After issuing three excellent records on
John Peel's short-lived Dandelion imprint between 1969 and 1972, British folk singer
Bridget St. John found herself at an impasse. Shortly after releasing fourth album
Jumblequeen in 1974,
St. John would relocate from the U.K. to New York City, where she would all but disappear from the stage, working on new material in her own time but making almost no public appearances until re-emerging in the mid-'90s.
From There/To Here: UK/US Recordings 1974-1982 focuses on this nebulous time in
St. John’s creative output, collecting
Jumblequeen, her 1995 outing
Take the 5ifth (which was a collection of odds and ends from various sessions conducted after her 1975 move to New York), and 17 additional archival tracks that hadn't been previously released, made up of songs recorded during her initial years out of the spotlight.
Taken on its own,
Jumblequeen is a beautiful album, and a logical extension of the gentle, autumnal folk with the slightest hints of psychedelia that
St. John had presented on her first three albums. Moments that experiment with greasy rock songwriting and wah-wah guitar ("Curious & Wooly," jumpy opener "Sparrowpit") are largely outnumbered by soft and contemplative acoustic tunes with tastefully restrained strings. Additional recordings made in the U.K. around the same time have a similar feel, with previously unreleased tracks like the spare "Nancy Alice (Later)" and a downtempo cover of
Dylan's "Just Like a Woman" being highlights of the collection.
From There/To Here becomes more of a mixed bag after its first disc, reflecting the transitional time
St. John was experiencing after her move to the States. Material released on the 1995 collection
Take the 5ifth was recorded in New York between 1975 and 1982, and the songs move toward a style akin with the FM radio pop and soft rock that was en vogue at the time. Hushed songs like "Make-Me-Whole" and the lovely "Song for John" could fit into earlier phases of
St. John's discography, but overly peppy tunes like "You Make It All Right," "Crazy Heart," and "Chamille" feel like bids for airplay, with production and instrumentation borrowing aspects of
Fleetwood Mac,
Carole King, and other trendsetters of the mid-'70s. The lion's share of unreleased material comes from New York sessions where
St. John tried different arrangements for her songs. More restrained versions of tracks like "Feel My Love" or "I Need It Sometimes" show up alongside other various experiments.
From There/To Here is a perfect companion piece to
Cherry Red's compilations chronicling
St. John's better-known early material, and it highlights the searching energy of this more private phase when she was quietly trying new things with her art as the world rolled on outside. ~ Fred Thomas