Bridget St. John - Ask Me No Questions & Songs For The Gentle Man (1969 & 1971) [1994]

Bridget St. John - Ask Me No Questions & Songs For The Gentle Man (1969 & 1971) [1994]

see for miles seecd 408.

ask me no questions;
The wholly acoustic debut album (originally released on John Peel's Dandelion label) from this oft-revered 1970s folk singer, whose deep, laid back, androgynous voice (some have said think of a folk equivalent to Nico or even Timi Yuro, but eithout the darkness of the former or the soul of the latter) marked her as decidedly different from her contemporaries such as Sandy Denny, Maddy Prior, Mandy Morton, Vashti Bunyan etc- as did her reliance on original rather than traditional material. The mood is wistful, pastoral, often melancholy, but the overall feeling is one of relaxed warmth and contentment, as songs such as 'Curious Crystals Of Unusual Purity' 'I Like To Be With You In The Sun' and 'Barefeet And Hot Pavements' demonstrate: for those who like their folk a little more wyrd, there's the curious 'Lizard-Long-Tongue Boy'. Features a guest appearance by John Martyn, as does its successor.

songs for the gentle man;
Second album, again originally released on Dandelion (in 1971) from underrated UK folk singer-songwriter, this time produced by Ron Geesin (yes, 'im wot co-wrote the Floyd's "Atom Heart Mother") and featuring much more elaborate arrnagements and instrumentation such as cello, flute, bassoon, horns, violins and backing vocals. The songs are also more playful and less melancholy than on her debut, although the same feeling of relaxed warmth prevails on 'Seagull Sunday' and 'Lady And The Gentle Man' which bring her most obvious influence- Joni Mitchell- out into the open. Elsewhere there are covers of songs by John Martyn (featuring the man himself on guitar) and Donovan, another artist she has been compared to: there's also an odd, harmonium-and-vocal closing track which sounds more like Nico than Nico, if one catches the drift. The package contains

track list
Ask Me No Questions
To Be Without A Hitch
Autumn Lullaby
Curl Your Toes
Like Never Before
The Curious Crystals Of Unusual Purity
Barefeet And Hot Pavements
I Like To Be With You In The Sun (Song For The Laird Of Connaught Hall)
Lizard-Long-Tongue Boy
Hello Again (Of Course)
Many Happy Returns
Broken Faith
Ask Me No Questions
Songs For The Gentle Man
A Day A Way
City Crazy
Back To Stay
Seagull-Sunday
If You'd Been There
Songs For The Laird Of Connaught Hall Part 2
Making Losing Better
The Lady And The Gentle Man
Downderry Daze
The Pebble And The Man
It Seems Very Strange