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owever, in revisiting the master reels for this latest box set, the idea that Sandy lacked control over her music is a myth that can be expelled. Whilst listen- ing to the reels of studio recordings, it became clear to Andrew Batt that Sandy knew exactly what she wanted when she was recording: “The sessions were always very joyous and buoyant but Sandy nonetheless had a clear concept of how her songs should sound, and worked hard on her arrangements – being particularly interested in the texture of sound a band could give her. Trevor was also very good at helping her to achieve this.”
Bambi Ballard also paints a picture of a very assured musician: “Sandy didn’t really do ‘outtakes’; she was like Henry Ford, who never shot more than he need- ed. Sandy would know within a few bars that it wasn’t what she wanted, and would stop singing right there.” From a fellow musician’s perspective, Jerry Donahue sug- gests that Sandy’s less formal studio takes may well paint a more faithful picture of her allure: “Sandy was at her best, when she was not under pressure to deliver. When she was home alone with her guitar or piano, she could lose herself in the cre- ative process of composing and also of singing. In my experience with her in the studio, she was at her most emotive, spon- taneous and carefree when she sang live as we all played. As these performances were supposedly ‘guide’ vocals to help all of us know where we were in the song, she felt no pressure. It’s never quite as good later, under the headphones, when
you’re doing your overdub under a micro- scope. You’re also very aware of the clock ticking all the while and it just feels too much like work.”
Some might argue against this latest project, suggesting that Sandy released the sound and style that she wanted peo- ple to hear. Andrew Batt certainly provides a compelling case to counter such argu- ments: “I think that as musical fashions change we have come to appreciate that Sandy’s work is best appreciated in her pared down home recordings, BBC perfor- mances, and more simple, unembellished arrangements. Listening to the master reels for myself has been a wonderful experience. Sandy had a natural, instinctu- al musicianship, that is often best demon- strated in these more spontaneous studio recordings before they were re-recorded or excessively produced. So although she never issued these recordings, I think it fair to say that some of them are amongst her best work, surpassing the finished ver- sions. Trevor was a good producer, but sometimes didn’t know when to stop; and who’s to say that if they were alive today, they wouldn’t look back at Rendezvous, for example, and think ‘Didn’t we overdo it a little?’. By issuing some of these home recordings and alternative takes, we are actually going back to the purity of the original arrangements where Sandy’s bril- liance really shines through.”
Robbed of the opportunity to rein- vent herself and her songs as music tastes developed over the decades, this box set provides the ultimate draw to Sandy’s
work, a legacy that doubtlessly bears influ- ences from many different genres, yet written with a language that is undeniably English. Aside from the present surge of interest in the English tradition, Sandy’s work could be seen to represent a degree of Englishness that no longer exists in our increasingly homogenised western culture, and at a time of heightened interest in English cultural identity, the presentation of Sandy’s work to a new generation may well be perfectly timed.
Bambi Ballard attests to the broad appeal enjoyed by Sandy, and the poten- tial for this appeal to persist: “I remember once talking about her with Joe Strum- mer: he had never met her… I got the impression he was scared of meeting her, he admired her so. To him, she was not just a singer who wrote good songs, she was a poet. I think that one of the reasons she has endured and grown in stature over the years is the content of her songs: her lyrics are mysterious, elusive, magical and deeply romantic; some have the melancholy of Tennyson’s Lady Of Shalott, and Sandy was similarly preoccupied with isolation and loneliness, and the inex- orableness of fate. Her poetry, like all good poetry, is timeless.”
The final word might best belong to Jerry Donahue, who offers a more inti- mate insight into Sandy’s enduring appeal, “She was just Sandy: a very warm, compas- sionate and unassuming person who did- n’t feel like she as an artist was anything particularly special. And for that, we loved her all the more.”
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Photo: Keith Morris
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