[2016-04-22] Sandy Denny "I've Always Kept A Unicorn: The Acoustic" 2CD set (Island UK)

Linda · **Posted:** Tue Feb 02, 2016 4:18 pm

Description
I’ve Always Kept A Unicorn is the best album that the late Sandy Denny never made. Set for April 22 release via Island/Universal Music, the country’s leading music company, this 40-track/2CD set, comprised of demos, live, radio and TV recordings, captures the sublimely gifted British singer-songwriter at her most intimate as she runs through stripped down arrangements of songs she performed with the Strawbs, Fairport Convention, Fotheringay and The Bunch, along with material from her four solo albums.

Exclusive to this masterful set are three demos recorded at Richard Branson’s Manor Studios in December 1971 for the 1972 rock and roll covers album, The Bunch Rock On; alongside Love Made A Fool Of You and Learning The Game by one of her teenage heroes, Buddy Holly, she sings a charming duet with Linda Thompson on Phil Everly’s When Will I Be Loved. The set comes complete with sleeve notes by Mick Houghton, the author of the critically lauded 2015 Sandy Denny biography, I’ve Always Kept A Unicorn.

All those who knew Sandy Denny well, and who worked closely with her, recall how brilliant she was as a solo acoustic performer and many welcome this compilation as fitting homage to her unique and true talent.

“Sandy was, as are our most brilliant performers, much better solo; I so wish she had recorded a solo album, and told her so.” (Linda Thompson)

Tracklist
[CD1]
1. Who Knows Where the Time Goes (acoustic version) – The Strawbs & Sandy Denny
2. You Never Wanted Me (Saga album version) – Sandy Denny
3. Milk and Honey (re-recorded version) – Sandy Denny
4. Autopsy (demo) – Fairport Convention
5. Now And Then (demo) – Fairport Convention
6. She Moves Through the Fair (acoustic master) – Fairport Convention
7. Fotheringay (acoustic master) – Fairport Convention
8. The Pond and the Stream (demo) – Fotheringay
9. Winter Winds (demo) – Fotheringay
10. Wild Mountain Thyme (BBC Sounds of the Seventies) – Fotheringay
11. Lowlands of Holland (BBC Folk On One) – Fotheringay
12. Wretched Wilbur (demo) – Sandy Denny
13. The Optimist (demo) – Sandy Denny
14. Late November (BBC One In Ten) – Sandy Denny
15. North Star Grassman and the Ravens (BBC Paris Theatre) – Sandy Denny
16. Next Time Around (BBC Paris Theatre) – Sandy Denny
17. John The Gun (BBC Paris Theatre) – Sandy Denny
18. Love’s Made A Fool Of You (demo) – The Bunch Previously Unreleased
19. When Will I Be Loved (demo) – The Bunch Previously Unreleased
20. Learning the Game (demo) – The Bunch Previously Unreleased

[CD2]
1. Quiet Joys of Brotherhood (demo) – Sandy Denny
2. After Halloween (demo) – Sandy Denny
3. The Lady (demo # 2) – Sandy Denny
4. Bushes and Briars (live – BBC Bob Harris Show ) – Sandy Denny
5. The Music Weaver (demo) – Sandy Denny
6. No End (demo – piano version) – Sandy Denny
7. Solo (BBC John Peel Session – acoustic version) – Sandy Denny
8. Like and Old Fashioned Waltz (BBC John Peel Session – acoustic version)
9. King and Queen of England (demo) – Sandy Denny
10. Rising For The Moon (demo) – Fairport Convention
11. One More Chance (demo) – Fairport Convention
12. Take away the load (demo) – Fairport Convention
13. What Is True? (demo) – Fairport Convention
14. Blackwaterside (live on Marc Time) – Sandy Denny
15. No More Sad Refrains (live on Marc Time – Sandy Denny
16. Full Moon (demo) – Sandy Denny
17. I’m A Dreamer (demo # 2) – Sandy Denny
18. By The Time It Gets Dark (studio demo 1976) – Sandy Denny
19. One Way Donkey Ride (acoustic master 1976) – Sandy Denny
20. Moments (acoustic version) – Sandy Denny

Amazon USA
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01B5GM1YA/?tag=imwan-20

Amazon UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01B5GM1YA/?tag=imwan-21

Rokin Robin of Locksley · 20 Oct 2007

Thanks Linda!!

It sounds like this could be a collection of demos from Sandy's previous box sets, and bonus tracks from deluxe reissues. Nice to have them all in one place.

Lots of Sandy fans prefer the demo versions of her songs without (in some cases) the over-production. Just her and her guitar, piano, very sweet...

Rick A · 23 Jul 2006

Sounds very interesting. Having a wealthy set of recordings from Sandy this looks like a very fine edition.
I'll be keeping my eye on this.

Rick A.

Rick Peterson · **Joined:** 23 Jan 2007 **Posts:** 388

I prefer the versions without the strings and/or rock band, too. I love the 5th demo disc on that 5-CD "Boxful of Treasures" on the Fledg'ling label. I probably have most of these tracks already, but I'll pick this up if the price is right. I see it's on the UMC label, is that an import? Is it Universal? The US Amazon link didn't work...

Linda · **Posted:** Thu Feb 04, 2016 9:05 pm

Rick Peterson wrote:

I prefer the versions without the strings and/or rock band, too. I love the 5th demo disc on that 5-CD "Boxful of Treasures" on the Fledg'ling label. I probably have most of these tracks already, but I'll pick this up if the price is right. I see it's on the UMC label, is that an import? Is it Universal? The US Amazon link didn't work...

Rick,

Yes, UMC is Universal UK. (See the label noted in the thread title.)

The Amazon USA link is working yet, but that URL is where the release will be listed when the page goes live. (That's why it currently says "Available soon".) The Amazon UK link is already live for pre-orders.

Rick A · 23 Jul 2006

This is really looking good. One of the greatest voices in folk/rock music. To hear these tracks stripped down is really exciting for me. I will be getting this.

Rick A.

The Human Top · **Joined:** 29 Jan 2011 **Posts:** 1114

I'll be getting this as well. I love her more minimal work--just a voice and piano or guitar.

Linda · **Posted:** Fri Feb 05, 2016 3:58 pm

Bump: Robin brought us the tracklist and a more detailed description, and I've moved his information into the first post.

Rick Peterson · **Joined:** 23 Jan 2007 **Posts:** 388

That tracklisting indicates a lot of material I've never heard; hopefully, on the unfamiliar stuff, the sound quality is good and it's not all mono.

Rokin Robin of Locksley · 20 Oct 2007

28 days left to listen: BBC Radio 2 documentary on Sandy, repeat of 2008 1 hour special: this is REALLY good !!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0785bg8

Another chance to hear Bob Harris celebrate the life and music of Sandy Denny, a singer and songwriter who was at the very heart of the birth of British folk rock. It was first broadcast in April 2008 and marked the 30th anniversary of her death.

The programme explores her early years, the two periods spent as a member of Fairport Convention, her solo work, the circumstances surrounding her death and the legacy of both her songs and recorded material.

The documentary contains exclusive interviews with Robert Plant, who talks about Sandy's duet on Led Zeppelin's The Battle Of Evermore, Dave Cousins of The Strawbs, Richard Thompson, Steeleye Span's Maddy Prior, Fairport Convention members Dave Pegg and Simon Nicol, her recording engineer Jon Wood, Joe Boyd and Linde Nijland, a Dutch folk singer who recorded an album of Sandy's songs. It also includes a BBC archive interview of Sandy herself, along with a wide selection of music from her Fairport Convention, Fotheringay and solo albums.

Release date: 1 April 2008
28 days left to listen

(thanks to the Sandy Denny List Yahoo group !!)

Geff R. · 27 Sep 2006

I'm wondering if only the 3 mentioned demos are exclusive; or if more of it is.

Kid Bailey · 16 Jul 2006

I think only the Bunch demos are previously unreleased. However, it may be some things are only otherwise available on the 19 disc set.
As I don't have that, I'll be getting this.

Rick A · 23 Jul 2006

My CD set arrived yesterday. On tap for this weekends listening.

Rick A.

Greg Carrier · 25 Nov 2006

This is as good as I hoped it would be. I'm surprised at how much of the second disc is her and piano rather than guitar.

[2016-04-22] Sandy Denny "I've Always Kept A Unicorn: The Acoustic" 2CD set (Island UK)

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