65 f Sandy For Sure
A show called The Lady: A Homage To Sandy Denny took to the road recently. Simon Joneswas on hand for the preparations and the first night in Liverpool.
“I
want to change the way people perceive Sandy Denny and her music. I’m not interested in recreat- ing the past, I want to give her a contemporary presence,” says Andrew Batt. It’s early evening in Liverpool’s bohemian quarter, clustered around the
Philharmonic Hall. People are spilling out of cafes and restaurants and talk of Sandy Denny is everywhere. I catch the conversation at a table nearby: two couples are discussing the merits of her albums and chatter eagerly about The Lady which premières here in just a short while. Another group mention that dreaded word ‘tribute’. Tribute? I feel like inviting them to pistols at dawn… Tribute?! Sandy Denny doesn’t need a tribute act, God forbid any- one should try and fashion that, no matter how well-intentioned.
Fortunately Mr Batt has clarity and clear judgment on his
side. “We wanted to reach a new audience with the show. Sandy herself, if she had survived, wouldn’t have stood still so there is a future for her music; you can’t preserve it exactly. I first heard of her listening to Kate Bush’s homage from Never Forever. I didn’t come across her with Fairport. I dug backwards so I think I under- stand her better.”
Currently there’s no one who understands Sandy Denny more than Andrew Batt, the man behind a blueprint concert back in 2008 where the spirit of Alexandra Elene MacLean was celebrated by a cross-generational roster of artists. Since then he collated the mam- moth 19-CD box set of everything she ever released and plenty she didn’t, gave her a permanent web presence and spruced up her solo albums, adding a windfall of material to each. He speculates that her currency has never been higher and you can see his point.
“We left it open for artists to interpret her songs in their way,” adds arranger and musical director, Bellowhead’s Peter Flood. “I’d done basic arrangements of the songs, but nothing was set. My issue was how to make a two-and-a-half hour show from the work of an artist who used so many moods and atmospheres, yet had to fill big venues. I think what we’ve got is cool and seductive.”
‘What we’ve got’ is the extended logic of taking a caravan of salutation on the road, nine dates ending up at The Lowry in Manchester, one gig filmed by the BBC for posterity, involving a rich cross-section of contributors and key players. Who were they? Maddy Prior, Lavinia Blackwell (Trembling Bells), Thea Gilmore, Dave Swarbrick, Sam Carter, PP Arnold, Green Gartside, Blair Dun- lop, Ben Nicholls, Joan Wasser (Joan As Policewoman) and a huge chunk of Bellowhead as the house band. Crucially though, Jerry Donahue was a key addition to the mix.
Pete Flood: “As a reference point he was invaluable, he’s the one musician who worked with Sandy so often in bands, in the studio and on stage, who collaborated at such a depth. He gave me a perspective on the material from someone who knew her so well on every level.”
It’s a huge ask. They’ve had a couple of days on Merseyside to pull the show together after, Andrew reveals, “ I wrote a list of who I thought would be interesting given Sandy’s material. It was also crucial they could collaborate.”
“The simpler the better,” chips in Mr. Flood. “I wrote an email asking how each thought they might approach the songs. Maddy for example was very clear, she had her own interpretations in mind; Joan Wasser was quirky, she’s left-field; Green Gartside wanted small and acoustic arrangements… everyone was individu- al and brought something distinctive.”
There was also the not-inconsiderable matter of Thea
Gilmore’s album of settings of Sandy’s final stash of lyrics, Don’t Stop Singing. The resulting Island album garnered serious radio play – even daytime Radio 2 – for songs bearing the name Denny.
Maddy Prior
Photo: John Chase
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