Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind (Singles and Demos 1964 to 1967)

iTunes Review

Rolling Stones’ producer Andrew “Loog” Oldham took on a number of pop protégés in the mid-60s, Vashti Bunyan among them. Bunyan went on to record the obscure chamber folk-pop classic Just Another Diamond Day with producer Joe Boyd before disappearing for thirty years. These are Bunyan’s earliest recordings, including an entire set of demos she recorded in a London studio that were found in her brother’s attic while researching this collection. Much like Marianne Faithfull, another Oldham protégé, or Francoise Hardy, Bunyan shades towards artfully melancholy pop with gentle orchestration supporting a voice enveloped in reverb. The title track is an obscure Jagger-Richards composition, while the sublime b-side, “I Want To Be Alone” comes from young Bunyan’s pen. “Winter Is Blue” once appeared on the Let’s All Make Love in London soundtrack in edited form. Several other singles, “Coldest Night of the Year” and “I’d Like to Walk Around in Your Mind,” were left unreleased, dooming and frustrating Bunyan’s pop career. Forty years later, they see the light of day – quite a bit late for any potential pop impact, but surely of considerable interest for anyone enamored with the ‘60s pop era.