underrated masterpiece of Sandy's, and is far afield from her work with Fairport Convention but is no less great for that. Some of these songs can quite reduce one to tears, poignant as they are, including (especially) the sublime tracks "No End", "Carnival" and "Dark the Night." Also fun are Sandy's covers of the old songs "Until the Real Thing Comes Along" and "Whispering Grass," both sound like Sandy doing cool cocktail jazz but with more warm soul than most cocktail jazz singers could ever hope to attain. Listen to the magnificent, haunting "No End" on a cold, snowy winter's night and hear those string arrangements and tell me the hair on the back of your neck doesn't stand on end. Sandy looks amazing on the cover photo too...brilliant album all around. I would say this is a must-have if you're any kind of fan of Sandy or Fairport Convention or good British folk-rock in general. This is more ammunition to prove that there was plenty of good music released in the early 1970s, just not all of it made a radio playlist. Reason: too good, and too intelligent. Two reasons why you should go buy this in ANY form now!

Sandy was a storyteller, an original songwriter with a fascinatingly clear and colorful voice, as well as a talent for deceptively sweet, double-edged lyrics. If you listen to her earlier albums you can hear the progression...From her folksy roots and somewhat pedestrian arrangements, she evolved towards something richer and fuller, culminating in this, a very jazzy, seductive and satisfying album complete with soaring instrumentals. "Like An Old Fashioned Waltz" is gutsy and extravagant. Picture a classy nightclub, dim lighting, a whispering brass orchestra. Then again, picture a wanderer and a minstral, living in an enchanted castle, harkening back to a more innocent time. This is Sandy at her finest. Her voice is at it's peak, nimble and pure. From the bittersweet triumph in the opening cut "Solo" to the dreamlike and introspecive "No End", the mood is set for a saucy, sexy, strong woman who can make it on her own, while still believing in fairytales and idealized love. Who knows where her music would have taken her had she lived. As it is, "Like An Old Fashioned Waltz" may be the masterpiece that she was meant to bring to the world.

Sandy is on the level... I can't explain...
She's my only heartbreak... This album represents my darling Sandy
as she wanted to be... She's the queen of my heart..
If only "Friends" had been written about me.
Had I only known... Had she only been///I'm sorry.

This album is her best and her best of....
Buy her sweetness... Buy her love... It's all we have left..

tHIS IS my favorite album she ever released....
I cry everytime
I cry her name
She was my dream... the one I lost

I LOVE YOU SANDS !!!!!... I'll be home soon

Highly Recommended!!

Sandy's best solo album. "Solo" is so amazing and far surpasses all the live versions you have heard. The two 40's standards, "Whispering Grass" and Until the Real Thing Comes Along" are so BBC and cool they defy adjectives. "At the End of the Day" is staid and true. "No End" is poignant in its hippy chick sensibility. I recommend this as a desert island selection. There is an elegance to this album that goes far beyond the time in which it was recorded (circa 1974) It was recorded in one of the greatest studios of all time: Sound Techniques, a little room in Soho, where so many wonderful albums of the period were done: Nick Drake (all albums), Richard Thompson (first three albums), Fairport Convention (including Liege and Lief),Pink Floyd (Piper at the Gates of Dawn), Jethro Tull (This Was), Stackridge(Friendliness) and all the Pentangle records. That studio had a sound like no other room in London at the time. It was solid state but they had a tube like sound. It was an incredible room run by Geoff Frost with amazing engineers that had been basically designed after the old Quonset Hut Bradley's Studio in Nashville (according to Frost). There were many other great recordings from the late sixties and early seventies that were done there as well as the ones mentioned above. They are just some favorites of mine. It was on Old Church Street just across the street from Eric Clapton's apartment in Soho. Too bad we live in an auto-tuned world now. I really miss the days when it was about capturing a great performance rather than manufacturing one by comping and tuning. Sound Techniques had such an amazing sound. Buy the recordings if you don't believe me. An incredible warmth for solid state recording, especially for its day (1964-1974 at the Old Church Street location).

I bought and loved Bonnie Raitt's initial release in 1970, with a cover of Sippie Wallace's "Women Be Wise," and Bonnie's gorgeous, definitive version (IMHO) of "Since I Fell For You," to name a few classic tracks. Bonnie remains every bit as good today as she was then.

Three years later, Sandy Denny released this recording, and I fell in love with it immediately (and love it every bit as much today.) These songs (as well as all of her vocals), remain as mentioned above - classic, beautiful and timeless (this one in particular being 33 years ago!) There are different styles on this record to be sure, but Sandy had the rare gift of taking you on the same journeys she was on within her songs - just try imagining you're not in a jazz club, holding the one you love close when you hear or dance to "Whispering Grass" and "Until The Real Thing Comes Along," with Sandy's being THE definitive version (once again, IMHO), of this very fine, often-recorded gem.

"Solo," "No End," "Dark The Night," and "At The End Of The Day" are only a few very moving, classic songs from this outstanding album from one who left us much too soon. "Like An Old-Fashioned Waltz" remains a beautiful legacy of Sandy Denny, replete with ballads and stories that sound as great today as they did over 30 years ago, and that you will treasure over and over again.

Having recorded one album with the Strawbs, three with Fairport Convention and one with Fotheringay, Sandy Denny embarked on a solo career, during which she recorded three albums before returning to Fairport Convention and recording a further album. She then recorded a fourth solo album, released in 1977, before her career was cut short by her premature death in 1978.

This 1973 album is described in the liner notes accompanying the expanded 2005 edition as a beautiful album, suffused with a late summer reflective romanticism. Well, that's one person's description, but as I write this on a snowy February day, anything to do with summer seems to be a long way off. Actually, it's a great album to listen to at any time of year, and the songs are definitely of the mellow, romantic variety.

Taking the nine tracks on the album as originally issued first, Sandy wrote seven of them herself. The other two are songs that were in her father's record collection. One of them, Whispering grass, had been an American top ten hit for the Ink Spots and became a UK number one hit for Don Estelle and Windsor Davies in 1975. The other is a Fats Waller song, Until the real thing comes along. I love Sandy's covers of these songs, but it is her own songs that are what this album is really all about. From the opener (Solo) to the closer (No end), each track is brilliant. The title track cheekily begins with a line from another famous song by declaring that roses are red and violets are blue, but the rest of the song is much deeper than that other song.

Three of the four bonus tracks are alternate versions of tracks that appeared on the main album , these being At the end of the day (without strings), the title track (live version with Fairport Convention) and No end (solo piano version). The other bonus track is an original song (King and queen of England) in demo form.

This is a classic album from a singer who is better appreciated now than in her lifetime. Never mind the folk-rock tag often applied to Sandy's music, this is mellow, romantic music at its finest.