...bridgets debut was the first LP released on john peels perfectly formed dandelion records in the summer of 1969 and no cat could ask for a better sound than what greets the listener, a kind of pop long hair folk groove but her voice is what singles this out from the countless other dull folk biscuits that spread out into the market place at the end of the 60's...she's got a beautiful off centre hippy sound like a notting hill/ladbroke grove nico with a slightly better disposition, not as domineering as the german chantuse...sparse guitars (john martin plays on this) and bongos keep this in the warm personal zone as the tunes float by on a cloud of sweet smoke...groovy sunny afternoons spent in quiet contemplation by the imagined river bank would suit this as a listening takes place especially the title track...naturally such a wonderful wispful disc slipped between the cracks as modern folk/college ears were being atuned to the caroles and jonis of laurel canyon while the hep london songstress carried on in abandoned isolation...
...very nice follow up wax, this second go round has some old style light orchestration behind bridgets voice and strumming courtesy of ron geesin...possibly not as immediate as the first but its a mighty fine effort, well ahead of any others in the field at the time but again it didn't sell too well and went largely unnoticed...again on the dandelion label and again showed that john peel was right to place his faith in her artistic abilities if not her ability to make any dough...this LP is more appropriate for lofty and dusty garret listening late in the evening when the outside world has disappeared from view...the sounds will envelope the waiting listener and transport them to other, more ethereal worlds...
...third long player from bridget and the sound has once more changed, this time it's more full, fleshed out with many instuments though none get in the way of bridgets captivating voice...there's some slight country sounds filtered through an albion pastorialism, obviously in some effort to garner sales through some possible desire to affect a transatlantic posture, but this doesn't take anything away from the overall picture of afternoons spent lazing by the river...in the attempt for some commercialism in the colonies there some covers of yankee tunes by bob zimmerman/buddy holly which may have hurt sales to her original admirers but today they sound okay if slightly out of place...this reissue comes with some contemporary live tracks recorded in france...
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