The first track on the LP is “Matty Groves”. In his book “Meet On The Ledge”, Patrick Humphries describes Sandy Denny’s vocals on this as “uneasy”, which is spot-on. At the time, I really could not see the point. We had the magnificent original version of this song on “Liege & Lief”; why did we need this inferior rendition? In fact, however, this track marked the beginning of a tradition which endures to this day, of recording a ropey or bizarre (or both!) outing of this ditty at every available opportunity.
Track 2 is “Rosie”; oh dear. This is a sugary and grossly over-sentimental song, redeemed only in its original incarnation by the amazing guitar of Richard Thompson, who of course is conspicuous by his absence here. I was starting to despair.
Track 3 is the instrumental “Fiddlestix”, 2.47 minutes of acceptable stuff, with meticulous musicianship. Still not anything to write home about.
More next time.
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