Like an Old Fashioned Waltz
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Like an Old Fashioned Waltz is the third solo album by English folk rock singer Sandy Denny, released in June 1974.[1]
Although Denny originally hoped to tour in support of the album, difficulties with Island Records delayed its release from autumn 1973 to June 1974, by which time she had rejoined Fairport Convention.
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 or The Who, 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.[2]
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.[3]
Like an Old Fashioned Waltz features covers of two jazz songs remembered from her father's record collection:
Production
Recording
Work began on the album whilst Denny was still promoting her previous LP
After a tour of Europe throughout June and July, sessions for the album resumed at
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 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 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
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music |   [7] |
The album did not chart in the UK or elsewhere. In a contemporary review for The Village Voice, music critic Robert Christgau gave Like an Old Fashioned Waltz a "C+" and said that, apart from the "masterpiece" in "Solo", it is a "sluggish album".[8]
In a retrospective review, AllMusic'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.[4] 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."[4] Hartenbach went on to call the album's opening track, "Solo", one of Denny's "best songs."[4]
Live band and abandoned tour
Several weeks after Like an Old Fashioned Waltz had been recorded, Sandy Denny married longtime boyfriend and bandmate
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. 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
Track listing
All tracks credited to Sandy Denny unless otherwise stated
- Side one
- "Solo"
- "Like an Old Fashioned Waltz"
- "Doris Fisher, Fred Fisher)
- "Friends"
- "Carnival"
- Side two
- "Dark the Night"
- "At the End of the Day"
- "Until the Real Thing Comes Along" (Sammy Cahn, Saul Chaplin, 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 – acoustic guitar (1/7)
- Diz Disley – acoustic guitar (3/8)
- Jerry Donahue – electric guitar (4/7), acoustic guitar (5)
- Jean Roussel – organ (1)
- Ian Armit – piano (3/8)[10]
- John (Rabbit) Bundrick – piano (5/9), electric piano (6), clavinet (6)
- Dave Pegg – bass (1-2/4-5/9)
- Danny Thompson – double bass (3/8)
- Pat Donaldson– bass (6/7)
- Dave Mattacks – drums (1-5/8-9)
- Gerry Conway – drums (6/7)
- Alan Skidmore – saxophone (8)
- Harry Robinson– string arrangements (1/2/4-7/9)
- Bob Leaper – brass arrangements (3/8)
References
- ^ a b c Heylin, Clinton. Record Collector (109): 66.
{{cite journal}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ISBN 1-900924-35-8p159.
- ^ Sandy Denny: Like an Old Fashioned Waltz Information
- ^ a b c d Hartbenbach, Brett. "Like an Old Fashioned Waltz – Sandy Denny". AllMusic. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
- ^ This version was subsequently issued and is currently available as a bonus track on the Like an Old Fashioned Waltz re-mastered edition
- ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved 24 February 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
- ISBN 978-0195313734.
- Village Voice. New York. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
- ^ This session is commercially available on the Live at the BBC boxset where the band perform Solo and Dark the Night.
- ^ https://mainlynorfolk.info/sandy.denny/songs/whisperinggrass.html
