The North Star Grassman And The Ravens [Original recording remastered, Extra tracks]

This neglected classic was Sandy's first solo album following the demise of the short-lived but superb Fotheringay. The cast of musicians she gathered round her to help make TNSGATR included the members of that group and Richard Thompson, whose contributions to the album are uniformly excellent.

Her decision to work with people who were both great musicians and good friends was a wise one. From the entirely sympathetic backing to the understated production and engineering by old Fairport Convention collaborator John Wood, the sound of the album is one of its strongest points. It is less polished than some of her later solo records, and I think it is all the better for that. It also has the most consistent feel and mood.

That mood is one of ethereal beauty. I have spent many an evening listening to this record under the stars by the sea, and it's the perfect soundtrack. Sandy's writing was very elemental, her lyrics often reflecting upon the power of nature and the inevitabilty of change in life. This quality gives the songs a depth and mystery that is both beguiling and timeless, never more so than on Next Time Around...

For this listener, Next Time Around is one of the finest songs and performances ever recorded. Everything about it is perfect, from the startling, abstract lyrics to Ian Whiteman's haunting piano and the gorgeous string arrangement by Harry Robinson. And then there is Sandy's vocal. Was there ever another voice of such bewitching, transcendent beauty? There have been many truly great singers, but none with that quality of other-worldliness that she could convey with such seeming ease. I am still so in awe of her talent - she was only 24 when TNSGATR was released in 1971, yet she sings like a woman who has experienced all the world has to offer, good and bad.

Every one of Sandy's songs on this album is a pearl, my other favourites being Late November and Wretched Wilbur. The only relative low points are the rockier material, covers of Dylan's Down In The Flood and Charles Robins' Let's Jump The Broomstick. Both performances are fine, its just that her voice sounds less convincing on harder-edged songs. I would never pigeon-hole her as purely a folk singer, but I think slower songs drawing from that tradition allowed her voice the room to soar and permeate the space between the other instruments.

All in all, The Northstar Grassman and The Ravens is an exquisite album by a singular talent who is sorely missed but not forgotten. At Fairport's Cropredy Festival in Oxfordshire each August, 20,000 massed voices continue to sing the songs of the greatest female singer that ever came from these green and pleasant lands.

While not a big fan of "remastered" albums, I would recommend this one unreservedly to anyone who loves Sandy Denny's work. It has come up all bright and shiny. Her voice is prominent but the accompaniment is warm and crystal clear. It's a beautiful, melancholic album, and the bonus tracks don't spoil the mood as bonus tracks all too often do. The lovely "Blackwaterside" and the chilling "John the Gun" are my picks, but I'd not skip anything on the disc.

It seems like only yesterday listening for the first time to the "Battle of Evermore" from Led Zeppelin IV when the female voice on this duet with Robert Plant cast a spell which has proved enduring. It was the only song Led Zeppelin ever recorded with a guest vocalist although Sandy Denny went on to produce even greater glories. 1971 saw both the release of the Zeppelin classic and Sandy Denny's first solo album "The North Star Grassman and the Ravens" here given the deluxe treatment by Island records in the form of the original record now digitally remastered, plus bonus tracks including already released BBC recordings, 5 rare demos that are on the humungous and expensive box set and one unreleased recording: an instrumental version of Lord Bateman.

To be honest if you already own the excellent 2005 remaster the sound quality here seems to these ears to be broadly the same and with the only "new" track being an instrumental many will already have these recordings. For those however approaching Denny for the first time this is an excellent starting point. During this period she was at the top of her game both vocally and in terms of songwriting and "North Star Grassman" contains a number of her greatest songs.

While the joyous cover versions of "Lets jump the broomstick" and Dylan's "Down in the flood" are a treat it is inevitably the slower songs that stand out. The gentle plaintive country of "Crazy lady blues", the blissful autumnal melancholy of "Late November" and her great take on traditional folk of "Blackwaterside". Her own obsessions also loom large not least with the oceans which played out in so many of her songs including the glorious "Sea Captain" (the demo here is actually a better version) and the aching beauty and imagery of the mystical title track with the Paris Theatre live version particularly poignant. The album also contain three versions of the remarkable "Next time around" which the one of todays great singers Joanna Newsom has described as "carving out some sculpture .....it's just unbelievably ambitious and interesting and just reaches such incredible heights. My personal favourite of the three remains the simple piano demo which is devastating in its simplicity with Denny's voice touched by the angels, although Harry Robinsons string based arrangement is very fine indeed. Such a contrast again is manifested on the album version and demo of "Wretched Wilbur". Robinson's strings on the first version give it a lush texture but the English folk rawness of the guitar based demo provides an altogether harder and more honest edge.

In 2005 the perceptive music journalist Jon Harris attempted to explain why lesser talents have been posthumously feted, but Sandy Denny remains a decidedly cult interest. He went on to interview "the Guv'nor" Ashley Hutchings one of English folk music's most pivotal figures who argued that Denny "needs to be re-evaluated. She wrote a kind of song that's very rarely written now - emotional, musically interesting, sung really well - serious songwriting. She was head and shoulders above the rest. And she remains so". These are very fine words and with the passage of time you sense that the process of revaluation is gathering pace. As "North Star Grassman and the Ravens' proves Denny is a songwriter as musically important as Judee Sill, Laura Nyro, Janis Ian and Joni Mitchell, thus no record collection is complete without her.