Rendezvous (Sandy Denny album)

Infobox Album |
Name = Rendezvous
Type = studio
Artist = Sandy Denny


Released = May 1977
Recorded = April - June 1976 at Island Studios (Basing Street and Hammersmith), CBS (London), Strawberry Studios (Stockport), Sound Techniques (Chelsea)
Genre = folk rock
Length = 39:02
Label = UK: Island Records, 1977 (ILPS 9433) Hannibal Records, 1986 (HNBL 4422)
Producer = Trevor Lucas
Reviews = * Allmusic Rating|3|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:jjfwxqt5ldhe link]
Last album ="Like an Old Fashioned Waltz"
(1974)
This album = "Rendezvous"
(1977)
Next album ="Who Knows Where the Time Goes?"
(1985)

"Rendezvous" is a 1977 album by English folk rock singer Sandy Denny, and was her last release before her death the following year. Featuring a few cover versions and mostly self-written material, her voice was said to be "showing the strain that came from her fondness for drink and drugs",cite web | url = http://arts.guardian.co.uk/fridayreview/story/0,,1476963,00.html | title = You had to hold on to the furniture when Sandy sang | date = May 6, 2005 | accessdate = 2008-06-06 ] and the album took almost a year to complete. [cite web | url = http://www.codehot.co.uk/sandy/bio.htm | title= Sandy Denny biography | accessdate = 2008-06-08] The album was also more instrumented than its predecessors, featuring a brass band and large string section; Denny was particularly partial to the string sections on her final two albums, including "Rendezvous", and described them as her "fur coat".

Following the release of "Rendezvous", Denny stepped back into family life with her husband, Trevor Lucas, and newly-born daughter, Georgia, [cite web| url = http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/sandy-denny-fair-play-to-her-399500.html| title = Sandy Denny: Fair play to her | date = 8 November 2007 | accessdate = 2008-06-06] and died in April 1978 following a fall.

A single was released taken from the album, "Candle in the Wind"/"Still Waters Run Deep", but failed to chart. The A-side featured Richard Thompson on lead guitar, [cite web | url =http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/sandy.denny/songs/candleinthewind.html | title = Candle in the Wind | accessdate = 2008-06-08] and the B-side had been recorded during the sessions for "Rendezvous", later appearing as a bonus track on the 2005 CD reissue of the album. [cite web | url = http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/sandy.denny/songs/stillwatersrundeep.html | title = Still Waters Run Deep | accessdate = 2008-06-08]

Reception

Allmusic's reviewer Brett Hartenbach was less than enthusiastic about "Rendezvous", criticising it as "overwrought" and in particular Trevor Lucas' production, saying "use of cumbersome strings, backup singers and bloated lead guitars weigh things down and bury some otherwise fine writing". His summation was that "Rendezvous" was "a flawed attempt at gaining a wider audience, by an artist who deserved better and was capable of the best". [cite web | url = http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:jjfwxqt5ldhe | title = Rendezvous | date= | accessdate = 2008-06-06] However, he did give the album a three-star rating of a possible five.
Rolling Stone's 2004 assessment was that having left her folk roots behind, "casting her as pop singer didn't quite work on Rendezvous", describing "Candle in the Wind" as "busy" and "Silver Threads and Golden Needles" as "merely capable". [cite web | url = http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/sandydenny/biography | title = Sandy Denny Biography | acessdatedate = 2008-06-08]

Track listing

All songs credited to Sandy Denny except where noted.

ide one

# "I Wish I Was a Fool For You (For Shame of Doing Wrong)" (Richard Thompson) – 4:25
# "Gold Dust" – 3:54
# "Candle in the Wind" (Elton John, Bernie Taupin) – 4:08
# "Take Me Away" – 4:23
# "One Way Donkey Ride" – 3:34

ide two

# "I'm a Dreamer" – 4:45
# "All Our Days" – 7:25
# "Silver Threads and Golden Needles" (Jack Rhodes, Dick Reynolds) – 3:40
# "No More Sad Refrains" – 2:48

CD issue extra track

# Full Moon – 4:30previously released on Who Knows Where the Time Goes?]

Extra tracks on 2005 release

# "Still Waters Run Deep" – 2:54 (B-side of the single "Candle in the Wind")
# "Full Moon" – 4:28
# "I'm a Dreamer" (demo) – 4:14 [previously released on "A Boxful of Treasures"]
# "Easy to Slip" – 3:25previously released on "The Attic Tracks 1972-1984"]
# "Moments" (Bryn Haworth) – 3:43

Personnel

columns-list|3
*John (Rabbit) Bundrick
*Jerry Donahue
*Timmi Donald
*Pat Donaldson
*Dave Mattacks
*Dave Pegg
*Steve Winwood
*Junior Murvin
*Brother James
*Jimmy Haines
*Nigel
*Frank Ricotti
*John Gillespie
*Dick Cuthell
*Richard Thompson
*Billie Livesey
*Bob Weston

ingers

columns-list|3
*Jess Roden
*Sue Glover
*Sunny Leslie
*Kay Garner
*Clare Torry
*Bennie Gallagher
*Graham Lyle
*The Ladybirds

ilver band

columns-list|3
*John Hudson
*Alan Holmes
*Ray Grand
*Gordon Bland
*David White
*Robert Richards
*Peter Lockett
*Philip Goodwin

*Harry Robinson - orchestral arrangements
*Steve Gregory - brass arrangements
*Robert Kirby - silver band arrangements

*John Marino, Sterling Sounds - mastering
*Bloomfield/Travis - sleeve design

References

* [http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/sandy.denny/records/rendezvous.html Further information]