L’album di esordio di quella che può essere definita la più grande cantautrice di ogni tempo fu dato alle stampe nel 1971. Quell’anno il gruppo che la rese celebre, i Fairport Convention, arrancava con Angel Delight per poi riprendersi in parte con il concept Babbacombe Lee. Il declino dei Fairport in quegli anni non fu casuale; venne sancito, infatti, prima dalla fuoriuscita della Denny stessa e, poi, da quella di Richard Thompson che, dopo lo splendido Full House, andò ad impreziosire con i suoi ricami chitarristici questo The North Star Grassman and the Ravens.
L’album è composto principalmente da ballate eteree e molto introspettive scritte dalla Denny; escono da questo canovaccio la bella rilettura di “Down in the Flood” di Bob Dylan, la marziale “John the Gun” e la leggera e volutamente sciatta “Let’s Jump the Broomstick”. Ma sono proprio le splendide ballate a dominare l’album: Late November è senza dubbio uno dei brani più belli mai scritti dalla Denny, ricco di un sublime pathos solo in parte smorzato dagli arrangiamenti; per apprezzare appieno la bellezza consiglio l’ascolto delle versioni acustiche registrate per la BBC. “Blackwaterside” è un traditional ben riarrangiato, brano di grande suggestione forse superiore alla pur splendida versione di Bert Jansch, che poi sarà plagiata dai Led Zeppelin nel loro esordio con “Black Mountain Side”. Molto bella nel suo incedere cadenzato anche la malinconica Title track “The North Star Grassman and the Ravens” così come “The Sea Captain”, delicata ed introspettiva, “Next Time Aroud”, suggestiva e spettrale, e “Wretched Wilbur” impreziosita da begli arrangiamenti d’archi. Chiude l’album la bella “Crazy Lady Blues” la cui vera qualità può ancora una volta essere apprezzata nelle scarne e magnifiche versioni della BBC. Se una critica deve essere mossa al disco, bisogna sottolineare come alcuni brani appaiano leggermente sovrarrangiati (circostanza ribadita dalle bonus track dell’edizione rimasterizzata del 2005, a parte la splendida “Next Time Around” priva di archi) e, in alcuni casi, si ha la sensazione che l’accompagnamento musicale sia quasi sbiadito confronto alle maestose interpretazioni vocali della Denny.
Pur non essendo al livello del disco successivo (Sandy), ne di quello dei primi tre album dei Fairport con lei incisi, alla luce della qualità eccellente delle interpretazioni vocali, così come del livello compositivo del materiale, questo deve essere considerato un album raffinato imperdibile per chi ama la grande musica.
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Late November (04:28)
The wine it was drunk, the ship it was sunk,
The shot it was dead, all the sorrows were drowned.
The birds they were clouds, the brides and the shrouds
And as we drew south the mist it came down.
The wooded ravine to the wandering stream,
The serpent he moved, but no-one would say.
The depths of the waters, the bridge which distraught us
And brought to me thoughts of the ill-fated day.
The temples were filled with the strangest of creatures
One played it by ear on the banks of the sea.
That one was found but the others they went under.
Oh the tears which are shed, they won't come from me.
The methods of madness, the pathos and the sadness,
God help you all, the insane and wise.
The black and the white, the darkness of the night,
I see only smoke from the chimneys arise.
The pilot he flew all across the sky and woke me.
He flew solo on the mercury sea.
The dream it came back, all about the tall brown people,
The sacred young herd on the phosphorus sand.
02 Blackwaterside (04:12)
One evening fair I took the air
Down by Blackwaterside
'Twas gazing all around me
When the Irish lad I spied
All through the first part of that night
We did lie in sport and play,
When this young man arose and he gathered his clothes,
Saying, ``Fare thee well today''.
That's not the promise that you gave to me
When the first you lay on my breast,
You could make me believe with your lying tongue
That the sun rose in the west.
Go home, go home, to your father's garden
Go home and weep your fill,
And think upon your own misfortune
Which you bought with your wanton will.
There's not one girl in this whole town
As easily led as I,
And when the sky does fall and the seas will run dry,
Why, it's then you'll marry I.
05 John the Gun (04:37)
''My shadow follows me
Wherever I should chance to go'',
John The Gun did say.
''If you should chance to meet me
As I wander to and fro,
Sad would be your day.
My life is mine and the light did shine
Till the guns they did go through me,
So now I shall never fall.
Ideals of peace are gold which fools have found
Upon the plains of war.
I shall destroy them all.''
Chorus
Put away your guns of steel,
Death comes too soon for all.
Your Master He may need you soon,
And you must heed His call.
''I am the master of the games
That you will hardly ever play,
So I will teach your sons.
And if they should die
Before the evening of their span of days,
Why, then they will die young.''
(Chorus)
''Condemn me not,
For always will I play the game of war,
In moonshine or in sun.
And if any cross the path I choose to tread,
Their chances they are poor.
My name is John The Gun.''
(Chorus)
10 The North Star Grassman and the Ravens (03:27)
They stood upon the deck
As the ship went out to sea.
The wind it took the sails
And left the land a memory.
All upon the shore for
To wonder why the sailor goes.
All to close their eyes
And wonder what the sailor knows.
That is you to them,
That is how they think you are.
Never on the land,
But sailing by the North Star.
To the tower and to the ravens
And the tale that hopes they'll never leave.
What if they should go?
We always dread to think of them.
I wonder if they flew one day
And no-one ever knew they'd gone
To circle over ships at sea,
Claiming yet another son.
That is you to me,
That is where I think you are.
Never on the land,
But gone to find the North Star.
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