No Grey Faith - Secrets All Told (The Songs Of Sandy Denny)

FORMATO: CD
AÑO: 2000

CANCIONES:
 1 Intro - Sandy Denny
 2 Rising For The Moon - Sandy Denny
 3 One way Donkey Ride - Sandy Denny
 4 Bushes And Brairs - Sandy Denny
 5 By The Time It Gets Dark - Sandy Denny
 6 It'll Take A Long Time - Sandy Denny
 7 Winter Winds - Sandy Denny
 8 Interlude - Sandy Denny
 9 Listen, Listen - Sandy Denny
10 Solo - Sandy Denny
11 I'm A Dreamer - Sandy Denny
12 Autopsy
13 Reprise - Sandy Denny
14 The Music Weaver - Sandy Denny

MÚSICOS:
Ian Matthews: Cantante, guitarra, percusión
Linda Gilmour: Cantante, pennywhisle
Jim Fogarty: Guitarras acústica y eléctrica, mandolín, dubro, acordeón
Walt Rich: Bajos

Roger Cox: Batería, percusión
Jack McTamney: Coros
Ted the Fiddle: Violín

NOTAS:
For about a year, Ian Matthews and Sandy Denny shared the lead vocal duties with the British group Fairport Convention and were both instrumental in the recording of one of the true masterpieces of '60s folk-rock, 1969's What We Did on Our Holidays. Matthews left the band before their next album, moving on to his own career, while Denny stayed for two more records, reuniting with Matthews on his 1971 effort If You Saw Thro' My Eyes. Nearly 30 years later, Matthews, along with guitarist Jim Fogarty, singer Lindsay Gilmour, bassist Walt Rich, and drummer Roger Cox, under the name No Grey Faith, pays tribute to the music of his late ex-bandmate with Secrets All Told (The Songs of Sandy Denny). The record understandably concentrates on Denny's post-Fairport work, considering that they recorded just four of her tunes during her first stint with the band, though there are acknowledgments - instrumental and vocal intros and interludes - to her signature song, "Who Knows Where the Time Goes," along with Matthews' take on Unhalfbricking's "Autopsy." And though the selections are good ones, the difficulty with a project such as this is that you're dealing with a songwriter who was also a great singer, and whose voice is nearly inseparable from the material. That said, Matthews and Gilmour, who has a lovely, Joan Baez quality, do an admirable job, though it's tough hearing another female voice doing these songs without unfair comparisons. Gilmour is brave to try, and does a nice enough job, though her pristine folkiness occasionally betrays some of the more delicate qualities in Denny's writing. It's a bit easier to accept Matthews' vocal, which suits his choices quite well. His cuts, especially, "Rising for the Moon" and "Bushes and Briars," are as successful as you could hope, which is a testament, not only to his voice, but to his understanding of Denny's material. Matthews has always had a reputation for his tasteful, but distinctive interpretations of others' work, and the band's acoustic-based arrangements here, for the most part, have that same mix of reverence and personality. Secrets All Told, which is available from his Perfect Pitch label, is recommended to fans of Ian Matthews, but Sandy Denny devotees should also be pleased with this loving tribute.
Brett Hartenbach para AMG.

Ian Matthews
Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 1971 
BACK FROM a promotional tour of the States, Ian Matthews sat in a West End Wimpy Bar pondering his next move. He knows precisely what he wants - freedom of movement, and environment in which to create and a niche in which to perform. But Ian, the latest enigma of British rock, plainly admitted that he was at a loss to know where to start. "I really want to work but I don't know how I'm going to be able to - and I've never been in this position of not knowing what I've wanted to do before.
"I really don't know where I stand now in this country, and whenever my name's mentioned I just don't know what people think; for instance I played the Reading Festival and the response was almost nil, so that's why I want to go back to the States".
This is a further example of Britain failing to recognise a genius on its own doorstep. And yet Ian seemed far from depressed, for the tour was extremely successful for a first timer and he and guitarists Andy Roberts and Richard Thompson all thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Ian himself picked up a few hundred albums, and these he planned to go through with a fine tooth-comb in search of songs (his ability to discover and interpret excellent songs by often unknown artists such as Wildweeds' Al Anderson is just one his many talents).
But once again he proved to be something of an enigmatic figure because his old backing group Southern Comfort were across the Atlantic at the same time and were invariably billed as "Matthews' Southern Comfort" - and thus people would congratulate Ian on shows that he had never in fact done.
"The tour," he explained, "was basically designed to see whether there was any hope for me over there, but I don't think the agent was really into what I was doing. I originally wanted to do the Troubadour and the Bitter End and then come back, but as it was we were being booked into all sorts of rock clubs, and I didn't know too much about the club thing there"
Andy, Richard and Ian set out for the States a couple of months ago, and whilst in New York they acquired a roadie who later turned out to be an extremely competent bass player - but Ian was more enthusiastic about the songs he discovered than anything else.
"I found a really good Dino Valente song and also a Dylan song which no-one else has ever done because there's this friend of mine in New York who used to go to school with Dylan, and he just has so many Dylan tapes that he let me play through. I also discovered a really good band which has been put together by Randy Meisner who used to play bass with Poco - but there are very few good unknown bands in America it seems".
But Ian's problem is that his band was formed specifically for touring, and now he is back on his own, and wondering what to do. "I've thought of all the possible choices; I'm not really good enough to play by myself and I'm not sure if I want to join a band, so the only other alternative is to get other people to work with me; but I'm still not even sure if I want to work electrically or acoustically and I'm not sure if I want all the hustle of a band again.
"In fact I just don't see any future for me in this country. I think when Vertigo signed me they expected another 'Woodstock', but that was just an off-chance thing anyway and I don't figure I'll get down to doing it again. But even then I was just doing something I wanted to do - going my own sweet way, but I didn't know how to deal with it then. It was a drag that after 'Woodstock' everyone was expecting a follow up and all that bullshit, so Philips waited until I'd got to the States and then issued a single from the album."
Right now things are looking bright for a return to the States, for whilst in Chicago Ian discovered a brilliant electric band called Wilderness Road, and they are keen to work with him on his next tour. But again there's a problem, for owing to domestic commitments (Ian got married this week) he wants to complete the tour this year - and he hasn't any management or representatives in the States whatsoever at the moment.
Nevertheless, on a brighter note, Ian has returned to complete his new album which was already nearing the final stages of production before he departed. He has given the album a completely fresh reappraisal and consequently scrapped some of the material - but he is very enthusiastic with what he has retained.
"I think that may be I do other people's songs better than I do my own," he says. Nevertheless he has re-recorded his own 'Please Be My Friend' from the very first album which Dion is also recording. Ian worked on the same bill as Dion at the Bitter End, and he is the first artist to record any of Ian's songs which delights him tremendously. Ian is also recording Eric Anderson's 'Close The Door Lightly', a song by Moby Grape's Peter Lewis entitled 'Right Before My Eyes' and his own composition 'Morning Song'. But before that there will be a single, and Ian plans to record a version of 'Da Doo Ron Ron' which started out as a joke in the States.
"Vertigo were hustling for a single so I thought I'd do something I wanted to do rather than have them take another track from the album," he says. And so in the next month or so Ian will be back in the studios with Quiver - "the best band we've got" - to complete his album, at the same time forming his own publishing company.
And whilst talking about Ian's songs, remember 'The Ballad Of Obray Ramsay', the story of the old timely banjo picker? Well Obray was doing sessions in person up in New York and he called Ian in the hope of a rendezvous. "He really dug the song, and I think it's one of the best things I've ever written," Ian remarked. "But we were moving on next day and I was unable to go and see him which was a real drag".
© Jerry Gilbert, 1971
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