Just Another Diamond Day

About five years after briefly surfacing as part of Andrew Loog Oldham's stable, Vashti -- now billing herself with her full name, Vashti Bunyan -- made her only album. A folkier and more serious-minded effort than her initial mid-'60s recordings, it is a pleasing yet overly dainty slice of British rock-tinged folk, produced by Joe Boyd. A certain similarity to some other acts under Boyd's supervision, such as the Incredible String Band and Fairport Convention, was assured by contributions from the ISB's Robin Williamson and Fairport's Dave Swarbrick and Simon Nicol. For good measure, there were string and recorder arrangements by Robert Kirby, who had done some string arrangements for Nick Drake, another Boyd-produced artist. Comprised solely of original material, Just Another Diamond Day contained dignified yet slightly sad ruminations with a pastoral, indeed rural feel, imbued with images of solitary meditations upon rain, wind, sunsets, and open fields. The drum-less, acoustic arrangements yielded an intimate ambience well-suited for Vashti's fragile, measured, almost despondently wispy vocals. These were rather in the manner of Marianne Faithfull's highest and most whispery early efforts, albeit with far folkier setting and more vivid lyrics. The CD reissue of this rarity (on Spinney) is enhanced by four bonus tracks that, with an oh-so-slight poppier bent, actually rate as the best material on the disc: the 1966 B-side "Love Song," a pair of unreleased 1966-1967 acetates, and a 1969 version of "Iris' Song" (to be redone as "Iris's Song for Us" on the LP). It's too bad, though, that the other three songs from her official 1965-1966 singles weren't added, as well, to make this a more complete retrospective. 

一颗雪藏至今才发出夺目光芒的的“宝石”。Vashti Bunyan是60年代最被低估的民谣女歌手之一

1.Vashti Bunyan生于1945年，原本在英国剑桥大学攻读绘画与精细工艺批评学学位。但由于她经常翘课，写的歌比画的画还多，最终能幸免被开除的命运。

4.这张专辑就是Vashti在旅途中创作的。虽然一路的风景艰辛我们无缘体会，但歌者彼时平和冲淡的心境已经在歌声中暴露无遗了。1970年专辑发布后，却依旧无人问津。心灰意冷的Vashti彻底退出了音乐界，移居爱尔兰。一个歌手演唱生涯中最宝贵的30年，她选择与三个宝宝和她的宠物们呆在一起。

3.Vashti在纪录片《今夜，我们在伦敦做爱》（《Tonite Let’s All Make Love In London》）中演唱了她的“告别之歌”《Winter Is Blue》后，居然追随一个朋友创建的乌托邦公社，骑着马，驾着车，以一种绝对行者的姿态与态度，从伦敦南部一直云游至苏格兰沿海的赫布里底群岛。

2.Vashti在18岁的纽约之行中偶然听到了Bob Dylan的专辑《The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan》。那一瞬她觉得歌唱才是自己的宿命。无巧不成书。回到伦敦，Vashti居然心想事成地被“滚石乐队”的经理人Andrew Loog Oldham发现，推出了几首单曲。

6.2000年，《Just Another Diamond Day》再发行。2002年，30年的沉寂后，57岁的Vashti复出。

一見鐘情的一張專 太美好 太美好了

5.繁华落尽，耳朵终是要复归于平静之声的。在这段漫长的岁月里，在Vashti几乎完全不知情的情况下，她美妙如诗的嗓音渐渐为世人所发觉，原版专辑《Just Another Diamond Day》在eBay上竟卖到了2000美元的天价。

此次错误，应该是牛津大学的艺术学院（ The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art at Oxford University）