IN ONE of her now rare concert appearances in Britain, Sandy Denny came to the Howff last week and proved in just over an hour that she really is one of today’s greatest vocal talents. She has complete and utter control over her strong if sometimes strange voice and at times, when seated at the piano, she sounded just a little like a female Gilbert O’Sullivan.
She sings her own material. Traditional songs seem to have been deleted from her repertoire, but she did conclude the evening with ‘Until The Real Thing Comes along’, a jazz standard from the 30s.
Most memorable were two new songs, hopefully both to be included on her forthcoming album. They were ‘Solo’, a difficult song, she said, in the “every man is an island'” mould describing how life is a solo performance by each individual, and ‘Like an Old Fashioned Waltz’, a tribute to nostalgia