Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar

Subject: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: GUEST,Heart+
Date: 05 Jul 07 - 09:00 PM

Listening to Vashti Bunyan's Diamond Day album makes me curious as to why her particular style is not more prevalent and popular.

I am looking for several artists that impart that same peace ... that you could fall asleep to or daydream to another world in.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: Peace
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 01:37 AM

Refresh

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 01:58 AM

I cannot speak for others, but she is not to my taste. The music I like has to have more direct relevance to people and events and circumstances and real life out there, to make me think and question and feel diverse sentiments. For relaxing, I find others like Enya and Loreena McKennitt much better. For me, Vashti is somewhere in the middle, neither meat, nor fish. But that's just my personal taste. Perhaps others feel the same, hence her limited popularity.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 02:30 AM

Vashti Bunyan (thankfully) clipped-clopped off into obscurity over 30 years ago, hence not so popular.

She sounded back then like a watered-down Marianne Faithfull (not surprising since Andrew Loog Oldham was her first producer) and Joe Boyd's subsequent efforts were, surprisingly, no better and markedly unsuccessful.

Folk Britannia decided for reasons unknown to drag her into the 'wyrd' department along with other wifty-wafty, new-agey, whimsical tripe and she underwent a brief mini-'revival' among the equally wyrd.

File alongside Enya or, preferably, in the bin.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: Peace
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 02:56 AM

I LIKE ENYA!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: open mike
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 03:09 AM

how are we supposed to know who she is and what she sounds like if you do not provide any links or information? and what the heck does need highly similar even mean?

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: Peace
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 03:10 AM

See the other thread, om.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: gnomad
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 03:23 AM

I never heard of the lady until a few months ago, so cannot comment from experience of her work. Reviews suggest to me that the style may have been insufficiently mainstream to achieve success in the pop world, but too personal (hippyish?) for the folk community of the time.

As for looking for similar, well she appears to have 3 CDs and a DVD available, maybe one of those?

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 03:49 AM

Diamond Day - is that the intensely irritating song 'just another diamond day, just a blade of grass' used in a UK TV advert recently?

The singer in that advert does have a pleasant voice, but with no knowledge of who she is or what she's done previously, it's a bit hard to find a similar artist.


The only song more irritating is the one for Lloyds Bank - all that 'oo oo oo oo-oo ooo ahhhh' stuff...

LTS

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: peregrina
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 03:55 AM

see the other thread for a suggestion.


De gustibus non disputandum etc.

As a relative newcomer, I ask myself whether I want to take part in a forum where members reply to another newcomer in ways that might, on a bad day, perhaps be able to be perceived as rather unfriendly and dismissive.

It's hard for me to understand why people bother to be unpleasant to one another about their shared love for a category of music that is, well, from a commercial point of view, a minority taste, even if it's far older. and has lasted much longer than pop-stuff--and will outlive it!
Strong views about what you care about, fine,great material for lively and enjoyable discussion; express your own passions and pet peeves, great, but Insulting someone's taste and such-like. I ask: why?

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 04:04 AM

Good grief.
Let's be clear.
I do not share a love for a category of 'music' emanating from telly ads and lifts.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 04:38 AM

ALLMUSICGUIDE (click) will give you names of similar artists.
-Joe Offer-

* Bridget Saint John
* Sandy Denny
* Kath Bloom
* Ruthann Friedman
* Sibylle Baier
* Erica Pomerance
* Turid
* Trees
* Linda Perhacs
* Nick Drake
* Shirley Collins

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: katlaughing
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 04:56 AM

Well, I'd missed both threads. Thanks, guest, for bringing this up, though. I've now listened to a few sound samples at Amazon and I really like her voice and choice of songs.

kat

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: Celtaddict
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 04:58 AM

Peregrina: Welcome, and I hope you stay to enjoy and learn.

Please do bear in mind that a broad variety of people inhabit this site, and while many or I think most are very helpful and kind, as in any crowd there are some (members and visitors) who are more likely to come across as dismissive or discourteous. Please try not to take them personally. There is a relatively new policy for avoiding anonymous postings and it is hoped that will help, but there are some who sound cantankerous in print, and some outright trolling does go on. I try to think of it as the sort of heckling or static one might encounter in any large group, and of course the top of a thread lists posters so if there is someone who seems to you consistently off-putting, your best bet is to skip them, not to argue with the individual.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 05:06 AM

I have heard, via one of my daughters, the album that diamond day is not on. It is actualy quite good. Not entirely to my taste but then again neither is Opera and Jazz. I wouldn't worry too much about people dismissing what you like - what does it matter as long as you like it? You don't realy need the approval of people you have never met do you?

I would very rarely say that anything is rubbish, with odd exception, but rather say that I do not like it. The two generaly mean the same though, again, with the odd exception:-)

Cheers

Dave

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: redsnapper
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 05:08 AM

Welcome peregrina!

I tend to agree with you and there are a lot of artists widely liked here who I don't care for much. I don't feel the need to diss them though as others do like them... often with a passion. You'll get used to it. The debate isn't always rational here... as in real life.

RS

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: Jim Lad
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 05:08 AM

Well, I was enjoying this topic on a friendly thread, now closed.
I'll catch you another time, Peregrina (Sweet Fern? Hawkeye?).

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: GUEST,Noreen
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 05:35 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vashti_Bunyan has a lot of information about her and a link to Vashti's website.

Wikipedia classifies her as 'Psych folk' (not a term I have heard before) and has a list of 46 other pages in category "Psych folk musicians" which might be worth investigating, Heart+.

Bear in mind that all the knowledgeable people who visit this café don't necessarily do so every day. I for one didn't see the original posting, but am happy to help where I can, as are many others.

If you ask nicely (and patiently) you tend to get more responses than if you moan that people are treating you unfairly :0)

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: greg stephens
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 05:51 AM

Peregrina: it is very unfortunate, but this is an open access forum. Unfortunately there are people who post here who are unable to confine themselves to saying they don't particularly like a song. They have to go on and insult the motivation and morals of whoever made the record.Try to ignore it, hard though that can be sometimes.
   Peronally, I am no huge Vashti Bunyan fan, though I liked her singing fine when I knew her as a student in the 60's. She was fey and hippy, I was rough so our tastes didn't coincide. But I am totally delighted for her that a record she made 40 years ago, which vanished into total obscurity, has suddenly reappeared and given her a bit of recognition and made her a few bob. Greatluck for her. Somtuimes things aren't totally right for their own times, but feel right years later. An interesting phenomenon.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: TheSnail
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 05:59 AM

I'm not familiar with most of the people on Joe's list, but I think that if you listen to Sandy Denny and Shirley Collins, you'll never want to hear Vashti Bunyan again.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 06:00 AM

And what an interesting story the 'years' section of her website makes. Thanks, Noreen.

Dave.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 06:22 AM

Yes, Snail.

I was so appalled at the inclusion of Shirley Collins and Sandy Denny in a list of new-agey nonentities that I became (temporarily) gobsmacked.

Where do they get such cloth-eared 'sound-a-like' list compilers from?

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: greg stephens
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 06:48 AM

Actually, Diane, I think including Shirley Collins and Vashti Bunyan makes a great deal of sense. They both sing in a kind of weird, unusual, unexpected voice that instantly transports you somewhere else. In the Collins case, generally into a sort of mythical nymphs and shepherds kind of place, and with Bunyan more of a fairy, Celtic twilight, 60's Malory sort of thing.Of course, whether you wish to be transported into that world is another question.
Sandy Denny is a totally different kind of thing again. She sounds like a 60's/70's folkie. What it says on the tin.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 06:54 AM

I'm applying for my ticket to be a fly on the wall when you tell Ms Collins this.
Are you sure you're not thinking of Toni Arthur?

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: greg stephens
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 07:06 AM

No, I'm not thinking of Toni Arthur, in fact I don't think I have any knowledge of what she sounds like.How would you categorise the Shirley Collins world then, Diane? I'm not sure about my "nymphs and shepherds" phrase, which is perhaps a little too art-song orientated, and Collinsland is stranger than art-song. But I think it does have nymphs and shepherds in it. And the 5-string banjo moves it another lurch sideways.
   This subject of voice quality will come up more here, I think. The Collinses and Bunyans seem to me to be on the ascendent, and the Priors and Dennys are going down. Or that is my impression of what is happening outside the enclosed world of the folk revival.
    I am not making any judgement from personal taste here particularly, just observing the vagaries of fashion and reputation.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 07:21 AM

I cited Toni Arthur because she has a trained voice, very nice if you like art song but it always struck me as sounding out of place in the duo with Dave Arthur.

I'm trying hard to imagine Our Shirl doing madrigals but can't. Has she ever?

And I don't know what point you are attempting to make re: Maddy & Sandy. Is it just that they have both fronted a folk-rock band? Shirley has done that too, remember. As has June Tabor yet she is rather heavily into art song these days (discounting her latest CD, obviously).

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: redsnapper
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 07:22 AM

I would not personally put Shirley Collins into the same category as Vashti Bunyan but that is my personal opinion. I'm also not sure about "voice quality". SC and SD have very different voices but both eminently suited to what they do and did respectively.

RS

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: greg stephens
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 07:48 AM

The only thing really that Bunyan and Collins have in common, the reason I was categorising them together, is that they both have powerfully unusual non-mainstream voices, and therefore transport you swiftly into their own world.
   Sandy Denny and Maddy Prior are more the opposite, they have voices typical of the genre in which they operated(folk scene/folk rock): that was the point I was making.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 07:58 AM

Spot on, redsnapper. Neither does voice quality have anything to do with it being good or bad music. Just different tastes. Anyone saying that one is not as 'good' as another should realy have a re-think, or at least a re-phrase. What do you mean by 'good' anyway? Would Pavarotti sound right singing 'The times they are a changing'? No, yet by all accounts he has a 'better' voice than Dylan. I doubt very much whether any of the godmothers of folk would sound right singing 'Another Diamond Day' by the same token. To quote Mr D, now that I have mentioned him, You're better that no-one and no-one is better than you.

Whoever said 'once you listen to Sandy Denny or Shirley Collins you will not listen to Vishti Bunyan again' really needs to get of that high horse btw. I am afraid it just doesn't work that way. Just because they are your favourites does not mean that everyone else has to agree with you.

Sorry. Rant over.

:D

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 08:06 AM

PS - I am going to commit the most heinous crime possible and admit that I don't particularly like Norma Watersons singing...

:-P

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: greg stephens
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 08:19 AM

Does that go for the Watersons as a group as well? I am interested. You may possibly be committing the sin for which there is no forgiveness, the sin against the Holy Ghost.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 08:59 AM

I like Mike very much and I like some of the families stuff but not all. There is some of what Norma does that I do like but in general I can take or leave most of the Waterson/Carthy stuff. I do like Martin on his own and love some of his other bands - Brass Monkey in particular. I must admit that most of what the Watersons do and did leaves me a little cold as do a few of the other 'trad' (or is it revival? Don't start that again...) singers and bands.

I think the Boat Band are wonderful of course...

:D

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: TheSnail
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 09:01 AM

Dave Polshaw

Whoever said 'once you listen to Sandy Denny or Shirley Collins you will not listen to Vishti Bunyan again' really needs to get of that high horse btw.

I've just listened to Lily Pond, Another Diamond Day and as much of Rose Hip November as I could handle. It's not a matter of taste, it's a matter of quality and value. Nobody would sound right singing 'Another Diamond Day'; it's drivel. Vashti Bunyan has a pleasant but unremarkable voice with no emotional range.

I don't particularly like Norma Watersons singing...

Er, try harder. It's worth it.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: Giant Folk Eyeball (inactive)
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 09:05 AM

I can understand the Shirley Collins reference (though personally, much as I like JADD when I'm in the right mood, I'd take one Shirley Collins album over a thousand Vashti Bunyan albums). Where the reference makes sense is the strange otherworldliness of Shirley's voice, especially when set in the context of Dolly's portative organ. I was listening to 'The Power of the True Love Knot' last night and was yet again struck by what a strange and lovely thing it is - the dreamlike quality is what I think it shares in part with Vashti's first album (Lookaftering's a different matter entirely). I think that is why many in the 'wyrd' folk world love Shirley's music where they wouldn't necessarily be interested in a lot of other traditional or traditionalish music.

For more on the psych/wyrd/whatever-you-want-to-call-it folk world, including plenty of artists who share some traits weith Vashti, you could do a lot worse than check out Mark Coyle's site, the Unbroken Circle which is a fascinating place to poke around.

Now please don't shout at me for liking other things than just traditional(ish) folk music...

Cheers

Nigel

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 09:08 AM

my mrs don't give a toss what you lot think.

I bought her Vashti Bunyan's Diamond Day album for xmas

to add to her immense collection of female vocalists
of all musical genres..

..and its now one of her favourite CD's.

I also enjoy listening to it late into the early hours of a winters morning
when i've enjoyed an expensively mellow bottle of single malt..

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 09:09 AM

What does 'voice quality' mean anyway?

'Quality' has two distinct meanings:

(1) the pragmatic interpretation as the non-inferiority, superiority or usefulness (i.e. without value judgment) and

(2) the degree or standard of excellence or high social status (which cannot but involve personal preference).

It is perfectly possible to recognise that something is 'good' without necessarily liking it.
Not that I think this about Ms Bunyan's voice which I find unbelievably twee and nothing about it to like.
Nor about the Boat Band who are unremittingly wonderful and likeable.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 09:26 AM

oh and..

"Nobody would sound right singing 'Another Diamond Day'; it's drivel"


you havn't heard my version...!!!!


..my gig battered Boss DS-2 Turbo distortion,
and very crunchy grainy industrial drum samples
figures quite prominently in the musical arrangement..


i've now claimed it as a very 'manly' song for the male singer repetoire..

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: Celtaddict
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 09:32 AM

It is worth remembering that 'quality' is also used to describe traits, without the level of judgment implied by the two definitions above.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
qual·i·ty      /ˈkwɒlɪti/ [kwol-i-tee] noun, plural -ties, adjective
–noun
1.        an essential or distinctive characteristic, property, or attribute: the chemical qualities of alcohol.
2.        character or nature, as belonging to or distinguishing a thing: the quality of a sound.

I suspect this aspect of 'quality' was what was meant in referring to Ms. Bunyan's and Ms. Collins' voices as possessing an unusual other-worldly quality.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: TheSnail
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 09:35 AM

GUEST,punkfolkrocker

i've now claimed it as a very 'manly' song for the male singer repetoire..

Great. Is it on YouTube? What did you do about all the La La La La Las?

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: greg stephens
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 09:36 AM

The way I was using "quality" was definitely the non-value-judgement version. Collins and Bunyan both have the "come from another world" quality, but as I said you may not want to go there with them. Now, Diane, you may find Bunyan insufferably twee, and others find that perfectly charming. And of course, people change opinions sometimes, forty years on. I too have made a run for the Hebrides and the west of Ireland too, though I'm firmly in Stoke today. Who knows tomorrow?
    I'm sticking my neck out,and advising anyone to sell shares in 70's folk-rock and buy Bunyan/Collins for a profit in the short to middle term.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 09:45 AM

Snail, seeing as you are into the very sensible argument of "What I like is marvelous and what I do not like is drivel" I feel that there is only one response I can make...

Bollocks!

I am quite happy to accept that you do not like it but do not try to inflict your views on anyone else please. Try to accept that some people do indeed like 'drivel'.

And I don't realy give a monkeys whether you believe that the sun shines out of Norma Watersons arse as long as you don't expect me to believe it as well.

Cheers

Dave

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: greg stephens
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 09:48 AM

"Nor about the Boat Band who are unremittingly wonderful and likeable"

Thanks for that comment Diane, but it makes me feel a little cautious. You are a person justly famous for somewhat rebarbative views on various performers(or almost anything), so I feel a touch of the "timeo Danaos et dona ferentes" coming on (excuse my French). Have you ever actually heard the Boat Band? I do hope so. But I don't recall that we have had the pleasure of meeting?

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: TheSnail
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 09:49 AM

Dave Polshaw

Try to accept that some people do indeed like 'drivel'.

OK

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: Giant Folk Eyeball (inactive)
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 09:53 AM

I certainly didn't mean to say either of their voices possessed 'an unusual other-worldly non-inferiority, superiority or usefulness (without value judgment)'... That would have just been silly of me.

Cheers

Nigel

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 09:55 AM

Ah, Greg. How could you forget?

[exit stage left in a huff]



What I like is marvellous and what I do not like is drivel


This might sort out my gravestone.

Once (at some festival, I forget where) we had a virtual female mudwrestling competition.
Norma Waterson won. Obviously. Who else?

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: Celtaddict
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 09:57 AM

'What did you do about all the La La La La Las?'
You could well be quoting the last verse of Me and Bobbie McGee as penned by that Rhodes Scholar, Kris Kristofferson. Like him or not, his image is not exactly feminine or other worldly.

Confession time: often on this forum, someone mentions a song, artist, or album with which I am unfamiliar. I often follow the link, or search for a clip myself. I find I tend to do this about equally whether the poster rhapsodized or lambasted; if someone has strong feelings about it, I often feel it worth one listen even if it is not to my taste.

Also, I often enjoy hearing a song presented in a fashion totally different from its origin, a ballad with rocking contemporary arrangement, a music hall romp presented as torchy blues. (I think there was a thread on this a while back.)

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: greg stephens
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 09:57 AM

Beer, probably.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 10:00 AM

Oh - and in case no-one noticed. I have never said that anyone or any song is good or bad. The most I have ever said is that I do or do not like it or them. I would not dream of suggesting that my tastes are in anyway better or worse than anyone elses. I can however tell when something realy is bad, which Norma Waterson is not, I just don't like her singing, like I don't enjoy Thomas Hardy novels. If anyone feels that they have to work at it to get to like it then I am afraid that is beyond my limited capabilities. Shallow as I may be if I cannot enjoy something in the first couple of listens I doubt very much whether I would be brainwashed into liking it by repeated playings or detailed analysis.

Sorry, that is just how I am. Take it or leave it but don't try to say that you are any better than me.

Cheers

Dave

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 10:09 AM

Nice one, Diane:-) Glad I could be of help.

On the other topic did you enter Mama Cass into the competition?

:D

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Vashti Bunyan - Need Highly Similar
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 10:16 AM

"What did you do about all the La La La La Las?"


I make it sound like a an invading marching army's Battle Cry !!!!