1/5/10
Hippie Love
In the mid sixties, Vashti Bunyan was 'discovered' by the then Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham, who signed her to a recording contract at Decca records and gave her an original Jagger/Richards composition to record, this led to her recording for both Columbia and Intermediate records, however after little success Bunyan decided to leave the music business and city life behind and head for a remote Scottish island in a horse-drawn wagon in search of an artistic commune established by Donovan.
It was during this journey north that she wrote the beautiful folk lullabies which would later make up Just Another Diamond Day. By the time she'd made it to her destination, she found that the commune had never gotten off the ground, and no one was left. Upon her returned to London, Bunyan was urged by the legendary producer Joe Boyd (who had already produced Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, and The Incredible String Band) to record the songs she had amassed on her journeys and make an album for his Witchseason Productions company.
The recording sessions for Just Another Diamond Day took place in December 1969 in London with the help of string arranger Robert Kirby (who also worked with Nick Drake on his first two albums), Simon Nicol & Dave Swarbrick (Fairport Convention) and Robin Williamson (The Incredible String Band). The album was released in late 1970 to little attention and feeling like a failure for the second time Bunyan once again abandoned music in favor of other journeys and a life of obscurity.
Over the subsequent decades Just Another Diamond Day started to receive attention from record collectors and music fans, but things really started to change in 2000 when the album was first released on CD and Vashti started to receive the attention that she deserved, most notably from a new generation of musicians including Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom and Animal Collective with whom she recorded an EP entitled Prospect Hummer.
Personnel
Vashti Bunyan - Acoustic guitar, vocals
Simon Nicol - Banjo
Dave Swarbrick - Mandolin, Fiddle
Robin Williamson - Fiddle, Whistle, Irish Harp
Joe Boyd - Producer
Jerry Boys - Engineer
Robert Kirby - Strings & Recorder
ArrangementsRobert Lewis - Drawing
Tracks
Side A:
1. Diamond Day
2. Glow Worms
3. Lilly Pond
4. Timothy Grub
5. Where I Like to Stand
6. Swallow Song
7. Window Over the Bay
Side B:
8. Rose Hip November
9. Come Wind Come Rain
10. Hebridean Sun
11. Rainbow River
12. Trawlerman's Song
13. Jog Along Bess
14. Iris's Song for Us
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