"Hysterical Dysphonia" -- which sounds amazingly
like the name of an electronica act -- was the end of what could have been
a truly astonishing career. From Linda's notes, it just got too hard to sing,
and that's truly sad, because, along with the late Sandy Denny and Steeleye
Span's long-time singer, Maddy Prior, Linda was one of the truly unique and
beautiful voices to come from the late-Sixties London folk/rock scene.
I'd give this album five stars for performances, but it only gets four stars
overall based on its exclusion of songs i had hoped it would include -- most
specifically, "You Can't Stop the Girl", the opening track from her one solo
album, "One Clear Moment", which has been covered by folkies, rockers, local
riot grrl groups and country artists.
That gripe aside, there is enough to the good on this album that i unhesitatingly
recommend it to anyone who enjoys folk/rock or simply beautiful vocal music,
or to anyone who has listened to the albums Linda recorded with ex-husband
Richard Thompson and thought of her as nothing more than "Richard's vocalist".
The version of RT's "Dimming of the Day" included here is almost worth the
price of admission all by itself, for that matter, even without the accompanying
story in the liner notes about holding hands with one of the Everly Brothers
as they sang "Dimming of the Day" to *her*... |
