Album, German cover (via Discogs)
When I was planning out this project in early January, I spent time in the National Library of Scotland looking at Melody Maker and New Musical Express from January 1969 to March 1971. Around September/October 1970, in Melody Maker, a started to see glowing articles about Shelagh McDonald. Was she the ‘new’ Sandy Denny?
When I looked at Keith Tippet ahead of my 10 January entry here, I spotted that he played on McDonald’s debut album. I took a listen on Spotify and bought a copy on 9 January before the opening track had finished. Album, and 1971’s Stargazer have been constants on my cd player ever since.
Shelagh started out on the folk scene in Glasgow and Paisley before moving to London in 1967. Her Scottish roots, as well as colouring her voice, colour her sensibilities too. And she took her guitar cues from Bert Jansch–not so unusual now, but uncommon amongst women on the folk scene in the mid sixties. What she shares with Denny is an alto (I think) voice and a similar phrasing.
Of the ten songs on this album, four are covers, one is traditional (Let No Man Steal Your Thyme) and five are originals. It’s the originals that catch the ear: as I said above, I was hooked before the end of the first track, Mirage.
I’m not convinced ‘folk’ is a good description of what’s going on here. It has orchestrations by Robert Kirby who, famously, worked with Nick Drake. Keith Tippet may have done the sessions as a favour, but he was incapable of casual vamping; his playing on Mirage and Waiting For the Wind To Rise makes the tracks swing like a swinging thing. ‘Folk’ or not, what is clear is that she was a writer of great talent. That is perhaps better realised on Stargazer, where every track except the traditional Dowie Dens of Yarrow is self-written but that shouldn’t diminish her debut.
Shelagh’s personal life took a turn, you can read about it online if you’re interested, and she didn’t become the new Sandy Denny: she made two cracking albums, then disappeared until 2005.
I listened on cd, but it is also on Spotify and there’s an extended playlist on YouTube
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