The Breakdown
Vinyl reissues over the past few years have seemed to have been seized upon by majors gagging to maximise the current appetite for buying black (but now probably re-coloured) plastic. But beyond chasing the transient market, there are others who see their dedication to re-issuing very differently. For labels like Be With, Cherry Red and Light In The Attic the motivation is rooted in their own muso-nerd, crate digging beginnings, making long lost or forgotten music available again in an act of curation and preservation.
It’s into this more bespoke side of the re-issue territory that Brighton DJ Oz Adams is entering with his new imprint Different Strokes For Different Folks (named after his regular Slack City radio hour) and a fanfare release, ‘Stargazer’ by Shelagh McDonald. If you caught one of Oz’s shows, a no limits feast of soul, funk, jazz, psychedelia etc, the nicheness of having ‘Stargazer’ as the label’s inauguration will come as no surprise. It’s a richly dense, emotionally sweeping piece of early seventies singer-songwriter expressionism from McDonald, an artist who literally became lost in time.
Born in Edinburgh but growing up in Glasgow, it was during the late sixties that she became involved in the city’s flourishing folk scene. The crystalline beauty of her voice plus melancholy psych-tinged songs began to turn heads and she stormed through the UK folk circuit. By 1970 she was releasing her debut album on Trojan founder Ian Gophal’s other outlet B & C. Hopes must have been high for McDonald and her music, stoked by growing comparisons with US folk royalty Joni and Joan. The album, produced by Sandy Robertson (the Steeleye Span/Martin Carthy guy), also pulled in a stellar band from Mighty Baby and Fotheringay to flesh out her already mature songs. Even esteemed jazzer Keith Tippett joined in on piano.
A critical hit and moderate success prompted the follow up ‘Stargazer’ to be put together, again with Robertson at the controls and Robert Kirby (see Nick Drake) on some string arrangements. This time the backing band swelled to take in Dave Mattacks, Danny Thompson, Richard Thompson and Keith Christmas. ‘Stargazer’ was released in 1971 to more plaudits but by the end of that year Shelagh McDonald had vanished without trace. Years later she re-emerged and revealed that her disappearance was hastened by a disastrous LSD experience which had left her voice and mental health shattered. Her withdrawal had led to decades of a nomadic living on the road with her husband.
Such a back story clearly adds to mystique surrounding the singer but reissuing ‘Stargazer’ does so much more than play to the intrigue. It’s a reminder of the depth of McDonald’s songwriting and that her tunes were made to live on. The pared back opener Rod’s Song immediately catches hold with McDonald’s richly expressive voice completely capturing the ache for an absent partner. There’s a thrilling Baez/Mitchell agility in her vocal, distilled through her own distinctive tone and phrasing. McDonald implores you to hang on every word she sings and set simply against just her chiming guitar chords it’s enough to make the magic.
Producer Sandy Robertson obviously recognised the importance of giving McDonald’s songs room to breathe. The unhurried piano ballad Lonely King swoons with sadness then rises hopefully, the “Here comes the day” hook buoyed by subtle harmonic detailing. McDonald’s restrained piano playing impresses on the track, sensitive to the song and reminiscent of Bill Fay’s melodic flare. Canadian Man is another ‘less is more’ piano/voice track which touches similar raw nerves. Ironically, or maybe deliberately, it has a Cohen-esque directness in the fine-crafted blend of reportage and poetic in the lyrics. Perhaps it’s on City’s Cry that this uncluttered approach to capturing McDonald’s song narrative is the most striking. Chiming guitar, Danny Thompson’s warm bass mumble and a quivering cello yearn along with her images of urban decline.
Alongside these more ‘solo’ performances on ‘Stargazer’ Shelagh McDonald and her songs also thrive given the full folk-rock band treatment. The trad epic Dowie Dens Of Yarrow becomes a sweeping prog drama here, all simmering organ from Mighty Baby’s Ian Whiteman and rumbling tom toms from Cat Steven’s go-to sticks-man Harvey Burns. You wonder if years later Trembling Bells may have tuned into this psych-folk blast or maybe it was Odyssey they stumbled across. Here Richard Thompson brings his clipped guitar sharpness, Dave Mattacks’ drumming adds drive and McDonald plus backing singers (momentary pop stars Mac and Katie Kissoon) lift the chorus skywards.
Odyssey also underlines the lyrical personality which McDonald brought to her songs. Her stories don’t strain under faux prog mythology, they seem rooted in a city’s streets, people and their struggles, sometimes stark sometimes re-imagined through a psychedelic lens. On the tempo shifting folk pop of Baby Go Slow she maintains “City’s are cruel, got to stick to the rules or its wheels will pull you down” while even the briskly upbeat, sax pepped Good Times reminisces about “the bargainers and fortune tellers” of a long-gone neighbourhood.
Alongside her everyday observations McDonald’s tunes, like the yearning orchestral Liz’s Song, often return to feelings around separation, moving on and finding escape. These seem prophetic written at a time just prior to her quitting the limelight. Maybe though the album’s title track voices this undercurrent of inner tension most poignantly. It’s an honestly beautiful coda to the collection wrapped in Robert Kirby’s breathtaking string and choral arrangement where McDonald, in third person, suggests to her companion “let’s follow the sun behind the hill to where it’s hiding”.
Whatever perspective you bring to ‘Stargazer’, in reviving the album on vinyl Different Stokes For Different Folks are more than filling an historical gap, the label is making these timeless, unheard moments resonate once again. Now that’s what you call a public service.
Get your copy of ‘Stargazer‘ by Shelagh McDonald from Different Strokes For Different Folks HERE or via their instagram HERE
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