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Size: 91.9 MB
Bitrate: 256
mp3
Ripped by: ChrisGoesRock
Artwork Included
Source: Japan 24-Bit Remaster

In 1974, Bridget signed to Chrysalis Records and released her 4th album, Jumblequeen. This was a great folk-rock album, produced by Leo Lyons of the band Ten Years After. The album includes support from excellent musicians including the folk guitarist Stefan Grossman, Chick Churchill (Ten Years After) and Mike Giles (King Crimson). It also features harmony vocals from Beverley Martin.

Interview in 1995:
It seemed like you weren't going anywhere career-wise in the UK when you moved there. Two years between albums...
Definitely. I remember saying to people that I felt creatively as if I was walking down a cul-de-sac. I could go on doing college gigs and it was all lovely, but I didn't feel I was being stretched at all. I need something to stretch me, it’s hard to motivate myself constantly. And New York definitely stretches me. All the time. Plus it was very hard with the Chrysalis thing. It was very clear they didn't care about that album ["Jumblequeen"].

Were you still signed to Chrysalis?
Yeah. What happened was, they didn't pick up the option for another album, but they had my publishing for five years, so that was really frustrating. Everything I wrote would be theirs and they weren't doing anything with it. But when I came to the States, Mark Goodman, who was then running the Chrysalis office, was much more open to letting me go and make demoes.

So that's how you got to record those four tracks that were added to the BGO reissue of "Jumblequeen"?
No, not all of them. "Curious & Wooly" I paid for. That was done at Right Track with Steve Burg who did Steve Forbert's first album. "Easy Come, Easy Go" Chrysalis did pay for.

How quickly did you assimilate yourself into the New York scene?
In terms of playing gigs? My first gig was in June of 1977 so it took me almost a year - 10 months. Having said that, I was in Canada for three and a half months of those. I'd been talking to Island Records, they'd heard "Moody" and really liked it and they were half thinking of doing something with me, but then I left for Canada. When I got back, my first gig was at Kenny's Castaway opening for John Martyn. From there it was relatively easy to get gigs.

Bridget St John originally signed to John Peels "Dandelion " record label but after that folded in 1973 she was without a label and subsequent flirtations with Virgin and Rocket came to nothing.

Fortunately , as so often happens , it was a contact who helped her land a deal with Chrysalis and soon she was back in the studio( Morgan Studios in London where they had problems with traffic noise during the sessions) recording her fourth album "Jumblequeen" which many consider to be her finest album.

This being my first taste of Bridget St John i cannot make that claim one way or the other but what I can state without fear of contradiction is that "Jumblequeen " is a very fine album with moments of hushed beauty and a surprising range of influences and styles.

"Some Kind Of Beautiful" for instance encompasses elements of reggae & jazz but with a rock solo in the middle. "Song For The Waterden Widow" has a stunning baroque string arrangement that recalls, as artists from that time so often seem to do, Nick Drake as his most spectrally forlorn.

The albums starts with a spry paean to her Peak District home "Sparrowpit" but a ballad about the break up of her marriage "I Don't Know if I Can Take It Anymore" is the stand out track , with a tremendous vocal performance and some sensitively played piano.

St John isn't the strongest vocalist in terms of the range and power of her voice but she an appealing tremulous characteristic to her tone of voice and it, also possesses an emollient quality that is very pleasant indeed.

Occasionally you feel a song -"Curious And Woolly" or "Last Goodnight" - for instance could encompass a more vibrant melodic edge but either way they are still terrific songs while the title track sees her really stretch her vocal chords and has some satisfactorily moody moog courtesy of Chick Churchill

"Sweet Painted Lady "has a tipsy ragtime vibe while" Long Long Time" is augmented by stately cello and some divine tippling piano.

The three bonus tracks are good enough to warrant inclusion which is so often not the case with bonus tracks. "Bumper To Bumper2 has some intricate guitar and harmony vocals from Pete Barrowman though the recording is a little muddy.

"Jumblequeen" is another welcome and overdue re-issue of another artist who hasn't received the plaudits and more importantly the sales that her music deserves. (See also Judee Sill, Catherine Howe, and Karen Dalton)

It, s doubtful this re-issue will re-dress that erroneous balance too much but at least it should ensure that Bridget St John becomes the jumblequeen of a few more hearts and that is surely a good thing.

01. Sparrowpit
02. Song For The Waterden Widow
03. I Don't Know If I Can Take It
04. Some Kind Of Beautiful
05. Last Goodnight
06. Curious And Woolly
07. Want To Be With You
08. Jumblequeen
09. Sweet Painted Lady
10. Long Long Time
11. 3DB Australia (Help Me Fly Again)
12. Bumper To Bumper
13. Grow