About five years after briefly surfacing as part of
Andrew Loog Oldham
's stable,
Vashti
-- now billing herself with her full name,
Vashti Bunyan
-- made her only album. A folkier and more serious-minded effort than her initial mid-'60s recordings, it is a pleasing yet overly dainty slice of British rock-tinged folk, produced by
Joe Boyd
. A certain similarity to some other acts under
Boyd
's supervision, such as
the Incredible String Band
and
Fairport Convention
, was assured by contributions from
the ISB
's
Robin Williamson
Fairport
Dave Swarbrick
Simon Nicol
. For good measure, there were string and recorder arrangements by
Robert Kirby
, who had done some string arrangements for
Nick Drake
, another
-produced artist. Comprised solely of original material,
Just Another Diamond Day
contained dignified yet slightly sad ruminations with a pastoral, indeed rural feel, imbued with images of solitary meditations upon rain, wind, sunsets, and open fields. The drum-less, acoustic arrangements yielded an intimate ambience well-suited for
's fragile, measured, almost despondently wispy vocals. These were rather in the manner of
Marianne Faithfull
's highest and most whispery early efforts, albeit with far folkier setting and more vivid lyrics. The CD reissue of this rarity (on
Spinney
) is enhanced by four bonus tracks that, with an oh-so-slight poppier bent, actually rate as the best material on the disc: the 1966 B-side
"Love Song,"
a pair of unreleased 1966-1967 acetates, and a 1969 version of
"Iris' Song"
(to be redone as
"Iris's Song for Us"
on the LP). It's too bad, though, that the other three songs from her official 1965-1966 singles weren't added, as well, to make this a more complete retrospective. ~ Richie Unterberger