Just Another Diamond Day

Released

As an album of songs written during times of travel and change, Just Another Diamond Day couldn’t be more unprepossessing. Having roamed across Britain, to Scotland, in horse and carriage, to get to folk singer Donovan’s proposed musical commune, Bunyan and companions arrived to discover he’d abandoned the idea. But Bunyan had been writing songs on the way – gentle, muted songs, sitting somewhere between everyday folk melodies, and lullabies for children – that, when recorded by Joe Boyd across three days, achieved a kind of hymnal purity. It’s partly in Bunyan’s voice, a whispery hum that’s as graceful as it is shy; the album’s other musicians, including members of Fairport Convention and Incredible String Band, support Bunyan’s finger-web guitar figures playfully, but without whimsy. The album disappeared when released in 1970, but slowly accrued legend. It’s now a classic of its time – deservedly so.

Jon Dale

Suggestions
200 Years cover

200 Years

200 Years
The Delta Sweete cover

The Delta Sweete

Bobbie Gentry
Designer cover

Designer

Aldous Harding
Boy cover

Boy

Carla Bozulich
The Thicket cover

The Thicket

David Grubbs
I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight cover

I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight

Linda Thompson, Richard Thompson
Miracle cover

Miracle

Heidi Berry
Pieces of Treasure cover

Pieces of Treasure

Rickie Lee Jones
Writer cover

Writer

Carole King
Una linterna cover

Una linterna

Candelaria Zamar