Competition: free Fotheringay 2 CDs

Subject: Competition: free Fothjeringay 2 CDs
From: Colin Randall
Date: 02 Nov 08 - 02:38 PM

Encouraged by the response to competitions for Eliza Carthy and Maddy Prior albums, I have launched another one* at
Salut! Live with prizes of three copies of the newly released Fotheringay 2 album - completed with bits added by surviving and members 38 years after they started work on it.

To quote the item at Salut Live! just give me "your best or most vivid memory of Sandy, Fotheringay, Fairport with Sandy, Sandy solo, Sandy on record."

The best entries may come from people too young to have known of Sandy while she was alive. My decision final. But I may, as with Maddy, add a fourth prize if the replies - here, at Salut! Live and at Talkawhile - are as good.....

Subject: RE: Competition: free Fotheringay 2 CDs
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 03 Nov 08 - 09:22 PM

Think I'll try bumping this thread back to the top and see if any Sandy stories materialise... wish I had some personal memories of my own to do it with...

I always loved her songwriting, and for my money The Attic Tapes captured some of her best performances ever, because of their simplicity and clarity. Just Sandy and piano, without Trevor Lucas' glutinous overdubs that so often marred the commercial recordings. No pressures, this is just a demo, right? The fiercely self-critical Sandy in relaxed mode for once, maybe.

I know I've said this before in some thread or other, but: grab a listen to the demo version of Rising For The Moon which is just voice and her own piano accompaniment. It has an underlying intensity that I much prefer to the more light-hearted version on the finished album. The contrast in rhythms is striking, perhaps because she didn't have a drumkit and was working with only a metronome, or possibly because in the demo she was both playing an instrument AND singing. In any case, the solo effort is darker-toned, driven by a different beat, and for me this makes the song more poignant (especially when you read how torn she was over having to leave her not-always-faithful lover behind while she toured abroad and coped with the demands of her success.) Clinton Heylin's biog No More Sad Refrains is a must-read for anyone who has even a passing interest in this hugely talented and sorely-missed lady.

Subject: RE: Competition: free Fotheringay 2 CDs
From: Colin Randall
Date: 04 Nov 08 - 01:01 AM

I knew it might be a tall order......the prize is modest, and you have to both have a memory beyond simple appreciation and be willing to take the trouble to share it.

But responses are trickling in (at Talkawhile and Salut! Live itself, where I am collating all entries, as well as Bonnie's kickstart here), so I think I'll get a quorum...

Subject: RE: Competition: free Fotheringay 2 CDs
From: Folkiedave
Date: 04 Nov 08 - 03:53 AM

No memories - though I was old enough (!!) but I would like to recommend the record. I have played three tracks - and will over time play the rest. Not a weak track on the record. Some are stronger than others though!

My own two favourites are John the Gun and Wild Mountain Thyme.

Subject: RE: Competition: free Fotheringay 2 CDs
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 04 Nov 08 - 01:01 PM

Judging by what I can gather from the Heylin biog, their (first?) American tour reads like something out of either Dante's Inferno or Monty Python, depending on how black your sense of humour is: unconfirmed dates, unsigned contracts, cancelled concerts, non-existent interviews & press coverage, ripoffs, soul-destroying support gigs where they were thankful if the audience merely ignored them, staggering back to England having earned about four pence.

At one point the band weren't even allowed backstage access because no one had thought to provide them with door passes, and their entrance was blocked by a security guard with roughly the build of King Kong. So pint-sized Sandy, having Had Enough, hauled off and hit him. Not the ideal solution to the problem, but one can sure sympathise.

She's quoted as saying, "If this is what it means to get three thousand people to come and listen to you, I'd rather go and play to my best friends."


RISING FOR THE MOON

Sandy Denny

I travel over the seas and ride the rolling sky
For that's the way it is, that is my fortune
There are many ears to please
Many people's love to try
And every day is begun rising for the moon

There's a heart in every place
There's a tear for each farewell
For that's the way it is, that is my fortune
I'll lure you like the lace
That the wayward gypsies sell
With the sinking of the sun, rising of the moon

        Rising for the moon
        The sun has set and it is dark
        But the star of the enchanted tune
        Is bright as any spark
        The chorus of the dusk
        Regales the evening lark
        Whose every day does start
        Rising for the moon

Subject: RE: Competition: free Fotheringay 2 CDs
From: Colin Randall
Date: 11 Nov 08 - 04:29 AM

One last bump up the thread for my competition for "your best or most vivid memory of Sandy, Fotheringay, Fairport with Sandy, Sandy solo, Sandy on record" before the deadline for entries is reached - midnight UK time on Thursday Nov 13

Anecdotes or comments can be left here or posted at this http://www.salutlive.com/2008/11/sandy-denny-fotheringay-and-three-free-cds.htm

Courtesy of the record company, Fledg'ling, I have three copies of Fotheringay 2, a remarkable project that has produced - 38 years on - a follow-up to the band's only album, to give away.

Subject: RE: Competition: free Fotheringay 2 CDs
From: Colin Randall
Date: 14 Nov 08 - 02:59 AM

The competition produced some lovely responses, from Mudcatters and others (mostly posting directly to my site) and my winners, as announced at Salut! Live today, are

Tasha, Diane Easby, Es Chorlton and Ed Grummitt, who will each receive a copy of the Fotheringay 2 album. They can let me have postal addresses by PM.

Diane remembered being forced to think again, when just about to sing a Sandy Denny song at Les Cousins and spotting her coming down the stairs.
Es Chorlton had a great tale of Fotheringay's response to demands for Banks of the Nile at a Manchester concert.
Ed wrote about a contender for Sandy's greatest gig (the Howff in London in 1973) and Tasha had a delightful childhood memory of thinking Sandy must be a fairy because her voice sounded so magical.

Thanks to all - and to Joe for permitting me to alert fellow Mudcatters.