Sandy Denny - A Boxful Of Treasures

“We don’t hear Sandy Denny on the radio these days. Her records, few that they are, don’t fit the current formats,don’t send the programmers into paroxysms, don’t have listeners voting in. She couldn’t be considered for sixties, seventies hit nostalgia; she never had hits. Rock album stations? Never sold enough albums. Even Nick Drake sneaks into the odd Easy Listening show, the music lulling and decieving, with its attractive surfaces hiding the pain within, something romantic for a cult to cling to. But where is Sandy’s cult?



Where are the graveside vigilants a la Jim Morrison? The colour supplemental cultural dissections? The South Bank Show eulogies, the bad TV and film biopics telling us who should be important in our lives? Somewhere the taste gurus have failed the flock, have failed to tell us, after twenty years of hindsight opportunity, that Sandy Denny was the greatest British female artist of her generation.” from Richard Thompson’s foreword to Pamela Murray Winter’s unpublished Sandy Denny biography.

Fledg’ling Records is approaching its tenth anniversary and fiftieth CD release. Ten years ago, when Fledg’ling records developed from the Richard Thompson newsletter Hokey Pokey and their collection of charity albums, I never imagined that the label would one day be issuing records by so many of our heroes. The label has grown from humble beginnings to a rich catalogue that includes some of the benchmark records of English folk-rock.

Earlier this year we began working on our largest and most ambitious project yet - a complete overview of Sandy Denny’s recording career. With the support of Universal Island Records, Tim Chacksfield and I have been able to search through hours of archive recordings to present the most comprehensive portrait of Sandy Denny’s music yet attempted.

A Boxful of Treasures is a mammoth 5CD set, from the earliest home recordings to Sandy’s final studio recording in May 1977. Amongst the 88 tracks are 26 previously unreleased songs and many rare recordings.

Among the many highlights are a stunning solo performance of ‘No End’; the original demo of ‘Autopsy’;
Fotheringay’s reading of ‘Silver Threads And Golden Needles’; an alternate take of ‘Next Time Around’; home demo versions of ‘All Our Days’, ‘Rising For The Moon’ and ‘By The Time It Gets Dark’; and a remarkable duet with Jess Roden on ‘Losing Game’.

Imagine our excitement as reel after reel of multitrack tape was loaded unto the playback machine - would the tape, just marked “Sandy Denny”, contain a hitherto unknown recording, an alternate set of lyrics or endless tudio chat and false starts? Many days were spent searching for an elusive recording of Sandy singing ‘Lord Bateman’ - Ashley Hutchings recalled a memorable 1971 session with Steve Winwood playing organ. Careful searching eventually found five reels of tape, unfortunately they all contained rehearsal backing tracks, with no vocals at all. Months of careful research ensures that A Boxful of Treasures is a fitting tribute to the greatest British female artist of her generation.

A Boxful of Treasures was released at the end of September 2004. Included in the long-form box with the 5CDs is a 52 page full colour booklet - foreword by Richard Thompson, biographical essay by Jim Irvin, and coda by Dick Gaughan. Many of those musicians closest to Sandy have generously contributed short reminiscences and stories to the project. The booklet is lavishly illustrated with reproductions from Sandy’s original lyric notebooks, plus rare and previously unpublished photographs. The booklet concludes with a full discographical track listing.

Disc 1

1 Sandy Denny 3.10 To Yuma (3:40)
2 Sandy Denny She Moves Through The Fair [Home Recording] 4:04
3 Sandy Denny Boxful Of Treasure [Home Recording] 1:43
4 Sandy Denny They Don't Seem To Know You [Home Recording] 2:25
5 Sandy Denny Go Your Way My Love [Home Recording] 4:12
6 Sandy Denny Geordie [Home Recording] 3:45
7 Sandy Denny Been On The Road So Long [Home Recording] 5:03
8 Alex Campbell And Friends* You Never Wanted Me 3:24
9 Alex Campbell And Friends* This Train 2:07
10 Sandy Denny With Strawbs Sail Away To The Sea 3:25
11 Sandy Denny With Strawbs Tell Me What You See In Me 3:48
12 Sandy Denny With Strawbs Who Knows Where The Time Goes 4:14
13 Sandy Denny Autopsy [Demo] 4:28
14 Sandy Denny Now And Then [Demo] 3:51
15 Fairport Convention I Don't Know Where I Stand [BBC Session] 3:40
16 Fairport Convention Bird On A Wire [BBC Session] 3:30
17 Fairport Convention Fotheringay 3:06
18 Fairport Convention Nottamun Town 3:11
19 Fairport Convention Meet On The Ledge 2:53

Disc 2

1 Fairport Convention Si Tu Dois Partir 2:22
2 Fairport Convention Cajun Woman 2:45
3 Fairport Convention The Ballad Of Easy Rider 4:56
4 Fairport Convention A Sailor's Life 11:11)
5 Fairport Convention Reynardine 4:33
6 Fairport Convention Farewell Farewell 2:40
7 Fairport Convention Tam Lin 7:13
8 Fairport Convention Sir Patrick Spens 3:47
9 Fotheringay The Pond & The Stream 3:19
10 Fotheringay The Sea 5:32
11 Fotheringay The Banks Of The Nile 8:06
12 Fotheringay Silver Threads & Golden Needles 4:32
13 Sandy Denny The Lowlands Of Holland 3:21
14 Fotheringay Nothing More 4:54
15 Fotheringay Gypsy Davey 3:54
16 Fotheringay Late November 4:34

Disc 3

1 Sandy Denny The North Star Grassman & The Ravens 3:23
2 Sandy Denny Next Time Around 4:46
3 Sandy Denny Blackwaterside 4:12
4 Sandy Denny The Sea Captain 3:10
5 Ian Matthews Thro' My Eyes 2:37
6 Bunch, The (3) Learning The Game 2:09
7 Sandy Denny Here In Silence 3:53
8 Sandy Denny Bruton Town 4:50
9 Sandy Denny Sweet Rosemary [Demo] 3:00
10 Sandy Denny After Halloween [Demo] 2:58
11 Sandy Denny The Lady [Demo] 3:40
12 Sandy Denny The Music Weaver 3:21
13 Sandy Denny Ecoute Ecoute 3:59
14 Sandy Denny Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood 4:28
15 Sandy Denny It'll Take A Long Time 5:15
16 Sandy Denny No End [Solo Alternate Take] 7:36
17 Sandy Denny Bushes And Briars [Radio Session] 2:38
18 Sandy Denny Walking The Floor Over You 4:21

Disc 4

1 Sandy Denny Whispering Grass [Radio Session] 3:45
2 Sandy Denny Solo 4:24
3 Sandy Denny At The End Of The Day [Alternate Take] 6:31
4 Sandy Denny Like An Old Fashioned Waltz 4:13
5 Sandy Denny Until The Real Thing Comes Along [Radio Session] 4:10
6 Fairport Convention John The Gun [Live] 5:39)
7 Fairport Convention She Moves Through The Fair [Live] 3:30
8 Sandy Denny One More Chance [Demo] 3:56
9 Sandy Denny King & Queen Of England [Home Recording] 3:55
10 Fairport Convention Rising For The Moon 4:09
11 Fairport Convention White Dress 3:45
12 Sandy Denny I'm A Dreamer 4:48
13 Sandy Denny By The Time It Gets Dark 4:12
14 Sandy Denny No More Sad Refrains 2:51
15 Sandy Denny Losing Game 3:17
16 Sandy Denny Easy To Slip 3:28
17 Sandy Denny Full Moon 4:31
18 Sandy Denny Moments 3:43

Disc 5

1 Sandy Denny One Way Donkey Ride [Demo] 4:14
2 Sandy Denny I'm A Dreamer [Demo] 4:17
3 Sandy Denny Take Me Away [Demo] 4:00
4 Sandy Denny Rising For The Moon [Demo] 3:08
5 Sandy Denny Still Waters Run Deep [Demo] 3:10
6 Sandy Denny All Our Days [Demo] 3:40
7 Sandy Denny No More Sad Refrains [Demo] 3:07
8 Sandy Denny By The Time It Gets Dark [Demo] 3:32
9 Sandy Denny The Music Weaver [Demo] 3:17
10 Sandy Denny What Is True? [Demo] 3:46
11 Sandy Denny Stranger To Himself [Demo] 2:20
12 Sandy Denny Take Away The Load [Demo] 1:43
13 Sandy Denny By The Time It Gets Dark [Alternate Take] 3:41
14 Sandy Denny Full Moon [Home Recording] 5:01
15 Fairport Convention Knockin' On Heaven's Door [Live] 5:25
16 Fairport Convention It'll Take A Long Time [Live] 5:43
17 Fairport Convention Who Knows Where The Time Goes? [Live] 6:35

Please no bit-rate comments, this is the only copy I have.