Monday 15 August 2011

Buffy Sainte-Marie - 'He's A Keeper Of The Fire'

Have you seen this month's edition of 'Mojo'? The one guest edited by Noel Gallagher? The one with a Buffy Sainte-Marie song on the free CD given away with the magazine? The CD compiled by Noel Gallagher? Unfortunately, I haven't. It seems to be out of stock in every newsagents I go into.

I've definitely been blind-sided by this one. I like to think I'm, if not ahead of the crowd, at least up with the crowd when it comes to Buffy stuff, but this has totally passed me by. The free CD includes Buffy's 'He's A Keeper Of The Fire' from 'Illuminations', her experimental album from 1969 that started playing with electronic effects and studio twiddling to see what new sounds she could produce. 'Keeper' has been one of my favourite Buffy songs along with 'Better To Find Out For Yourself' (also from 'Illuminations') since I first heard in on Buffy's double 'Best Of' album in 1976. It's full of aggressive, wailing guitars, screeching and yowling with Buffy's voice soaring to the top over it.

I'm still going to try to track down the magazine. I want to see what Noel says about the song and whether he explains why he's included it on the compilation CD. I'm nosey like that. It's potentially opening up new audiences for Buffy and they need to know she's still recording and performing, and is still as challenging and active as she ever was. They need to know that she played in London just a couple of months ago and will, hopefully, return in the not-too-distant future.

I've never seen Buffy play this song live and I'd love to. That's why finding this performance on YouTube has made me happy. This is Buffy back in the day giving it a great performance - 40 years after this was filmed and she's still got the moves.

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