No More Sad Refrains: The Life and Times of Sandy Denny: Amazon.co.uk: Clinton Heylin: Books

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With intimate accounts from friends and colleagues, this is a bold but never sensationalised look at the finest British singer-songwriter of them all

Book Description

With Fairport Convention, Fotheringay and in her own solo career, Sandy Denny had one of contemporary music’s finest voices, and Melody Maker twice voted her best female singer. She was also a highly acclaimed songwriter, composing most of her own material. However as one of the few women in the fast-living, hard-drinking music industry of the era, Sandy was forever torn between the thrill of the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle and a desire to escape to a simple family life in the country. Sadly, Sandy never did reconcile her life’s conflicting forces, and died aged 31 in 1978 in circumstances surrounded with mystery.
Sandy Denny remains the finest female singer-songwriter this country has ever produced.

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3.7 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)

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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A sharp-edged record of Sandy Denny's life & death, 11 Mar 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: No More Sad Refrains: The Life and Times of Sandy Denny (Hardcover)

For many people, Sandy Denny remains Britain's foremost female singer-songwriter. After a brief stint with the Strawbs, she came to prominence in the seminal folk-rock band Fairport Convention. Three ground-breaking albums later she left to form her own band, Fotheringay, and then recorded four beautiful solo albums. (She was also the only singer ever to guest on a Led Zeppelin album, on "The Battle of Evermore".) The last line of the last song on her last album was, "I won't be singing any more sad refrains." In April 1978, less than a year after its release, Sandy Denny was dead, aged just 31.

Denny's most famous song is "Who Knows Where The Time Goes?", and somehow it's taken over two decades for the unvarnished story of her life and death to come out. Clinton Heylin's biography is no hagiography; Sandy Denny was no saint. Most of her fans will be surprised to learn that she was a heavy drinker, and terribly insecure. Heylin blames many of those around her for making her insecurity even worse. He brands her adored but roving husband Trevor Lucas (who died in 1989) "a mediocre musician" who badgered Denny into writing more songs, then dismissed them as sounding too much the same. He blames Denny's early producer, Joe Boyd, for pulling the plug on Fotheringay half way through recording their second album, forcing her unwillingly to go solo. ("Solo" is one of her most ironic songs, as much about broken love as about singing.)

Heylin's book, which includes photographs, some of Denny's drawings, pages from her diaries, and unrecorded and draft lyrics, is a sharp-edged record of her personal and professional frustrations and missed opportunities. It's sad to read of so much sadness, especially considering, as one of her friends said, "When you listen to her voice you think, God, what did she have to be insecure about?" And Heylin ends by quoting another great Fairport alumnus, Richard Thompson: "I've not heard a singer since with that much of a gift... Sandy's songs [are] some of the best songs written since the war." -David V Barrett

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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An extremely readable "must.", 10 April 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: No More Sad Refrains: The Life and Times of Sandy Denny (Paperback)

Sandy Denny has to be one of the greatest British singers ever. Her voice had a haunting quality and a truly natural sound and was able to make your spirits soar or break your heart.

This book acquaints you with the woman behind the voice. As the author says, "Solo the voice could now be heard in all its resonating purity, driven by an unerring instinct, but the secret Sandy remained a deeply unhappy person, for whom the songs remained her only release."

There are lots of touching anecdotes, like the time Sandy invited her friend Bambi Ballard to a studio at one in the morning to play the songs of the album "Sandy." After each song the insecure Sandy asked "You don't want to hear any more, do you?" Bambi Ballard, the sole audience, with tears running down her face had to reassure her that each song was lovely and to urge her to play another.

The book also corrects the notion that Sandy fell as a result of falling downstairs - and helps to explain why the some of the facts were played down.

In short if you like Sandy Denny's music, this book is a "must" and is extremely readable.

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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A moving story, 8 Sep 2003

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M. J. Mooney "villafan82" (Leeds, West Yorkshire) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: No More Sad Refrains: The Life and Times of Sandy Denny (Paperback)

If you have ever enjoyed Sandy's music, you should read this, but be warned. It is very depressing to read about someone so talented and so hell-bent on self-destruction. Despite the total contrast in their voices, Sandy consciously modelled herself on Janis Joplin, and the ensuing lifestyle wreaked the inevitable consequences. If I have one criticism of this book, it is in the sometimes shoddy writing/editing. There are a number of spelling and grammatical errors, but by far the most annoying feature is the way Heylin insists on inserting his own words into other people's quotations - ostensibly for reasons of clarity, but in most cases completely unnecessary. I don't have an actual example to hand, but to give you the idea, if someone says something like "She was a bit of a heavy drinker", it's likely to come out as "[Sandy][at that time] was a bit of a heavy [brandy] drinker". It adds nothing to the meaning, and after a while becomes highly intrusive and irritating. That aside, it's a very good (if sobering) read.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Adequate, but no more than that
I've just finished reading Clinton Heylin's NO MORE SAD REFRAINS, which took just a couple of sessions. Read more

Published 1 day ago by Virgil Hilts