The North Star Grassman And The Ravens

The North Star Grassman and the Ravens is a 1971 album by English folk rock singer-songwriter Sandy Denny. Denny became a solo artist because her previous group Fotheringay dissolved when producer Joe Boyd left to take up a job at Warner Brothers in California; the band were then halfway through a second album that was left unfinished until 2008 when it came out as Fotheringay 2. Denny now launched into the sequence of solo albums which are her claim to be one of Britain's finest singer-songwriters. Built mostly around her own compositions, The North Star Grassman and the Ravens is distinguished by its elusive lyrics and unexpected harmonies. Two original compositions from the Fotheringay 2 sessions, Late November and John the Gun were re-worked for the album and supplemented by a further six self penned songs and two cover versions, Bob Dylan's Down in the Flood and Let's Jump the Broomstick, recorded by Brenda Lee. The first songs recorded were the traditional Blackwaterside and Let's Jump the Broomstick in March 1971 at Sound Techniques. Sessions continued the following month until the end of May at Island studios, where the album was completed with the cutting of the title track. A number of other songs were attempted and discarded during the course of the sessions including Honky Tonk Women, Walking the Floor Over You and the traditional Lord Bateman. Sessions had begun for the album with Andy Johns at the helm, but in the end the album was produced by Denny herself, current bandmate Richard Thompson and John Wood. It was John Wood who recommended the film-score arranger Harry Robinson to Denny, and he was brought in to add strings to Next Time Around and Wretched Wilbur; Robinson would also go on to add string arrangements to Denny's remaining solo albums. Highlights included the re-worked Late November, inspired by a dream and the death of Fairport band member Martin Lamble, Next Time Around a cryptogram about former boyfriend Jackson C. Frank (one of her many portraits in song) and the title track, where Denny uses a sea voyage as a metaphor for death, inspired by the loss of her friend 'Tigger' (Paul Bamber) who was in the Merchant Navy. The album was issued in a gatefold sleeve with a distinctive cover photograph of Denny reading tea leaves in an old fashioned apothecary shop. The image covered both the front and rear sleeve, and was taken by Keef (Macmillan) who went on to do a lot of work with another British female singer-songwriter: Kate Bush. A 2CD Deluxe Edition is scheduled for release by Island Records on 13 June 2011. It features the original album, outtakes and rare demos and a previously unreleased instrumental version of Lord Bateman.