Search - Sandy Denny & Friends :: Attic Tracks 1972-84

Songs you haven't heard

Greg W. Larson | Columbus, OH USA | 06/29/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Good grief! Not one other review of this wonderful CD. If you are a fan you owe it to yourself to get this. Moments and The King and Queen of England are never-before released gems. No End is just Sandy and solo piano -- it is achingly beautiful and much different from the version on Like an Old Fashioned Waltz. Trevor Lucas's version of Forever Young is worth the price of the album. The Town I Loved So Well is also one of those rare vocal performances of Trevor's. He truly was one of the overlooked artists in England's (and Australia's) folk-rock scene. I give this Cd only 4 stars because it has yet another version of Who Knows Where the Time Goes. Must this be on every CD put together after Sandy's death? The booklet that comes with the CD has some great information for Sandy's (and Trevor's) fans. A must have for any Sandy Denny collection."

These are the moments...

Peter Baklava | Charles City, Iowa | 02/22/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"British folkrocker Sandy Denny surely possessed one of the great, timeless voices in pop music. This lovely collection commemorates not only Sandy, but her husband Trevor Lucas, who was an exceptional talent in his own right.



Rescued from the attic (hence the title) of Lucas and Denny's quaint Australian cottage, these tracks carry a special poignancy because of their untimely deaths. Sandy will have been gone thirty years this April, and Trevor died nearly twenty years ago. The music here is still extremely vital, but it also reflects brightly on "the golden age of the 1970's", when such kind and gentle music was allowed to thrive.



Another part of the cd's appeal is the deft way in which Sandy and Trevor's separate strengths are balanced. For the most part, the tracks are not collaborations--Sandy sings back-up on one of Trevor's songs, but otherwise these are individual efforts created by artists who happened to be married to each other. The marriage of styles works here because Trevor's honest and roughhewn vocals provide a welcome contrast to Sandy's smokey alto, and vice versa.



Sandy's best moments are on "Easy to Slip" (a Little Feat cover), and "Losing Game", a rocker bumped along nicely by a brass section. Sandy wasn't really known for uptempo numbers, but these prove that she could handle them with zest. "Still Waters Run Deep" and "Gold Dust" point towards Denny's evident fascination with Joni Mitchell, and "No End" and "Moments" show why Sandy is one of the best artists to put on for a contemplative mood.



Trevor Lucas' contributions are equally rich in flavor. "The Town I Loved So Well", and "Forever Young" are folk ballads given wonderful performances. "Breakaway" is a high voltage train song which would have been perfect for Waylon Jennings, and then there is "Girls on the Avenue", which for me is the highlight of the whole album. A hit only in Australia, "Girls" seems like the great, lost 70's song...perfect in its lilting nostalgia.



"Attic Tracks" comes with a booklet explaining the various sessions the songs were taken from, and also provides a nice glimpse of the house where the tapes were stored, and some of Sandy's doodles and manuscripts.





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