''Like an Old Fashioned Waltz'' is the third solo album by English
folk rock
Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...
singer
Sandy Denny
Alexandra Elene MacLean Denny (6 January 1947 – 21 April 1978) was an English singer who was lead singer of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. She has been described as "the pre-eminent British folk rock singer".
After briefly w ...
, released in June 1974.
Although Denny originally hoped to tour in support of the album, difficulties with
Island Records
Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...
delayed its release from autumn 1973 to June 1974, by which time she had rejoined
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Martin Lamble after their first gig.) They started o ...
.
Background
The 1972 album ''
Sandy'' failed to cross over to mass market success, a fact which greatly disappointed Denny; she had recently decided that she desired to be received as a notable music act along the ranks of
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...
or
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...
, two bands with which Denny had performed as a guest vocalist. Denny decided that in order to establish her solo career, a record appealing to a new audience was required.
Composition
The songs on ''Like an Old Fashioned Waltz'' saw Denny refining her songwriting craft, on a nostalgic panoramic song-cycle detailing many of her personal preoccupations: loss, loneliness, fear of the dark, the passing of time and the changing seasons.
''Like an Old Fashioned Waltz'' features covers of two jazz songs remembered from her father's record collection:
The Inkspots
The Ink Spots were an American pop vocal group who gained international fame in the 1930s and 1940s. Their unique musical style presaged the rhythm and blues and rock and roll musical genres, and the subgenre doo-wop. The Ink Spots were widely ...
' "
Whispering Grass
"Whispering Grass (Don't Tell the Trees)" is a popular song written by Fred Fisher and his daughter Doris Fisher. The song was first recorded by Erskine Hawkins & His Orchestra in 1940. The Ink Spots featuring Bill Kenny also recorded it the sam ...
" and
Fats Waller
Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, violinist, singer, and comedic entertainer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz pi ...
's "
Until The Real Thing Comes Along
"(It Will Have to Do) Until the Real Thing Comes Along" is a popular song first published in 1936.
Background
In 1931, Alberta Nichols wrote the music and Mann Holiner wrote the words for a song titled "Till the Real Thing Comes Along" which was ...
". Around this time, it was rumored that Denny was considering recording an album solely consisting of jazz standards (or possibly an entire cover album of songs written by The Inkspots), but the record never materialized.
Production
Recording
Work began on the album whilst Denny was still promoting her previous LP ''
Sandy''. The first track recorded was "No End" at
Walthamstow Assembly Hall
Waltham Forest Town Hall (formerly Walthamstow Town Hall) is a municipal building located in Walthamstow, East London. The town hall, which is the headquarters of Waltham Forest London Borough Council, is a Grade II Listed Building.
History
...
on 3 December 1972 in a solo version accompanying herself on the piano (later abandoned in favour of a new recording with a band and strings). Denny embarked on a month-long tour of the US in April 1973, stopping at
A&M Records
A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...
' studios to record four songs; "Friends, Solo, At the End of the Day" and the new version of "No End" prior to a week-long residency at
The Troubador in Los Angeles.
After a tour of Europe throughout June and July, sessions for the album resumed at
Sound Techniques
Sound Techniques was a recording studio in Chelsea, London that was operational between 1965 and 1976. Housed in a former dairy, it was founded by recording engineers Geoff Frost and John Wood. The studio became well known as the place where man ...
in London in August where the remaining tracks were recorded; "Carnival, Like an Old Fashioned Waltz, Dark the Night" and the two jazz standards "
Whispering Grass
"Whispering Grass (Don't Tell the Trees)" is a popular song written by Fred Fisher and his daughter Doris Fisher. The song was first recorded by Erskine Hawkins & His Orchestra in 1940. The Ink Spots featuring Bill Kenny also recorded it the sam ...
" and "
Until the Real Thing Comes Along
"(It Will Have to Do) Until the Real Thing Comes Along" is a popular song first published in 1936.
Background
In 1931, Alberta Nichols wrote the music and Mann Holiner wrote the words for a song titled "Till the Real Thing Comes Along" which was ...
".
Harry Robinson added string arrangements to many of the tracks.
In addition to singing, Denny played acoustic guitar, piano and electric piano on "Like an Old Fashioned Waltz". Denny's Fairport Convention bandmate
Richard Thompson performed lead guitar on "Solo" and "At The End of the Day".
Album cover
The album was originally issued in an embossed
gatefold
A gatefold cover or gatefold LP is a form of packaging for LP records that became popular in the mid-1960s. A gatefold cover, when folded, is the same size as a standard LP cover (i.e., a 12½ inch, or 32.7 centimetre square). The larger gatefo ...
sleeve styled in the colours described in the album's title track (primrose, yellow and velvet green) and designed to look like an antique plate, with a floral motif drawn by Denny herself. The cover photograph by
Gered Mankowitz
Gered Mankowitz (born 3 August 1946) is an English photographer who focused his career in the music industry. He has worked with a range of artists from The Rolling Stones to Jimi Hendrix, and in other divisions of the photography industry, i ...
depicts Denny in an old style image in the Edwardian style. The album's lyrics were reproduced in the gatefold.
A single of "Whispering Grass / Friends" was released in a sepia picture sleeve in the style of the album cover.
Release
Reception and reviews
The album did not chart in the UK or elsewhere. In a contemporary review for ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
'', music critic
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
gave ''Like an Old Fashioned Waltz'' a "C+" and said that, apart from the "masterpiece" in "Solo", it is a "sluggish album".
In a retrospective review,
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
's Brett Hartenbach gave the album three-and-a-half out of five stars, saying "Denny expands on the more polished moments that her previous work, ''Sandy'', had suggested.
The tone throughout most of the record is melancholy and personal, with gentle piano, rich strings, and barely a trace of her British folk roots."
Hartenbach went on to call the album's opening track, "Solo", one of Denny's "best songs."
Live band and abandoned tour
Several weeks after ''Like an Old Fashioned Waltz'' had been recorded, Sandy Denny married longtime boyfriend and bandmate
Trevor Lucas
Trevor George Lucas (25 December 1943 – 4 February 1989) 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 ...
on 20 September 1973 at Fulham Register Office. Shortly afterward, she put together a band comprising
Pat Donaldson
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 Ca ...
, Hughie Burns and Willie Murray, with intent to do an extensive tour in support of the album. The group recorded a session for BBC Radio on 14 November 1973 and also played a brief four-date tour around that time.
[This session is commercially available on the Live at the BBC boxset where the band perform ''Solo'' and ''Dark the Night''.]
However, the release of ''Like an Old Fashioned Waltz'' was delayed from Fall 1973 to June 1974, by which time Denny had rejoined
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Martin Lamble after their first gig.) They started o ...
. Several songs from the album were regularly played during the Fairport tour that year.
Legacy
Songs from ''Like an Old Fashioned Waltz'' have been covered by a number of notable artists. Following Denny's death, Fairport Convention has sporadically performed the songs "Solo" and "It'll Take a Long Time". "Like an Old Fashioned Waltz" was recorded by
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She has released dozens of albums and singles over the course of her career and has won 14 Grammys, the Polar Music Prize, and numerous other honors, including ...
on her 1983 album ''
White Shoes
''White Shoes'' is a studio album by Emmylou Harris, released in 1983. The album includes a rockish version of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend", a country remake of the Donna Summer hit "On the Radio", and a version of Sandy Denny's "Like an O ...
''.
Eric Johnson Eric Johnson may refer to:
Music
*Eric Johnson (guitarist) (born 1954) an American guitarist and recording artist
* Eric D. Johnson (born 1976), member of multiple indie-rock bands including Fruit Bats, The Shins and Califone
Politics
* Eric Joh ...
and
Susan Cowsill
Susan Claire Cowsill (born May 20, 1959; Canton, Ohio) is a musician, vocalist and songwriter.
The Cowsills
Cowsill began her musical career with the Cowsills in 1967; she is the youngest member of the Cowsills and the only daughter of parent ...
covered "At the End of the Day" for the 1995 compilation ''True Voices''.
Fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...
covered "Solo" on his 1993 album ''
Songs from the Mirror
''Songs from the Mirror'' is the third solo album by Scottish singer-songwriter Fish, released in 1993 as his final album for Polydor. It does not contain any original material; instead it is a cover album featuring Fish's versions of songs by ...
''.
Track listing
All tracks credited to Sandy Denny unless otherwise stated
;Side one
#"Solo"
#"Like an Old Fashioned Waltz"
#"
Whispering Grass
"Whispering Grass (Don't Tell the Trees)" is a popular song written by Fred Fisher and his daughter Doris Fisher. The song was first recorded by Erskine Hawkins & His Orchestra in 1940. The Ink Spots featuring Bill Kenny also recorded it the sam ...
" (
Doris Fisher,
Fred Fisher
Fred Fisher (born Alfred Breitenbach, September 30, 1875 – January 14, 1942) was a German-born American songwriter and Tin Pan Alley music publisher.
Biography
Fisher was born in Cologne, Germany. His parents were Max and Theodora Breitenba ...
)
#"Friends"
#"Carnival"
;Side two
#"Dark the Night"
#"At the End of the Day"
#"
Until the Real Thing Comes Along
"(It Will Have to Do) Until the Real Thing Comes Along" is a popular song first published in 1936.
Background
In 1931, Alberta Nichols wrote the music and Mann Holiner wrote the words for a song titled "Till the Real Thing Comes Along" which was ...
" (
Sammy Cahn
Samuel Cohen (June 18, 1913 – January 15, 1993), known professionally as Sammy Cahn, was an American lyricist, songwriter, and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premier ...
,
Saul Chaplin
Saul Chaplin (February 19, 1912 – November 15, 1997) was an American composer and musical director.
He was born Saul Kaplan in Brooklyn, New York.
He had worked on stage, screen and television since the days of Tin Pan Alley. In film, he won t ...
, L.E. Freeman)
#"No End"
The remastered CD version included four bonus tracks:
#"At the End of the Day" (Alternate take without strings)
#"King and Queen of England" (Demo recorded at Denny's home in Byfield 1974)
#"Like An Old Fashioned Waltz" (Live at the LA Troubadour 01/02/1975)
#"No End" (solo piano version recorded 03/12/1972)
Personnel
*Sandy Denny - lead vocals, piano (1/2/4), acoustic guitar (5/6), electric piano (9)
*
Richard Thompson - electric guitar (1/9)
*
Trevor Lucas
Trevor George Lucas (25 December 1943 – 4 February 1989) 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 ...
- acoustic guitar (1/7)
*
Diz Disley
William Charles "Diz" Disley (27 May 1931 – 22 March 2010) was an Anglo-Canadian jazz guitarist and banjoist. He is best known for his acoustic jazz guitar playing, strongly influenced by Django Reinhardt, for his contributions to the UK trad ...
- acoustic guitar (3/8)
*
Jerry Donahue
Jerry Donahue (born September 24, 1946, Manhattan, New York City) is an American guitarist and producer primarily known for his work in the British folk rock scene as a member of Fotheringay and Fairport Convention as well as being a member of ...
- electric guitar (4/7), acoustic guitar (5)
*
Jean Roussel
Jean Alain Roussel (born 1951 in Port Louis, Mauritius) is a Musician, Composer, Record Producer, Arranger, Educator and 'Music and Life Coach'.
He is best known for keyboard work from the 1970s through today, playing regularly with Cat Stev ...
- organ (1)
*Ian Armit - piano (3/8)
*
John (Rabbit) Bundrick - piano (5/9), electric piano (6), clavinet (6)
*
Dave Pegg
Dave Pegg (born 2 November 1947) is an English multi-instrumentalist and record producer, primarily a bass guitarist. He is the longest-serving member of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention and has been bassist with a number of folk ...
- bass (1-2/4-5/9)
*
Danny Thompson
Daniel Henry Edward Thompson (born 4 April 1939) is an English multi-instrumentalist best known as a double bassist. He has had a long musical career playing with a large variety of other musicians, particularly Richard Thompson and John Mart ...
- double bass (3/8)
*
Pat Donaldson
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 Ca ...
- bass (6/7)
*
Dave Mattacks
David James Mattacks (born 13 March 1948) is an English rock and folk drummer. Best known for his work with Fairport Convention, Mattacks has also worked both as a session musician and as a performing artist. Apart from playing the drums, he i ...
- drums (1-5/8-9)
*
Gerry Conway
Gerard Francis Conway Thomas, Roy. "Roy's Rostrum" ("Bullpen Bulletins") in '' Marvel Super-Heroes'' #43 and other Marvel Comics cover-dated May 1974. (born September 10, 1952) is an American comic book writer, comic book editor, screenwriter, t ...
- drums (6/7)
*
Alan Skidmore
Alan Richard James Skidmore (born 21 April 1942) is an English jazz tenor saxophonist, and the son of saxophonist Jimmy Skidmore.
Career
He was born in London, England. Skidmore began his professional career in his teens, and early in his care ...
- saxophone (8)
*
Harry Robinson - string arrangements (1/2/4-7/9)
*Bob Leaper - brass arrangements (3/8)
References
External links
Sandy Denny: Like an Old Fashioned Waltz Information
{{Authority control
Sandy Denny albums
Island Records albums
1974 albums
Albums produced by John Wood (record producer)
Waltzes
Albums recorded at A&M Studios