Vivien Louizos
Psychology Teacher and Counsellor, aged 75
In 1969 when this album came out, I was a 21 years old student in London and used to go to folk clubs in Soho to listen to different live folk and blues music. I preferred the softer music to the heavier dance music of the time, and we all enjoyed sitting on the floor and losing ourselves, swaying and singing along sometimes.
The songs on this album remind me of that time. Hearing ‘who knows where the time goes’ is very evocative – reading the song title now many years later, it is very meaningful. I always loved Fairport Convention’s lyrics, they were poetic and sentimental and still move me when I hear them today. Sandy Denny’s voice had so much depth to it. I didn’t realise that she was from Kingston and that makes it ever more personal.
You can hear strong Celtic influences in songs such as Matty Groves, and I remember I moved to the West Country not long after and took up Morris dancing, so perhaps it had an influence on me! It does feel quintessentially English which is lovely as so much of the popular folk music was coming from America, with Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, and this gave that extra dimension that this was telling the stories of England and its traditions. The album was a full concept in that time – everything was so well considered from the album cover, to every song title.
Kingston link:
Leader singer Sandy Dennny was a Kingston local, playing on the Kingston Folk Barge and studying at the School of Art.
