Pop & Miscellaneous

Bridget St. John - BBC Radio 1968-1976 (2010)

2017-03-05T16:08:51Z

Bridget St. John - BBC Radio 1968-1976 (2010)

DISC 1

01. I Don’t Know If I Can Take It
02. Some Kind Of Beautiful
03. Jumblequeen
04. Fly High
05. Sparrowpit
06. Want To Be With You
07. Curious And Woolly
08. Head And Heart
09. Long Long Time
10. Come Up And See Me Sometime
11. Catch A Falling Star
12. Love Lie Easy
13. The River
14. Song To Keep You Company
15. Night In The City 
16. Lazarus
17. Curl Your Toes
18. Thank You For...

DISC 2:

01. Sparrowpit
02. Nancy Alice
03. Plain And Pearl
04. Make Me Whole
05. She Used To Play Harmonium
06. Crazy, Have You Eton
07. Peel 'Sleeping' anecdote
08. Bumper To Bumper
09. Leaves Of Lime
10. City Crazy
11. The Pebble And The Man
12. Back To Stay
13. Song For The Laird Of Connaught Hall, Pt.2
14. Jolie Madame - Duet with Kevin Ayers
15. The Spider And The Fly - Duet with Kevin Ayers
16. The Oyster And The Flying Fish - Duet with Kevin
17. To Be Without A Hitch
18. Ask Me No Questions
19. Many Happy Returns
20. Hello Again (Of Course)
21. Rochefort
22. Lizard Long Tongue Boy
23. The Present Song / Pig & Peel

Bridget St. John – guitar, vocals

Fans of singer, songwriter, and Brit-folk chanteuse Bridget St. John will no doubt be delighted by this double-disc, 41-cut selection of her BBC recordings with John Peel and other DJs from the late '60s through the mid-'70s. Peel was hosting Top Gear at this time, and took over the network’s Night Ride program from producer John Muir in 1968. St. John appeared on Night Ride first and that initial off-air rehearsal performance is here, near the end of disc two at her insistence, though its audio quality is not as high as most on this handsome package. The songs she chose for this performance are quite telling: “To Be Without a Hitch,” “Ask Me No Questions,” "Rochefort,” and “Lizard Long Tongue Boy,” to mention a few. This set is not arranged chronologically, which may piss off a few hardcore collectors and bibliophiles, but that’s what remote controls and multi-disc changers are for. It is arranged aesthetically -- the material on disc one is nearly flawlessly reproduced, while disc two has some rougher live spots (that do not take away from the performances). The package, with copious liner notes and an interview with St. John, has been wonderfully compiled and sequenced by Hux with the full cooperation of the artist and was beautifully remastered by Ron Geesin, who appears as a sideman on many of these sessions, as do Mike Oldfield, Bernie Marsden, and David Bedford.

St. John was one of the first artists signed to Peel's Dandelion Records imprint, and some of the tunes she recorded on her five albums were previewed either in these BBC sessions for Night Ride, Top Gear, or the terrific Radio 1 in Concert series.St. John’s performances of her own songs are complemented richly by covers of Buffy Sainte-Marie's “Lazarus,” Joni Mitchell's “Night in the City,” and John Martyn's “The River.” Kevin Ayers duets with St. John on three tunes from a Radio 1 in Concert performance in 1971: “Jolie Madame,” “The Spider and the Fly,” and the co-written “Oyster and the Flying Fish.” A collection like this is pretty much for fans only; part of that is the appeal of her voice, which is limited in range in the same way Nick Drake's was. But there was a reason she was a favorite of Peel’s: she was a talented -- if shy songwriter -- who delivered her material with an unintended aura of mystery, ambiguity, and authority that is uncharacteristic for the era, though it has been oft-imitated since. There are other good compilations available for novices culled from her five albums, but for those dedicated fans, this is the holy grail. ---Thom Jurek, AllMusic Review

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Bridget St. John ‎– Ask Me No Questions (1969/2005)

2017-03-01T15:11:43Z

Bridget St. John ‎– Ask Me No Questions (1969/2005)


1 	To B Without A Hitch 	3:07
2 	Autumn Lullaby 	3:01
3 	Curl Your Toes 	3:00
4 	Like Never Before 	3:13
5 	The Curious Crystals Of Unusual Purity 	3:59
6 	Barefeet And Hot Pavements 	2:45
7 	I Like To Be With You In The Sun 	2:34
8 	Lizard-Long-Tongue Boy 	3:08
9 	Hello Again (Of Course) 	4:11
10 	Many Happy Returns 	2:16
11 	Broken Faith 	4:56
12 	Ask Me No Questions 	7:48
+
13 	Suzanne	5:31
14 	The Road Was Lonely 	2:16

- Bridget St. John - vocals, guitar, keyboards
- John Martyn - guitar (03,12)
- Richard Sanders - guitar (08,10)
- Dominic - bongos (06,07)
- John Peel - producer (01-12)

Bridget St. John's first album was a wholly acoustic, almost wholly solo folk affair, though different from many British folk albums of the time in that it was comprised entirely of self-composed material. St. John sang low-key, reflective, slightly sad songs that were unsurpassed, really, in their extraordinary level of containment. That's not say they were brilliant, or even as good as those of another British singer/songwriter of the time known for reserved meditations, Nick Drake. There was, however, the sense of an unflappable woman whose temperature would remain unchanged by nothing short of an equatorial sun. Her deep voice makes her sound at times rather like a Nico who can sing more in tune, without Nico's gothic or more bizarre streaks. Perhaps there's a tinge of Françoise Hardy without the pop sensibility, too, if you're looking for another comparison. It's music for wandering through meadows on overcast days, though a sameness to the presentation (the slide guitar on "Many Happy Returns" makes for a welcome dash of urgency) and a lack of excellent melodies can make it easy for one's mind to wander. [This and her second album, Songs for the Gentle Man, were combined onto one CD by See for Miles in 1994, and that reissue might be much easier to find than the original LP.] --- Richie Unterberger, AllMusic Review

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Bridget St. John – Jumblequeen (1974)

2017-02-26T15:32:33Z

Bridget St. John – Jumblequeen (1974)


01. Sparrowpit - 3:05
02. Song For The Waterden Widow - 2:41
03. I Don't Know If I Can Take It - 3:59
04. Some Kind Of Beautiful - 3:13
05. Last Goodnight - 5:00
06. Curious & Woolly - 3:07
07. Want To Be With You - 3:29
08. Jumblequeen - 3:19
09. Sweet Painted Lady  - 3:36
10. Long Long Time - 3:42
+
11. Curious & Woolly (1977) - 4:21
12. Come Up And See Me Sometime (1979) - 3:08
13. Easy-come Easy-go (1979) - 3:09
14. Moody - 2:50

- Bridget S.John - lead vocals, acoustic 6- & 12-string guitars
- Chick Churchill - clavinet (01), piano (02,03,05,07,09,10), organ (04), moog (08,09)
- Dave Winter - bass (01,03-06,08-10)
- Mike Giles - drums (01,03-06,08-10)
- Stefan Grossman - bottleneck guitar (01,04,06), acoustic wahwah (06), acoustic guitar (09)
- Gavyn Wright, Godfrey salmon - violin (02)
- Don McVay - viola (02,07)
- Michael Hurvitz - cello (02,07,10)
- Bernie Marsden - lead electric guitar (04)
- Beverley Martyn - harmony vocals (06)
- Bernie Shanahan - keyboards & vocals (11)
- Richard Grando - saxophone (11)
- Tony Margolis - bass (11)
- Jim Mullen - guitar (12,13)
- Rick Pascual - bass (12,13)
- Jon Cobert - keyboards (12,13)

Bridget St. John's final album fell somewhere between vintage British folk-rock and the kind of singer/songwriter approach used by Phoebe Snow or early Joni Mitchell. A low-key, agreeable affair of sophisticated romantic ruminations, although not compelling. [The CD reissue on BGO adds four previously unreleased tracks in a mellower soft rock vein, recorded in America in 1976.] ---Richie Unterberger, AllMusic Review

Bridget St John is a British singer and songwriter best known for the three albums she recorded between 1969 and 1972 for John Peel's Dandelion record label. Peel produced her debut album Ask Me No Questions. She also recorded a large number of BBC and Peel sessions and toured regularly on the UK college and festival circuit. Her popularity peaked in 1974 when she was voted fifth most popular female singer in that year's Melody Maker readers poll. An accomplished guitar player, she credits John Martyn as her guitar mentor. The second album Songs for the Gentle Man, was produced by Ron Geesin. St. John then recorded another album, Jumble Queen, for Chrysalis Records in 1974. She emigrated to Greenwich Village in 1976 and virtually disappeared from the public eye for over 20 years. She appeared at a Nick Drake tribute concert in New York in 1999, performing "Northern Sky" and "One of These Things First". She toured Japan in 2006 with the minimalist French musician Colleen. Aside from work under her own name, Bridget St John has also recorded with Mike Oldfield (on Amarok), Kevin Ayers and Robin Frederick. In 2007 she reunited with Kevin Ayers to record on his album The Unfairground in New York. ---music.meo.pt

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