Sandy Denny November 11, 1977
Fairfield Hall, Croydon, England
Personnel:
Sandy Denny - vocals, piano, guitar
Trevor Lucas - guitar
Rob Hendry - guitar
Pete Wilsher - pedal steel guitar
Pat Donaldson - bass
Dave Mattacks - drums
Two source composite utilizing:
Audience recording - Source 1:
Alan Bershaw's 2nd generation 1/4" Scotch 150 reel @ 3.75ips, acquired in 1978 and verified to be the Croydon performance on November 11, 1977. This recording is inferior quality to source 2, but has the benefit of being complete. This source restores all of the content missing from source 2, including Sandy's missing song introductions, her introduction of the band members, between song tuning and the missing start of songs that begin in progress on source 2. It also contains Sandy's dedication of "The Lady" to her daughter Georgia, which is a sweet moment. (Note: This is the source tape that has circulated for decades in varying degrees of quality, with most copies degraded from analog cassette generations, incorrect dolby settings and questionable processing. This reel suffers from none of those issues.) 3.75 ips reel played back on a modified Revox A-77 -> Pro Tools (tracking only) -> wav 44.1/16 on March 27, 2005.
Audience recording - Source 2:
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-nfo.php?id=376198
Uploaded to DIME and incorrectly identified as being from Glasgow, Scotland on November 14, 1977. Incomplete source with the mastering deck apparently paused between each song to save tape. This source was loaded into Pro Logic and was speed corrected by an increase of 5.025% and then pitch corrected -93 cents. These speed and pitch corrected files supply most of the song content. Despite being incomplete, once this source was speed and pitch corrected, it is a significant upgrade in quality to source 1. It is likely no more than a second generation source tape and is NOT the same recording as source 1. A big THANK YOU to Uncle Boko for discovering and uploading this new source to DIME on October 2, 2011.
Speed and pitch correction and composite of both sources assembled in Logic Pro by Alan Bershaw October 19-22, 2011. Total time of this composite 78:34.
1 Solo 05:23
2 North Star Grassman And The Ravens 03:52
3 I’m A Dreamer 04:48
4 Gold Dust 04:11
5 Nothing More 04:34
6 John The Gun 04:43
7 -band introductions 01:21
8 The Sea 05:32
9 It’ll Take A Long Time 05:01
10 Tomorrow Is A Long Time 04:06
11 The Lady 04:15
12 Wretched Wilbur 03:12
13 I Wish I Was A Fool For You (For
Shame Of Doing Wrong) 04:43
14 Stranger To Himself 03:50
15 One More Chance 08:06
16 Take Me Away 04:53
encore
17 Who Knows Where The Time Goes 05:55
Note: Other than speed and pitch correction to source 2 and a fade in and out at beginning and end of the performance, there is no additional sound processing applied to these recordings. Despite the fact that Sandy was suffering from the flu (which she states several times during this performance), her voice is still remarkably beautiful here and I've always enjoyed this band. Even after decades of working first hand with world-class singers, nobody's voice has the mesmerizing effect on me that Sandy Denny's voice has. I assembled this composite for my own selfish enjoyment, but I hope many others get an opportunity to enjoy it, too. Alan