Dory Previn

I'm sad to hear that Dory Previn has died, but quite impressed that somebody as non-mainstream should be featured on the Radio 4 news. I do wonder if one of the editors is a fan and swung things a little? It was odd to hear clips of songs that I thought so personal and confessional (and so directed at me) on national radio.

Currently flying to star-stained heights...

I've been greatly enjoying Dory Previn's Mythical Kings and Iguanas since buying it on CD a few weeks back (Mary C. Brown and the Hollywood Sign is currently playing). This is a much loved album for me, but one that I'd not heard for a good many years. One of my older brothers (possibly Colin) had it on cassette, and it was played many times as a background to much of my childhood, so that even after a gap of over a decade the sequence of tracks and many of the lyrics are still familiar.

Returning with a bit of maturity, I just about understand the lyrics of the title track, note for the first time the desperation of the Lady with the Braid, and generally marvel at the quality of this greatly underrated masterwork from 1971.

The version I have is slightly spoiled by having another album on the same disc. Good value, yes, and there are some good tracks here too, but the juxtaposition inevitably makes it hard for anything that tries to follow this brilliantly structured album.

The reprise of the title track is playing now. Up we go, on bent and battered wings...