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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I love you now as you don't love me, 25 Feb 2008
Vashti Bunyan's first and second albums were released, uh, thirty-five years apart. Meaning it could have been more than three decades before we heard from her again.
Fortunately such is not the case. "Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind: Singles and Demos 1964-1967" collects scattered odds and ends of Bunyan's early work, and you'd really never have known that it's from decades ago -- these two discs are full of timeless pop and pretty little folk songs.
It kicks off with the title track, a smooth and catchy concoction of strings, cymbals, guitar and brazen horn. The lyrics aren't exactly perky, though: "Why does the sky turn grey every night?/Sun rise again in time/Why do you think of the first love you had?/Some things just stick in your mind," Bunyan sings in a sweet, slightly off-kilter voice.
Afterwards, she murmurs through the soft tambourine folk of the "I Want To Be Alone" -- call it Garbo folk -- and the lo-fi acoustic ballad "Train Song." Then she glides effortlessly into a string of gentle folk melodies, flavoured with quirky instrumentals and bittersweet, haunting lyrics. And, of course, pioneering freak-folk like the gloriously offbeat "Coldest Night of The Year."
And the second disc is made up of taped 1964 demos -- lo-fi, stripped-down little guitar ballads with no musical ornamentation other than Bunyan's lovely voice. She recites the title, starts gently playing a little acoustic guitar, and singing in a hauntingly sad voice.
You can tell how rough these demos were: "Leave Me" starts with Bunyan reciting the title, followed by a man saying something incoherent to her. She says it more loudly, and chuckles self-consciously.
Admittedly, this release isn't perfect -- the aged tapes from the sixties have shown their age, and despite careful remastering they sometimes sound tinny or crackly. Not Bunyan's fault, though -- her voice and beautiful lyrics are absolutely stunning and heartbreaking, and her instrumentation definitely verifies that she is the Godmother of Freak-folk.
And even in the crackliest songs her little guitar shines out, playing wistful soft-edged melodies. In some of the earlier ones, it's festooned with other sounds -- sweeps of violin, xylophone, trumpets, countryish harmonica, a touch of sitar, cymbals, tambourine, and occasionally even some solid drums. But none of these detract from the sadness of her music, or the power that that one acoustic guitar gives her.
Her voice is the real highlight, though -- you can tell it hasn't been tinkered with even when the tapes were remastered, because she occasionally sounds slightly off-key. So her soft, fairylike voice has a sweetness and purity that most pop singers can't achieve with computer help -- and even more important, her vocals are saturated with a sense of longing, loneliness, and love.
But her lyrics are the absolute breaking point -- every one is a gorgeous, bittersweet little poem. They're evocative ("Train wheels beating, the wind in my eyes") and painfully emotional, full of faithless lovers, men who don't love you as you love them, and uncertainty. Even in the most cheerful of her songs ("I'd sit there in the sun of the things I like about you/I'd sing my songs and find out just what they mean to you") there's a sad edge.
The crackles and age of "Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind: Singles and Demos 1964-1967" can't hide the bittersweet purity of Vashti Bunyan's music. Broken hearts, lovers and sorrows -- absolutely stunning.
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6 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
limited edition explanation, 15 Jan 2008
The reason there was a version made with bonus tracks was that this is a limited edition available exclusively to UK indie stores (to encourage people to shop there - at the places that are our core supporters and who genuinely care about music - rather than via the chains or large online retailers, who care more about selling in bulk as cheply as possible and squeeing out competition) and also for the japanese market, as a safeguard against shops there being hit by cheap imports. This is standard practice in Japan - a lot of labels / artists put records out in that territory with extra tracks purely for that market. I hope this explains the reasons clearly enough. Best wishes.
FatCat
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5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Four Tracks Missing From This Edition?, 10 Jan 2008
For reasons best known to themselves the compilers of this collection have chosen to issue it in two versions. The other, Limited Edition, version has four additional tracks on disc one (making a total of 17 in all). Why on earth anyone would go to such lengths on a collection by a minor artist such as this is beyond me! Anyone purchasing this edition may feel a bit short changed - and for no good reason! Whilst some may feel that there are extra tracks on the Limited Edition, others may feel that some are actually missing here! The label's website states that the Limited Edition is for the Japanese and Indie retail markets only - but it doesn't say why! The booklet and CD 2 are the same for both versions. Had this set only been issued in one version (the OTHER ONE!) I would have rated it much higher as the package is otherwise really very nicely done. A good idea spoiled by a bad one.
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