Sandy Denny died less than a year after recording "Rendezvous" and you can hear the struggle on most of this record. I rarely reach for it, unless it's to price it and sell it. But then I always decide against that once I see the tracklist. That is exactly what happened yesterday, only this time I didn't just slide it back on the shelf. I listened to it.
When held up against Denny's work with Fairport Convention or her first few solo records, "Rendezvous" will always disappoint. It's a bit overdone, and Denny's voice is thicker, at times sounding a bit like Joni Mitchell. But I think the album deserves more than the mostly mediocre reviews it's received over the years. Maybe the cover of Elton's "Candle In The Wind" just a few years after its release was a bit misguided. But if "Rendezvous" was the only recording Sandy Denny ever made, I have no doubt that it would be considered a classic, just for the three tracks posted here.
5 comments:
A&M put out a compilation of Denny in 2000 using "No More Sad Refrains" as its title track. I don't usually go for comps unless I'm way late to the party, but this one is great, covering Fairport, Fotheringay and her solo albums (but not Strawbs, another A&M band!).
I love Sandy and am still pissed off that she didn't live to explore/bring to fruition her talents. My fave of her albums, Like an Old Fashioned Waltz, hinted at directions she may have gone. Rendezvous feels a bit like a place holder while she got her shit together; which, sadly, she never did.
That's an accurate description of the album, Sal. I've always enjoyed it overall - I Wish I Was A Fool... is one of her best. Agree with Tinpot, Waltz is my fave.
She was such a treasure.
Randy
By 1977, I'd moved into Punk territory. Until just now, I didn't even know "Rendezvous" existed. What I'm hearing here is pretty great. I'm not disappointed, but pleasantly surprised. Richard and Linda's "For Shame Of Doing Wrong" is excellent, and would have been a fine addition to Fairport Convention's 1975 "Rising For The Moon", their last album to feature her.
Definitely a real loss. I too like An Old Fashioned Waltz, tinpot! Rendezvous is kind of typical of her scattershot career and those tracks you chose are peaks of course! Such a talent.
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