{"id":6897,"date":"2025-03-05T16:29:52","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T16:29:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/?p=6897"},"modified":"2025-03-05T16:29:52","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T16:29:52","slug":"issue-161-judy-collins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/?p=6897","title":{"rendered":"Issue #161 \u2013 Judy Collins"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>In the late \u201960s, folk trailblazer JUDY COLLINS traded the traditional model for dazzling baroque chamber music and Canyon-country across a run of brilliant albums, broke Stephen Stills\u2019 heart and discovered all your favourite songwriters. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>MARTIN RUDDOCK knows where the time goes<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Judy Collins - Wildflowers (1967) Part 1 (Full Album)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wsZQ6ASWWSA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"Default\"><i>Wildflowers <\/i>would be Judy Collins most ambitious work yet, dialling back the more strident theatrical element of <i>In My Life<\/i>, but taking Judy\u2019s love of Brel a step further by singing \u2018La chanson des vieux amants\u2019 (\u2018The Song Of Old Lovers\u2019) in French. She also tackled Francesco Landini\u2019s 14th Century lament \u2018A Ballata of Francesco Landini \u2013 Lasso! di donna\u2019 in Italian.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"Default\">Cohen still didn\u2019t have a record out yet, and Judy pre-empted him again, cutting spellbinding versions of \u2018Sisters Of Mercy\u2019 and \u2018Priests\u2019 (which Leonard never released himself), and duetted with herself on \u2018Hey, That&#8217;s No Way To Say Goodbye\u2019. \u2018Since You Asked\u2019 was joined by two equally gorgeous new tunes from Judy\u2019s pen, the bereft \u2018Sky Fell\u2019 (in which she asked, \u201cWhat will I do with the sky \/ When it is empty? \/ What will I do with my life \/ When you have left me?\u201d), and the almost five-minute \u2018Albatross\u2019, which edged towards Cohen\u2019s oblique imagery.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"Default\">There was another new discovery from Canada in the mix. Earlier in the year, Judy had woken from a heavy night to a wee hours phone call from an animated Al Kooper, who\u2019d been lodging with Judy. Kooper, in the middle of bailing from The Blues Project had gone back to The Lower East Side apartment of a young singer-songwriter after a show, perhaps not with entirely honourable intentions. Blown away by her songs, Kooper put Joni Mitchell on the line.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"Default\">Accounts of this night vary quite a bit. According to Judy it was in the spring and, depending on the telling, she either headed straight over to meet Joni, or met her the next day with Jac Holzman in tow. According to Kooper\u2019s memoirs, it was July, and \u201cJudy was pretty pissed off\u201d at being woken up as she was leaving for The Newport Folk Festival in the morning. He talked a grudging Judy, who was on Newport\u2019s board, into putting Joni on the bill without hearing her sing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"Default\">Whatever really happened, Judy put Joni on alongside Cohen at Newport, and her two discoveries had a fling. Collins recorded \u2018Michael From Mountains\u2019 for <i>Wildflowers<\/i>, but everyone was excited about \u2018Both Sides Now\u2019 \u2013 cut at Columbia Studios in September, which Rifkin arranged as chiming chamber-pop, providing a distinctive harpsichord lick.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"Default\">Judy continued recording Joni\u2019s songs, and felt the pair were friends, but things soured after Mitchell started releasing her own albums. &#8220;Joni has nothing nice to say about <i>anyone<\/i>,&#8221; Collins told Liz Thomson for <i>Tortoise <\/i>in 2019. &#8220;I&#8217;m never on her invitation list. I made her a star, yet \u2018Both Sides Now\u2019 makes her mad as hell.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"Default\"><i>Wildflowers<\/i> was a Top 10 album, and well-received by most, but <i>Melody Maker<\/i>\u2019s Karl Dallas, still rattled at her \u201cfolk traitor\u201d status, penned a passive-aggressive piece in January \u201968, blaming Judy\u2019s orchestrations for kickstarting a new wave of folkies-with-strings, which, despite left-handed compliments he appeared particularly annoyed by. \u201cI&#8217;m holding you primarily responsible, Judy Collins. You and your brilliant young arranger Josh Rifkin produced such a lovely album when you combined things like songs from the <i>Marat\/Sade<\/i> play and a Paul McCartney <i>(sic)<\/i> number with clever and sensitive arrangements, that now everyone&#8217;s doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"Default\">Others were politely appalled when Judy started doing shows with an electric backing band in \u201968. The noise made by keyboardist Michael Sahl, bassist Chris Ethridge and drummer Maury Baker was modest compared to the electric mayhem of Dylan and The Hawks in \u201966, but folk purists weren\u2019t impressed. \u201cShe was hindered by the over-powering organ, drums and bass guitar of the back-up group \u2013 in itself a disturbing departure from her normal performances with unelectrified guitar and voice,\u201d sniffed <i>Village Voice<\/i>\u2019s Stephen MH Braitman, reviewing a show at Doug Weston\u2019s Troubadour that June.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"Default\">That trad folk versus modernity argument would come up again and again over the years. \u201cWhat traditional music does for us is to remind us again of the fact again that we&#8217;re human beings and that we&#8217;re beset by so many problems, and also so many shared joys, and I think that&#8217;s what a great deal of contemporary music reminds us of \u2014 such as that of Joni Mitchell, or Leonard Cohen, or Sandy Denny, who is a terrific writer, or The Incredible String Band, who I love,&#8221; Judy argued to <i>NME <\/i>in October 1971.<\/p>\n<p><em>To read the full article order the magazine <a href=\"https:\/\/www.silverbackpublishing.rocks\/product\/shindig_161\/\">here<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<span class=\"synved-social-container synved-social-container-share\"><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-facebook nolightbox\" data-provider=\"facebook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F6897&#038;t=Issue%20%23161%20%E2%80%93%20Judy%20Collins&#038;s=100&#038;p&#091;url&#093;=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F6897&#038;p&#091;images&#093;&#091;0&#093;=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F03%2FScreenshot-2025-03-05-at-14.11.04-3.png&#038;p&#091;title&#093;=Issue%20%23161%20%E2%80%93%20Judy%20Collins\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Facebook\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/facebook.png\" \/><\/a><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-twitter nolightbox\" data-provider=\"twitter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share on Twitter\" href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F6897&#038;text=New%20post%20on%20our%20site\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"twitter\" title=\"Share on Twitter\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/twitter.png\" \/><\/a><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-mail nolightbox\" data-provider=\"mail\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share by email\" href=\"mailto:?subject=Issue%20%23161%20%E2%80%93%20Judy%20Collins&#038;body=New%20post%20on%20our%20site:%20https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F6897\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"mail\" title=\"Share by email\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/mail.png\" \/><\/a><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the late \u201960s, folk trailblazer JUDY COLLINS traded the traditional model for dazzling baroque chamber music and Canyon-country across a run of brilliant albums, broke Stephen Stills\u2019 heart and discovered all your favourite songwriters. MARTIN RUDDOCK knows where the time goes Wildflowers would be Judy Collins most ambitious work yet, dialling back the more [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1009,7],"tags":[1186],"class_list":["post-6897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine","category-music-videos","tag-judy-collins","post_format-post-format-video"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6897"}],"version-history":[{"count":-4,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}