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The North Star Grassman and the Ravens

Folk / Country / British folk · 1971

The North Star Grassman and the Ravens

Sandy Denny

Why listen

New songwriting shares a frame with inherited material, while band and string arrangements reveal Denny as a composer as well as an interpreter.

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Tracks · previews

English editorial edition

Album story

An old-sounding story on The North Star Grassman and the Ravens is not necessarily a traditional song. Sandy Denny’s compositions sit beside inherited material, and guitar-band movement meets the different scale of string arrangements. Identifying the writer matters alongside recognising the singer’s distinctive sound.

The original eleven-track album appeared in 1971, with Denny, Richard Thompson and John Wood sharing production credits. It follows Denny’s work with Fairport Convention and Fotheringay, but a solo credit does not mean an unaccompanied or guitar-only performance. The linked fifteen-track Island remaster adds four supplementary recordings. Crazy Lady Blues remains the original ending; the later alternate Late November and No Strings Next Time Around are separate additions.

New writing can speak in an inherited language

Blackwaterside is traditional, whereas Late November and the title song belong to Denny’s own writing. Antique-seeming images do not make every piece an anonymous ballad. Rather than assigning a definitive meaning to each symbol, follow the direction of the melody and the return of phrases. Unfamiliar images need not prevent a listener from hearing the musical shape. Denny interprets inherited songs while also determining the contours of her own.

Two arrangements meet at a side break

Thompson’s guitar work and Harry Robinson’s string arrangements are not interchangeable decorative layers. Hear John the Gun followed by Next Time Around, where the original LP changes sides. Digital playback removes the physical interruption, but remembering it can clarify how the second half opens. Consider what sustained instrumental lines do around the vocal melody without assuming that the addition of strings simply makes a song softer.

The album has more than one emotional gear

Down in the Flood and Let’s Jump the Broomstick belong here too. Describing the entire record as mysterious melancholy can conceal those other kinds of movement. The title song is penultimate, followed by Crazy Lady Blues. Continue through that ending without turning every lyric into a forecast of Denny’s later life. The solo album brings her writing and selection into focus while retaining the distinct contributions of fellow musicians.

The album through its tracks

Remember the original side break between John the Gun and Next Time Around, then hear the original ending at Crazy Lady Blues.

  1. Late November

    The opener is the approximately four-minute-twenty-nine-second original-album version, distinct from the alternate mix later in this reissue. Begin by recognising it as Denny’s own song rather than an anonymous traditional ballad. You do not have to decode every image before following the melody’s direction and recurring material. Guitar and rhythm accompaniment also show why a solo album need not consist of a lone singer accompanying herself. Avoid forcing every expression into a fixed biographical explanation. Continue into the traditional Blackwaterside to hear new writing and inherited repertoire placed together. An old-sounding atmosphere and a composition’s actual origin are different kinds of information.

    Reference · Sandy Denny official biography: songwriter and 1971 solo album

  2. Next Time Around

    Track six opened the original LP’s second side. This is the approximately four-minute-twenty-two-second album version with strings, not the longer No Strings supplement at track fifteen. A similar title with one instrumentation difference does not establish that every other condition of two recordings is identical. Begin with the relationship between the vocal melody and sustained instrumental lines. Do the strings simply enlarge the sound, or change the direction and weight around a phrase? The transition from John the Gun matters as well. Instead of treating the words solely as a biographical code, hear how the arrangement establishes the second half’s scale and pace.

    Reference · Proper Records: original eleven-track sequence and arrangements

Listen next

Compare Liege & Lief to hear how Denny’s interpretation of inherited material develops alongside solo writing and different arrangements.

Liege & Lief ↗
References & editorial note

Written for English readers. Album facts are referenced below; listening suggestions are editorial interpretations. AI-assisted editorial review; not independently human-reviewed.