Bridget St John is an English musician who recorded a series of albums between 1968 and 1974, after which she moved to the Greenwich Village scene in New York and essentially disappeared from the public eye until the 1990s. St John released another album in 1996, and has made appearances on some albums and tours with other musicians since. She was friends with and appeared alongside artists like Nick Drake, Paul Simon, David Bowie, John Martyn, and Michael Chapman during the earlier part of her career. This album, Songs for the Gentle Man (1971), was St John’s second album, and produced by Ron Geesin, who had worked with Pink Floyd. The folk rock album garnered her somewhat of a cult following in the United Kingdom at the time. I’m pretty stoked to give this one a listen, so with that said, I’m going to jump on into the music.
“A Day Away” begins with a delicate and breezy acoustic guitar line that seems accompanied by some flutes that seem to evoke the image of an English countryside. Oh wow, St John’s voice is super interesting, as it nearly has a delicate baritone register. Oh wow, there almost sounds to be a clarinet or something of the sort creating melodic movement in the background. Oh wow, this song seems to verge on discordance as the background instruments seem to meander in separate directions until meeting back up. Super interesting track, and I’m excited for the rest of the album.
“City-Crazy” begins very delicately again with some acoustic guitar work. Oh wow, the chorus effect on St John’s vocals nearly have a ghostly quality that is simultaneously seemingly rejoicing. Oh wow, I think I heard a violin for a moment, which increased the sweetness in this gentle tune by a ton. Great track.
“Early Morning Song” has a sound as though the music is pouring out of some ethereal plane, causing me to imagine the tune is what religious composers in the medieval and baroque periods in Europe might have used as a sort of divine inspiration for their writing. Wow, this quick tune is very pleasant. Great tune.
“Back to Stay” was originally written by John Martyn, and begins with some delicate folk guitar and what sounds to be some other delicate instrumentation such as a harp or piano; the combination of these sounds seems to evoke a somewhat earthly sound, especially with St John’s somewhat deep and somewhat raspy vocals. Wow, this track has a very pleasant arrangement and seems to evoke a starry night sky in the countryside with the twinkling of the keys behind the movements of the acoustic guitar. Very pleasant track.
Oh wow, “Seagull-Sunday” starts out with some quick movements from some orchestral strings, and the result is a tune with a sound that evokes a bustling English seaside at the start. Oh wow, the tune switches up to something that’s a much slower and much more gentle. I saw the comparison between St John’s voice and a cello, and at this point I would say that comparison is quite accurate. The tune picks up again to the intro sequence near the end, and with a ton of flavor. Super sweet tune.
Oh wow, “If You’d Been There” begins with some pleasant folk guitar that reminds me a bit of Bert Jansch’s version of “Rosemary Lane”. The guitar work combined with St John’s vocals combines for a very pleasant listening experience thus far. Oh wow, there’s a second guitar part that adds some super flavorful folksy accentuations during a bit of an instrumental break that only features the two acoustic guitars. Oh wow, the guitar in this tune is super flavorful, and seems to hit notes that resolves tension that had built up during the album, unbeknownst to me, and continues building on the tension as well. Super sweet track
Oh wow, “Song for the Laird of Connaught Hall – Part 2” starts with with some super flavorful guitar work that reminds me of some of St John’s English contemporaries like Richard Thompson and Fairport Convention as well as Bert Jansch and Pentangle. Great quick tune.
“Making Loser Better” begins with some delicate brushes of acoustic guitar chords that nearly sound Spanish in origin. Soon, St John’s vocals come into the soundscape and gives the tune a bit of a solemn feel, which gradually builds to a more optimistic sound as the tune progresses. Wow, the tune ends in a super pleasant manner. Great track.
“The Lady and the Gentle Man” begins with some slow building orchestral instrumentation, which nearly sounds as though you’re listening to it from outside the concert hall it is being performed in, and gradually clears up as the tune progresses. Oh wow, St John hits some super sweet high notes as she brings her vocals to a higher register in this song, verging on falsetto at times. Oh wow, the guitar work that seems to be in between St John’s vocals and the increasingly clear orchestral instrumentation seems to connect and accentuate the tune quite nicely. Great tune.
Oh wow, “Downderry Daze” begins with some folksy acoustic guitar work that once again feels reminiscent of St John’s English folk contemporaries. Oh wow, the folksy flute in this track really brings you back to the English countryside from the first track, while the orchestral instrumentation adds to the sweetness of this feeling and location that the song evokes. St John’s vocals have a super flavorful raspiness that makes this tune feel as though it could have been played in some old Beat club a decade prior, with a haziness of cigarette smoke in the air and like-minded folks enjoying the music in the midst of night. Great track.
“The Pebble and the Man” is a tune originally by Donovan, and St John’s version seems to evoke a sunset on the English coast with the gentle acoustic guitar work creating twinkling melodies that seem to invite a starry sky. Oh wow, the background chorus vocals are super flavorful with the male bass vocalist alongside some other folksy vocals in different registers, filling up the soundscape with pleasant and cheery sounds. Great track.
“It Seems Very Strange” seems to have a solemn feel once again that nearly has a bit of a folksy baroque sort of sound with the instrumentation and St John’s vocals. Great short track and a super interesting and sweet way to finish the album.
I’m glad I was able to check out this album by Bridget St John tonight. St John’s vocals were super intriguing, and had a sort of deep, somewhat hazy cello-like sound, as though she smoked a cigarette or something between each track. I could hear themes that I somewhat recognized from her contemporaries at the time that were presented with an original sound. If you dig pleasant folk music with British folk inflections, you might want to consider checking out this album. If you do decide to give this album a listen, I sincerely hope that you enjoy the listening experience at least as much as I did.
-A