BASKET OF LIGHT

I don't know who decided to mix folk and jazz together first. I'd like to think that it was some unsung genius fiddleplayer back in a lonely valley in Appalachia. However, I can think of no group better at wedding jazz elements to folk tunes than The Pentangle. In Basket of Light, that's what we have: solid folk tunes treated with varying degrees of jazz elements. The gamut runs from Lyke-Wake Dirge, in which jazz barely discernable, through the cool Sally Go Round the Roses, up to technical extravaganzas like Light Flight and Train Song that bring innovation and excess comparable to the best of prog folk.

If you like your prog folk with a very strong infusion of folk, if you think of Fairport Convention instead of Jethro Tull when you hear of prog folk, or if you are just looking for something completely different and yet still rewarding, Basket of Light is the album for you.

5 Stars. I love this album! Everybody should hear it!