Rendezvous | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | May 1977 | |||
Recorded | April – June 1976 | |||
Studio | Island Studios (Basing Street and Hammersmith), CBS (London), Strawberry Studios (Stockport), Sound Techniques (Chelsea) | |||
Genre | folk rock | |||
Length | 39:02 | |||
Label | UK: Island, 1977 (ILPS 9433) US: Hannibal, 1986 (HNBL 4422) | |||
Producer | Trevor Lucas | |||
Sandy Denny chronology | ||||
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Rendezvous is the fourth and final studio album by English folk rock singer-songwriter Sandy Denny, released on Island Records in May of 1977, and the final album released during her lifetime.
Sandy Denny and Trevor Lucas left Fairport Convention at the end of 1975 and Denny embarked on Rendezvous in the spring of 1976. Trevor Lucas produced the album with a contemporary rock sound designed to turn Denny into a mainstream act. The album is now generally thought to be overproduced with an excess of strings, [1] backing vocals and instrumental overdubs. [2] [3] Despite this the album is felt to contain some of her finest compositions, and showed someone continuing to widen and deepen their songwriting craft, and who was responsive to new influences: "Gold Dust" with its Caribbean feel; the soulful torch songs "Take Me Away" and "I'm A Dreamer"; and, most ambitious of all, a seven-minute orchestral tribute to the English pastoral symphony in the style of Vaughan Williams called "All Our Days" recorded live at CBS Studios. [4] [5]
The punishing world tour with Fairport Convention throughout 1974 and 1975, coupled with Denny's heavy drinking and smoking, inevitably took a toll on her voice and by now much of its bell-like purity had gone, but the control and power were still there along with her subtle phrasing and characteristic grace notes. [6] For the first time in years Denny recorded portions of the album live including an extraordinary session at Basing Street on 25 April, where "Full Moon," "No More Sad Refrains," and "I'm A Dreamer" were cut live with the band and strings in a single day. [4] A selection of cover versions were recorded for the album: "I Wish I Was a Fool for You (For Shame of Doing Wrong)" by Richard Thompson, the only post-Fairport recording she made of a song by her former bandmate; "Silver Threads and Golden Needles," which had been attempted years earlier for the first Fotheringay album in 1970; [7] "Losing Game" by The Flying Burrito Brothers; and "Easy to Slip" by Lowell George; the latter two were discarded from the final record. Several Denny originals were also recorded and not used, including '"Full Moon," "By the Time It Gets Dark," and "Still Waters Run Deep."
The majority of the album was recorded in a week of sessions between 23 April and 7 June at Basing Street and Island Studios; further sessions from the 9th to the 18th of June were largely devoted to extensive mixing and overdubs. [8] The album, originally entitled Gold Dust, [9] was finished by July and due to come out in October 1976, but Island repeatedly delayed the release and it finally came out in May 1977 when Denny was pregnant and unable to undertake a promotional tour. [10] During this delay Denny returned to the studio to record a cover version of Elton John's "Candle in the Wind," which was added to the album in place of her own composition "Still Waters Run Deep." [11] Both tracks were later released on a single. [12] One last session, to record Bryn Haworth's "Moments," took place days before the album's release, and this was Denny's final studio recording. [13]
The album was the only solo album of Denny's not to be issued in a gatefold. However, there was a black card inner sleeve with the lyrics reproduced in white type. The cover image was a composite of a location shot of Denny waiting on a street and a close-up studio portrait of her with heavy eye make up and wearing an auburn wig.
Having relocated to the village of Byfield in Northamptonshire in the mid-seventies, Sandy gave birth to her only child, a daughter called Georgia, in July 1977. A UK tour to promote Rendezvous was undertaken in the autumn and marked her final public appearances. The closing night at the Royalty Theatre in London on 27 November 1977 was recorded for an intended live album, Gold Dust, which was eventually released in 1998. Sandy Denny died the following year in April 1978 following complications after a fall.
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [14] |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [15] |
In 2005 AllMusic's reviewer Brett Hartenbach was less than enthusiastic about Trevor Lucas' production, saying "use of cumbersome strings, backup singers and bloated lead guitars weigh things down and bury some otherwise fine writing." His summation was that Rendezvous was "a flawed attempt at gaining a wider audience, by an artist who deserved better and was capable of the best." [2] However, he did give the album a three-star rating of a possible five.
Rolling Stone's 2004 assessment was that having left her folk roots behind, "casting her as pop singer didn't quite work on Rendezvous." [3]
All songs credited to Sandy Denny except where noted.
Fairport Convention are a British folk rock band, formed in 1967 by Richard Thompson, Simon Nicol, Ashley Hutchings and Shaun Frater, with Frater replaced by Martin Lamble after their first gig. They started out heavily influenced by American folk rock and singer-songwriter material, with a setlist dominated by Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell songs and a sound that earned them the nickname 'the British Jefferson Airplane'. Vocalists Judy Dyble and Iain Matthews joined them before the recording of their self-titled debut in 1968; afterwards, Dyble was replaced by Sandy Denny, with Matthews leaving during the recording of their third album.
Alexandra Elene MacLean Denny was an English singer-songwriter who was lead singer of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. She has been described as "the pre-eminent British folk rock singer".
What We Did on Our Holidays is the second album by British band Fairport Convention, released in 1969. It was their first album to feature singer-songwriter Sandy Denny. The album also showed a move towards the folk rock for which the band became noted, including tracks later to become perennial favourites such as "Fotheringay" and the song traditionally used to close live concerts, "Meet on the Ledge".
Fotheringay was a short-lived British folk rock group, formed in 1970 by singer-songwriter and musician Sandy Denny on her departure from Fairport Convention. The band drew its name from her 1968 composition "Fotheringay" about Fotheringhay Castle, in which Mary, Queen of Scots had been imprisoned. The song originally appeared on the 1969 Fairport Convention album, What We Did on Our Holidays, Denny's first album with that group. The original Fotheringay released one, self-titled album but disbanded at the start of 1971 as Denny embarked on a solo career. Forty-five years later, a new version of the band re-formed featuring the three original surviving members together with other musicians, and toured in 2015 and 2016.
Trevor George Lucas was an Australian folk singer, a member of Fairport Convention and one of the founders of Fotheringay. He mainly worked as a singer-songwriter and guitarist but also produced many albums and composed for the film industry toward the end of his career. He married three times, his first wife was Cheryl, his second wife was fellow folk musician Sandy Denny (1973–1978), and his third wife was Elizabeth Hurtt (1979–1989). Lucas died on 4 February 1989 of a heart attack in his sleep, in Sydney, aged 45. He was survived by Elizabeth Hurtt, his daughter, Georgia Rose Lucas, and his son, Daniel 'Clancy' Lucas. According to Australian rock music historian, Ian McFarlane, Lucas "was one of the most acclaimed singer-songwriters Australia ever produced and although he was held in high regard in UK folk rock circles, he remained virtually unknown in his homeland".
Liege & Lief is the fourth album by the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. It is the third album the group released in the UK during 1969, all of which prominently feature Sandy Denny as lead female vocalist, as well as the first to feature future long-serving personnel Dave Swarbrick and Dave Mattacks on violin/mandolin and drums, respectively, as full band members. It is also the first Fairport album on which all songs are either adapted (freely) from traditional British and Celtic folk material, or else are original compositions written and performed in a similar style. Although Denny quit the band even before the album's release, Fairport Convention has continued to the present day to make music strongly based within the British folk rock idiom, and are still the band most prominently associated with it.
Sandy is the second solo album by British folk rock musician Sandy Denny. Work on the album began just a fortnight after her UK tour promoting her debut solo album, The North Star Grassman and the Ravens, ended in early November 1971 and continued through to May 1972.The album was released in September 1972.
The Bunch were a British folk rock band, which came together in 1971 to record their one off album, Rock On.
Rising for the Moon is the tenth studio album by the British folk rock band Fairport Convention, released in 1975. It reached number 52 in the UK albums charts. This was the last Fairport album to feature vocalist Sandy Denny.
"Tin Soldier" is a song released by the English rock band Small Faces on 2 December 1967, written by Steve Marriott. The song peaked at number nine in the UK singles chart and number 38 in Canada. It has since been covered by many other notable rock artists.
From the Beginning is the first compilation album by the English rock band Small Faces. It was released by Decca Records of group material after the band had left the record label; it consisted of the band's Decca hit singles combined with various unreleased recordings. The album rose to Number 17 in the UK Album Chart.
"The Sad Bag of Shaky Jake" is a single released in 1969 by English rock band Humble Pie. The B-side "Cold Lady" was written by drummer Jerry Shirley in a R&B style and Shirley plays Wurlitzer piano and guitarist Peter Frampton plays the drums.
All Our Own Work is a studio album by Sandy Denny and the Strawbs. Recorded in 1967 but not released until 1973, it contains an early recording of one of Sandy Denny's best known songs "Who Knows Where the Time Goes". Denny later recorded this song as a member of Fairport Convention.
The North Star Grassman and the Ravens is a 1971 album by English folk rock singer-songwriter Sandy Denny. Built mostly around her own compositions, The North Star Grassman and the Ravens is distinguished by its elusive lyrics and unexpected harmonies.
Like an Old Fashioned Waltz is the third solo album by English folk rock singer Sandy Denny, released in June 1974.
Who Knows Where the Time Goes? is a retrospective compilation of the work of English folk rock singer Sandy Denny issued in 1985. It is a four LP boxed set released on the Island Records label in the UK and Germany and on Hannibal/Carthage Records in the US, later reissued as a three CD set. It includes released and previously unreleased recordings from 1967 to 1977, live performances, outtakes and demos from Denny's solo career, and with Fairport Convention, Fotheringay and Strawbs.
Gold Dust is a live album by the late English folk rock singer Sandy Denny. It documents one of Denny's last public performances and was recorded at London's "Sound Circus" venue at the Royalty Theatre, Portugal Street, near Aldwych, London on 27 November 1977. The album features many of her classic songs both as a solo artist and as a member of Fairport Convention and Fotheringay and remains the most extensive documentation of Sandy's live work with a backing band. The album was not released on the label originally planned owing to stated technical problems with the master tape, and was only released on a different label twenty years after her death after various guitar and backing vocal tracks parts were re-recorded by Jerry Donahue and others.
Gottle O'Geer is the eleventh studio album by English folk rock band Fairport Convention. The album was released through Island Records in May 1976.
Clinton Heylin is an English author who has written extensively about popular music and the work of Bob Dylan.
The Sandy Denny discography chronicles the output of British folk rock singer Sandy Denny. Her brief career, spanning 1967 to 1978, saw the release of 4 solo albums and 4 singles on several record labels.