22/04/2009

Shelagh McDonald - Stargazer (1971)

«As much myth as musician, singer/songwriter Shelagh McDonald seemed poised to emerge as a major voice in British folk music when she abruptly vanished mere months after the release of her breakthrough LP. Born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland, McDonald arrived in London sometime in the late '60s. While performing at the Troubadour, she befriended fellow singer/songwriter Keith Christmas, who would prove instrumental in landing her a record deal with the B&C label. Album followed in 1970 to decent reviews but mediocre sales, but 1971's Stargazer was a far different story. With McDonald dubbed "the new Sandy Denny" by the U.K. music press, the record was a critical smash and sold respectably.

But after recording a handful of tracks for a proposed third LP, McDonald suddenly disappeared, leaving no clues to her rationale or her whereabouts. While many friends and fans speculated she returned to Scotland, unhappy with her life and career in London, others believed she fled to either the U.S. or Canada in an attempt to recover from a failed relationship or to cure a drug problem. In truth, it was a life-altering LSD trip that sent her into seclusion and also ruined her voice. After a time spent putting her life back together, she married a Scottish bookstore owner and drifted away from society again, only this time happily.
With the CD re-release o
f Album and Stargazer, her music was embraced by a new generation of fans, and in 2005 Castle/Sanctuary released Let No Man Steal Your Thyme, a compilation of McDonald's complete recorded output, including outtakes and demos. 2005 also was the year McDonald finally resurfaced. After reading a story about herself in The Scottish Daily Mail, she submitted to an interview that cleared up much of the mystery behind her disappearance.» (AMG)

Link in comments

14 comments:

DJ Radu said...

http://sharebee.com/8ef3817e

Joe said...

Great share!

rogue46 said...

hank you!

Dabchick said...

LSD ruined her voice?!? Never heard that one before. Turned me into a glass of orange juice, well, that I could understand :) It's an interesting story though, and I think I'll dig her Stargazing tunes.

Thanks for the share dude!

Anonymous said...

thank you !!

Reverend Smiling Man said...

Thank you very much indeed!

Folk music is my great love.
And I haven't heard of Shelagh McDonald before.

It directly went to my walkman,
yeah, walkman, still on the road
with cassettes these days. :-)

I shall see if my 2nd dealer has
heard something of her.

abeattie23 said...

many thanks....as a scot i am ashamed i didnt have this!

Tom said...

A beautiful, beautiful record. Thank you so much for sharing this.

Andy said...

Gorgeous music and vocals...reminiscent of Sandy Denny and Joni Mitchell. Thanks very much for posting this. You have a wonderful blog.

Best wishes from Canada.

Anonymous said...

Grande upload, grazie di cuore.. per me che non ho vissuto quegli anni è un modo di ricordare quello che non ho vissuto. Si prova quasi una sorta di nostalgia..

Grazie ancora! Pietro, Verona, 17 anni.

Terry said...

Many thanks.

Anonymous said...

link doesn't seem to work anymore...consider a repost? :)

M said...

Link does work. Thank you very much! Been looking for this for ages, out of print...

gyula said...

thank you