Shelagh McDonald @ London Feb 1971

SHELAGH McDONALD - Never said she was coming back - Live London Feb 1971
a very rare LAGGASHOEBOX find

INTRODUCTION:
"This womans voice is to die for. Think Nick Drake mixed with Sandy Denny and you are getting close to the evocative delivery and melancholic tinge to Shelagh McDonalds voice."

"Simply, she is THE great English voice of the period - if she'd fronted a "name" band like Fairport or Steeleye Span, her music would be available today on a variety of reissued collections."

McDonald came to London from Edinburgh in the 1960s and was feted by Melody Maker, NME and ZigZag. She was a composer with promise, a voice blending the melancholy of Sandy Denny and the birdsong of Joan Baez, and a beauty who didn't capitalise on her looks. Signed to Sandy Roberton's B&C Records, she didn't move many units with her first outing, but a second album was to prove a dramatic leap forward. However, within months of the release of Stargazer, a mini-masterpiece from 1971, she was nowhere to be found, and her phone had been disconnected. On the cusp of fame and fortune, talented and critically acclaimed songwriter Shelagh McDonald disappeared. Now her music is back in print, but the royalties remain uncollected, and her whereabouts are a mystery.

ABOUT THE TAPE:
During the last year I have had the privilege to seed my old tapes - some of them quite unique - but looking back this must be THE TAPE!
I didn't remember this recording at all until yesterday when I came across a review of Shelagh McDonalds new CD-compilation "Let No Man Steal Your Thyme".
I got a vague recollection that I maybe could have recorded Shelagh in February 1971.
And there hidden at the end of the Steeleye Span/Jethro Tull-tape it was!
And it shines! I love it!

There are 11 tracks of totally 33 minutes - haven«t had a chance to sort out a tracklist. It starts with "Look Over The Hills And Far Away" and "Rod«s Song" - you have to help me out with the rest!
The sound quality is much better than most of the Shoebox tapes - the usual cuts between tracks /to save tape & batteries/ are there, but the sound is close and clear.
It must have been recorded the last week in February 1971 most likely at a London University Folk club.

Shelagh McDonald is a rare find - I hope this short tape will help more people to take her to their heart. Enjoy!

More about Shelagh: visit www.btinternet.com/~blackvelvet/
I have included some articles/reviews in the info file.



INFO:


http://www.netrhythms.co.uk/reviewsm.html

Shelagh McDonald - Let No Man Steal Your Thyme (Castle)
Shelagh's was never a household name, even within the hallowed realms of the folk enthusiast, but she so richly deserved the status and her damnably short career is the stuff of legend. Arguably even more so since she did a complete vanishing act in 1972 after releasing just two LPs which showed her to be a performer of considerable talent and promise. And she's not been heard of since then - no, not at all. So to all intents and purposes, Let No Man Steal Your Thyme is all you're ever going to get in terms of recordings; it's the absolutely complete collection. On two CDs it brings us the entire contents of both of Shelagh's LPs, originally released on B&C (1970's The Shelagh McDonald Album and 1971's Stargazer), along with all retrievable alternate takes, outtakes and demos and the tracks which appeared on the Club Folk records. If you already own the Mooncrest CD editions of the two albums (which came out around five or six years back), which included most of the extra material mentioned, you're still likely to want this new collection, for it opens with the brace of (admittedly less than characteristic) acoustic country-blues-style tracks recorded live and originally available only on the obscure 1969 BBC compilation Dungeon Folk. And it has a finely detailed new booklet note by David Wells, which not only provides full credits for the recordings (unlike the Mooncrest reissues), but also states the case for Shelagh's artistry most persuasively. Not that it could pass you by when you play the CDs, for Shelagh had a superb singing voice by any standards, notwithstanding the strength and individuality of her songwriting. Her singing matched the purity of a Judy Collins with the dexterity and range of Joni Mitchell (the melodic contours of whose songs, not to mention the actual writing, Shelagh's resembled at times too), but it's Sandy Denny to whom Shelagh was most often considered the heir in the solo female artist stakes (Sandy herself having at that point forsaken a solo career for a group setting). Shelagh seemed to have everything (striking good looks too!), although the critical approval which her music garnered wasn't matched by LP sales. Then there was the vigour of the supporting playing - producer Sandy Roberton had gathered round Shelagh a real who's-who of fine guest musos for each session. Album featured Andy Roberts, Gerry Conway, Pat Donaldson, Gordon Huntley, Ian Whiteman and Keith Tippett, as well as fellow singer-songwriter Keith Christmas (with whom Shelagh had been briefly involved while living in Bristol in 1969). Aside from bringing on board Messrs Christmas and Whiteman again, Stargazer featured an even more diverse array of talents, from Richard Thompson, Dave Mattacks and Danny Thompson to Mac & Katie Kissoon! Some of the musical arrangements employed were pretty ambitious, and were masterminded by Robert Kirby (who'd done string settings for Nick Drake), and thus don't fall into the despised 70s over-production trap. As well as Shelagh's own songs (which provide the main focus only on Stargazer, whereas roughly a third of Album was covers, albeit superior ones, of material by Christmas, Roberts and Gerry Rafferty). As well as this collection's title track, the traditional song repertoire is represented by a stunning, brooding version of the traditional Dowie Dens Of Yarrow which would have put many a contemporaneous folk-rock treatment well and truly in the shade. Though her albums sounded very much in the mould of upcoming folk-rock-pop singer-songwriter offerings of the time, none of the tracks Shelagh recorded seem really to have dated (at least to my ears). If you've not caught up with Shelagh's work before now, then hasten along and get this set. Join with me in regretting Shelagh's disappearance, sure, but rejoice with me that her complete recorded legacy is here for our permanent enjoyment.


Well, we all love a good mystery, don't we? Especially when it's somewhat tragic and involves a talented young artist whose intentions we'll just never be able to fully fathom. It's at least part of the reason Nick Drake albums will continue to be repackaged or some filmmaker will eventually decide Gus Van Sant's version of Kurt Cobain's last days didn't definitively answer any questions and will attempt to come up with something better. We don't know if Shelagh McDonald's story involves a premature demise, but at the very least there's a missing persons report in it somewhere.

Born in Scotland, McDonald moved to England in the late-'60s where she was immediately ensconced in the burgeoning folk and singer-songwriter scene. Her boyfriend at the time was Keith Christmas, a great songwriter in his own right, who recommended McDonald be signed to the production company he was working for. In early 1970, she began recording her first album at Joe Boyd's studio, entitled The Shelagh McDonald Album; it featured beautiful contributions from the likes of Christmas, Keith Tippett, various members of Mighty Baby, as well as string arrangements by Robert Kirby (the gentleman who did the same for Nick Drake). In fact, the McDonald composition on here called "Ophelia's Song," what with those characteristic Kirby strings and woodwinds, sounds exactly like a long lost outtake from Bryter Layter. The record was critically well-received at the time, with lots of press speculation that she was soon to inherit all the plaudits that were usually directed towards Sandy Denny. Nevertheless, Album failed to do well commercially.

This didn't stop her from immediately planning her second album, and the following year she reconvened in the studio with a band that included Danny Thompson from the Pentangle, Richard Thompson and Dave Mattacks from Fairport Convention, and Robert Kirby back in the arranging chair. Stargazer is every bit the equal to her first, a low key suite of songs that cements her status as one of the greatest female singer songwriters of the early-'70s. And then that was it, her final masterpiece was released and less than a year later she either vanished or totally dropped out of the scene, it seems none of her friends nor partners in crafting these works ever heard from her again. Repeated attempts of finding her over the last 30 years have all come to naught. A pity then, that a singer whose albums bear comparison to the best of the likes of Joni Mitchell or Judee Sill and whom Robert Kirby claims had a better voice than Nick Drake, has been relegated to lingering obscurity. Hopefully, having both her albums in print again will do something to rectify that situation, and maybe we'll even find out what she's been doing all these years. [MK]






http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/features/article294201.ece

Mystery woman
Shelagh McDonald was on her way to being a folk star in the Seventies when she disappeared. Charles Donovan investigates

Published: 23 June 2005


On the cusp of fame and fortune in 1972, talented and critically acclaimed songwriter Shelagh McDonald disappeared. Now her music is back in print, but the royalties remain uncollected, and her whereabouts are a mystery.

A performer and composer with the poise of Joni Mitchell and the whimsy of Nick Drake. That was McDonald. But after unleashing two albums, she vanished. No one has seen her for 33 years. No death records exist to confirm the worst, yet her former collaborators are somehow certain she is alive.

McDonald came to London from Edinburgh in the 1960s and was feted by Melody Maker, NME and ZigZag. She was a composer with promise, a voice blending the melancholy of Sandy Denny and the birdsong of Joan Baez, and a beauty who didn't capitalise on her looks. Signed to Sandy Roberton's B&C Records, she didn't move many units with her first outing (1970's artlessly entitled Shelagh McDonald Album), but a second album was to prove a dramatic leap forward. However, within months of the release of Stargazer, a mini-masterpiece from 1971, she was nowhere to be found, and her phone had been disconnected.

There are rumours of a disastrous LSD experience, a move to North America, a career as a children's author, reinvention as a teller of folk stories in US, and the possibility of death. No theory has panned out, though none has been entirely disproved. Now her music is back in print, in the form of Let No Man Steal Your Thyme, a compilation comprising everything else she's known to have recorded. It's clocking up the kind of sales that McDonald never enjoyed when she was in the public eye.

Her friends and collaborators can shed little light on what happened to her. Keith Christmas, the singer/songwriter instrumental in landing Shelagh her record deal, recalls first seeing her at the Troubador. "She seemed so talented. The audience was in love with her - she had an elfin, raggedy-dress quality that downplayed her femininity and a strong Scottish reserve that made her mysterious."

Despite product in the stores, good reviews, and a "new Sandy Denny" sobriquet, McDonald was in trouble, as Keith Christmas witnessed: "She'd moved to a horrible block of flats in Islington just like the Gorbals, with about the same amount of soul."

McDonald is thought to have made only moderate use of narcotics, but moderation alone can spell disaster for some. "The last I heard, she'd had a bad trip, been taken to hospital and her parents had come to take her back," says Christmas. "She was a lovely person and deserved a lot more from some of her so-called advisers than she got. She was as a shy and gentle soul who somehow got lost in a nightmare."

Robert Kirby, arranger both to McDonald and to Nick Drake, remembers an upbeat woman. "She was jolly, very big smile, lots of conversation, great fun to be with." He doesn't think that her Islington flat brought about her downfall. "Yes, it was a tenement with grimy corridors, but when you're 22 that doesn't matter. I didn't really encounter her in depressed mode."

Kirby isn't certain that a bad acid trip is all McDonald was up against, and that an intense relationship with an unidentified man may have prompted her to flee. "It was not making her happy, that's my reading, and she was trying to get away from it."

Sandy Roberton has no leads. "I know she left London and went back up to Scotland. I just hope she is happy." There is no documented evidence of McDonald's death, and an APB put out on her in America has yielded nothing. McDonald's admirers and colleagues, including Geoff, who runs a website about her music, don't want to force her out of hiding.They just want her to know that the music that spilt from her soul remains locked in their hearts.

There is a groundswell of goodwill awaiting Shelagh, should she reappear, and one last twist: her royalties remain uncollected. She may have no interest in the funds owed to her, but to reassure her fellow musicians and longstanding fans that she is alive and well would be a much appreciated gesture.

'Let No Man Steal Your Thyme' is out now on Castle/Sanctuary records.
To find out more about Shelagh, visit www.btinternet.com/~blackvelvet/






During the late 1960s and early 1970s many female folk singers appear inspired by such as Joan Baez, Sandy Denny, Anne Briggs and Melanie.  Shelagh McDonald from Scotland was one such singer and one of rare talent.  It is therefore sad that little is known of her and that she only made two albums before seeming to disappear.  Her first album in 1970 was a well received folk album that sat between contemporary and traditional styles and managed the tricky task of being accepted by both of these camps.  The second album had high expectations and a number of the songs appeared in embryonic form on compilation albums popular during the period.  Artists such as Dave Mattacks and Danny Thompson provide instrumental support providing a top quality backing.
Upon listening to the album the listener is immediately taken with the pure strong voice which while having folk credibility also seems to reach out in a more general way.  The songs themselves are generally at the popular end of folk with backing singers and singer-songwriter popular arrangements rather than being traditional in nature.  'Rod's Song' at the start is typical of this and is surprisingly up-tempo.  Each song is guided by acoustic guitar or piano supporting the vocal excellently such as on the second song 'Liz's Song'.  'Lonely King' is a pensive slow ballad with solo piano.  'City's Cry' starts an ordinary folk ballad before eerie cello enters briefly joined by Danny Thompson's bass.  'Dowie Dens of Yarrow' is particularly interesting as it is a folk-rock version of the traditional song more typical of the Sandy Denny line-up of Fairport Convention than a solo artist.  It commences with organ, guitar and cymbal washes before Dave Mattacks begins his rolling exploratory tom tom work along with a subdued but probing bass line.  The vocal is entrancing, searching amongst the words and carrying this more powerful tune with ease.  'Canadian Man' has a lovely melody based around vocal and piano that reminds strongly of later Kate Bush on her 'Woman's Work' album.  'Good Times' has a rolling languid folk-pop feel with organ and saxophone that is similar to Van Morrison.  'Odyssey' is a longer work that moves from simple folk into more rocky sections with electric guitar soloing and is in the style of artists like Trees.
On the last track of the album 'Stargazer' the artist reaches a pinnacle with a string led slower song accentuated by piano with a beautiful understated vocal performance.  This song reaches out in a way that not many are able to.  The strings are arranged by Robert Kirby of Nick Drake fame but here are more dramatic and emotional, rising and falling with the flow of the music.  At 2:44 deep massed male vocals join providing a kind of choir which then expands with strings and female voices into a stunning crescendo of devastating emotional power.  this track seems fairly unique in folk music, indeed if it were not for the melody line it would not be classified as folk music.
On the CD of the album  the album is completed with versions of a number of songs from compilation albums and left over sessions.  'Road to Paradise' is a driving up-tempo rocky song.  'Sweet Sunlight' is a piano and vocal song notable for an excellent melody.  'Spin' goes through two increasingly rocky versions that shows the artists may have evolved into something entirely different is she had continued to record.
So overall we have an excellent progressive folk album that stretches the form into new forms taking in rock and orchestral music.  In using the piano comprehensively it is fairly unique for the time.  On some tracks such as 'Dowie Dens of Yarrow', 'Odyssey' and especially 'Stargazer' she achieves a unique sound and it is a shame that there are not any further albums to continue the development of this now mysterious and missed artist.


https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vVEMF2ZnQMW08S7SCmhNcUz9ao4Wvkv3?usp=sharing