THE PENTANGLE

album release. My beef with this album is the feature of being called/considered a studio album when a whole disc (Disc 1) comes from a concert performance before a live audience. The credits on the album's liner notes, therefore, are quite incorrect in claiming that the guitarists are playing acoustic guitars only and for not crediting a drummer/percussionist with any hand drums. Since it is against my principles to review live albums, I will basing this review exclusively on the studio album (Disc Two).

LP 1 (Recorded live at the Royal Festival Hall, London, June 29, 1968.): A1. "Market Song (3:39) a band original to open up the album, it is here captured from a performance given front of a live audience with electric guitar and one of the gents in the lead with Jacqui offering some harmony vocals alongside. A2. "No More, My Lord (3:55) the baad's interpretation of a traditional English folk song A3. "Turn Your Money (2:16) a Furry Lewis composition, A4. "Hatian Fight Song (3:31) Charles Mingus A5. "A Woman Like You (4:00) Bert Jansch A6. "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat (3:43) another Charles Mingus song B1. "Three Dances: Brentzel Gay / La Rotta / The Earle of Salisbury (4:32) Claude Gervaise/ traditional/ William Byrd arranged by John Renbourn and Terry Cox B2. "Watch the Stars (3:03) a traditional arranged by Jacqui McShee and John Renbourn B3. "So Early in the Spring (3:06) another traditioinal British folk song, here arranged by Jacqui McShee B4. "No Exit (3:16) a traditional English folk song arranged by John Renbourn and Bert Jansch B5. "The Time Has Come (3:04) Ann Briggs song B6. "Bruton Town (5:31) a remake of a traditional English folk song that the band had debuted earlier in the year on their first album, The Pentangle.

Total Time 43:36

- LP2 : C1. "Sweet Child (5:15) a Pentangle original with one of the gents in the lead voice with Jacqui harmonizing the whole way through. I like the drum sound and playing style. (8.875/10)

C2. "I Loved a Lass (2:44) traditional folk song re-interpreted by the band. Danny and the guitarists are in top form while another one of the gents takes on the lead vocal with some spectacular folk results. Donovan: eat your heart out! (9.33333/10)

C3. "Three Part Thing (2:29) another Pentangle original, here composed by Bert Jansch, Danny Thompson, and John Renbourn, it opens like a classical string quartet rondo with Danny bowing his lovely Victoria as the guitar twins play their own harmonized melodies into the weave. It remains an instrumental, just the three string players, start to finish. It is so wonderful to listen to virtuosos! I feel so glad & privileged. (9.125/10)

C4. "Sovay (2:51) a traditional English folk song arranged by the band opens with gentle guitar finger play and background bass notes, but then Jacqui enters with the lead vocal, a complex affair that causes the other instrumentalists to shift into much more demanding syncopated and nuanced performances (and Terry Cox to perform on hand drums). Excellent and extraordinary! (9.5/10) C5. "In Time (5:09) a Jansch, Thompson, Renbourn, and Cox original a shuffle that reminds me of a lot of Van Morrison's popular hits as well as Paul Desmond's "Take Five." Again, it remains an instrumental from start to finish, though this time the strings players engage drummer Terry Cox to provide the appropriate jazz cymbal play. Again, extraordinary work and collaboration. (9.25/10)

D1. "In Your Mind (2:16) a Pentangle original that opens with some gentle guitar interplay before one of the gents opens in the lead vocal position. He is almost immediately joined by both Jacqui and John, each providing bacckground vocal lines in the form of accent interjections. (4.375/5)

D2. "I've Got a Feeling (4:29) another full-band original opens with single guitar and Jacqui singing a gospel-bluesy form (one that is unusual for her, more commonly heard from plenty of 1950s jazz and pop singers). The rest of the band joins in during the second verse. Jacqui goes into some wordless vocalese for the third verse, long held notes that remind me of the kind of stuff Annie Haslam will be doing from the start of her career with Renaissance as well as some of Cass Elliot's most impassioned work. (8.75/10)

D3. "The Trees They Do Grow High (3:51) a traditional folk song arranged by the full band, Jacqui sings over a gentle weave and gentle Highland drumming, the song is, of course, an ultimately sad ballad that is quite typical of the British Islands' folk traditions. (8.875/10)

D4. "Moon Dog (2:44) a Terry Cox composition with Terry singing over his hand drum play--which becomes the singular focus of the song in the instrumental middle section. (8.66667/10)

D5. "Hole in My Coal (5:23) written by Ewan MacColl, the band here performs it as an instrumental with Terry Cox playing hand drums and toms (on multiple tracks), no cymbals (except one crash around the three minute mark). Despite a nice bass solo from Danny and Victoria in the fourth and fifth minutes, this song is not quite as impressive as some of the other tracks the boys have done. (8.75/10)

Total Time 37:11

A-/4.5 stars, elevated to a five star masterpiece by the addition of the live album (LP 1); an excellent addition to any prog lover's music collection.

The debut album from one of Prog Folk's peak representatives.

1. "Let No Man Steal Your Thyme" (2:37) straight out of the gate we get the sense of how serious these musicians are about their music as well as about the kind of messages they wish to convey with the songs they choose: I love the double entendre presented in the song title while the in-your-face presentation of each and every instrument as well as Jacqui McShee's warm and luminous voice makes this song a crystalline presentation of this band's talents. (9/10)

2. "Bells" (3:52) This instrumental puts on full display the instrumental skills and talents of each and every one of the band members. There are really three songs incorporated into one here. (9/10)

3. "Hear My Call" (3:01) a bluesy blues-rock construct given a kind of folk/road-Americana treatment by the instrumentalists while Jacqui soars mellifluously over the top like a tern soaring playfully in heavy winds. (9.25/10)

4. "Pentangling" (7:02) memorable melodic hooks abound in this Pentangle classic. Has recorded music ever benefitted from higher quality trio of virtuosi as Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, and Danny Thompson? And drummer Terry Cox and Jacqui McShee are no slouches either! Danny's playful solo in the song's middle, besides being laughable, is nothing short of genius. (13.75/15)

5. "Mirage" (2:00) more bluesy folk balm for the wounded soul. The virtuosity of these musicians five--adding so much to what seems like rather simple notes and melodies--is absolutely astounding. (4.5/5)

6. "Way Behind The Sun" (3:01) more great performances on a song that is not as engaging or pleasurable as the others (for me). (8.875/10)

7. "Bruton Town" (5:05) a brilliant song rendering that predates the music that COMUS and SPIROGYRA would soon continue to explore and expand upon. I love the male lead vocals being mirrored from behind by Jacqui, and then her taking over the telling of the story in the third verse. So powerful! Like many British folk songs, the music gets a bit monotonous in its repetitiveness, but the band brilliantly diverts the listener's waning attention with an absolutely brilliant instrumental passage in the second half in which Terry Cox's drumming amazes. My favorite song on the album. (9.5/10)

8. "Waltz" (4:54) a t-part suite to end the album starts out as a folk tune, moves into the jazz realms with a couple of motifs before meandering back into folk territory with the rhythmic support of syncopated handclapping, but then Terry picks up his sticks again to support just before Danny steps into the spotlight solo for some more super playful solo play. A hillbilly crow accompanies the band's recongealing into a full combo for the final minute of jazzy-folk virtuosity. Amazing folk musicianship bordering on jazzmenship. (9.25/10)

Total Time: 31:32

An incredibly well-engineered and performed album that puts on display the fact that none of these musicians are newbies--that they've all paid their dues to acquire the skills and maturity to put together such perfect renditions of each and every song. My only hesitation in offering full five star masterpiece status to this album is my personal aversion to bluesy music--but the skill and talent presented here is far from flawed. Brilliant performances, engineering, and production. Though the instrumental quartet is always a marvel to listen too, sometimes I regret two songs (worth nine minutes of this relatively short album) that do not involve the scintillating talent of singer Jacqui McShee; not using one of the great jazz, folk, prog voices of all-time seems almost wasteful.

A-/five stars; a masterpiece of folk- and jazz-rock that every prog lover should hear if not own. There are not many Prog Folk bands with the skill, talent, and creativity of this quintet; this combo should not be missed.

Not to be confused with the poor quality "The Lost Broadcasts 1969-1972" Hux Records CD of off air BBC recordings, this 61 minute CD of Pentangle's BBC rarities is the real quality article. Most of the tracks here are BBC Radio One sessions , recorded from 1969 to 1972, and the sound quality is impressive throughout. What stands out is that these songs are from the group's Basket Of Light album as well as from Reflection and the almost invisible and forgotten Solomon's Seal album, where as most extant early live recordings focus on the group's self titled debut and its follow up album Sweet Child. This album is a real treat for the group's many fans of their later output. All tracks are excellent baring a clunky rendition of "Train Song" and a slow to get going "In Time". As with most BBC session recordings, the immediacy of the performances are striking when compared to their studio counterparts, with McShee's and Jansch's vocal being far superior here. Even on the six live recordings from 1972 included here that round out this collection. Standout tracks are the session and live versions of "Hunting Song", the live version of "Light Flight", along with the session take of "The Cuckoo Song" and a rousing live version "House Carpenter." This CD is out of print but can still be found online for a fair price is one knows where to look, and is almost an essential for Pentangle fans. 4 stars.

John Renbourn continues to explore the possibilities of the electric guitar--sounding here very much like early Stephen Stills--while the rest of the band matures and performs as solid as rocks.

1. "A Maid That's Deep in Love" (5:30) John's constant soloing with Jacqui's most perfect folk singing while the rest of the band supports beautifully. (8.875/10)

2. "When I Was in My Prime" (2:56) a cappella Jacqui McShee. Beautiful but this no Loreena McKennitt or Elizabeth Fraser's "Song to the Siren." (8.6667/10)

3. "Lord Franklin" (3:24) a gentle song sung by John Renbourn in the truest folk tradition lamenting the loss of a son or friend. (8.75/10)

4. "Cruel Sister" (7:03) gentle folk-scape with sitar in support renders this classic folk song--full with its presentation of the song/legend's many verses. Still, it drags on a bit--especially for one (such as me) who hears very little of the lyrics and even less of their content. (13.125/15)

5. "Jack Orion" (18:36) while I appreciate the gradual and continuous development going on over the course of this song, I have to admit to feeling a bit disappointed by the uniformity of both the vocal melody patterns and the rhythm track as provided by Terry, Danny and the guitars. Even the stop and shift at the five minute mark is far less than I was expecting (or would have liked). The shift into more mediæval troubadour mode in the ninth minute feels as if a demotion into listlessness. The stripped down blues section of the tenth and eleventh minute gets a little interesting with the entrance of the tuned percussion, John's electric guitar, and Danny's more loose and improvisational play but the foundational music continues to be rather laissez-faire. As John's electric guitar soloing continues, the sound gets tweaked into a more distorted rock mode--which the player then adapts to with some quite nice rock lead playing. But then we fall back into the song's bluesy folk-rock opening motif for the final two and a half minutes--albeit with a bit more rock dynamic to it. Too bad they couldn't find more dynamic use for Ms. McShee. (34.75/40)

Total Time: 37:29

I like the instrumental explorations but to sacrifice such a gift/force as Jacqui McShee for fully half of the album is, in my opinion, sad.

B/four stars; another excellent contribution to the slowly developing sub-genre of Prog Folk music.

This mini CD box set is a gem with a few caveats. First off, it contains Pentangle's first 7 studio albums placed together for the first time, with a myriad of bonus tracks and alternate takes. First, the good: There are some stellar previously unreleased alternate mixes such as 5 Bert Jansch tunes taken from his 1969 solo album Birthday Blues, that's stripped of the fey flute and sax accompaniment. The sound is beefed up as it would be heard played live in the studio before the sound volumes were mixed down. Another is John Renbourn's song "So Clear" from the Reflection album outtakes that features a searing fuzzed electric lead solo in place of the more sedate acoustic lead work found on the released version.

So, there are some nice rarities with this set. What I find lacking is the remastered sound quality. Gone is the thinner sound mix of the original albums, which has now been messaged to sound like a modern sound mix with more mid bass prominence and less treble, along with some heavy handed use of noise reduction at times. Gone is some of the detail such as string noise on guitar and bass as well as a duller overall sound. This is especially prominent on the Basket Of Light disc (which I found quite annoying), but is less noticeable on the the band's first eponymous release and their stellar follow up album Sweet Child.

With that said, I can only recommend this set for diehard fans as much of the bonus material has been released previously, barring the songs mentioned above. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 sounds right for this modestly priced mini box with it's oddly inconsistent sound quality.

The last Pentangle studio album featuring the great Bert Jansch, One More Road is a fitting swansong. Fully recovered from severe illness due to alcoholism, Jansch is once more the band's star songwriter. Add that to the growing songwriting talents of vocalist Jacqui McShee and lead guitarist Peter Kirtley, and you have some stellar songs to place on an album. "Traveling Solo" and "One More Road" being the standout original songs as they're about what the band knows best, performing on the road with its numerous ups and downs, fulfillments and disappointments. Kirtley supplies an esoteric song of longing called "Endless Sky", which seems to endlessly get stuck in one's head. Drummer Gerry Conway is allowed to step out a bit on percussion and adds spice to the pseudo native song "Somali".

Where the album suffers is the band's desire to include a few traditional songs for old times sake. "High Germany" and "Willy O' Winsbury" were resurrected from the out of print (at the time) album Solomon's Seal. Done in a brezzier rock style, they pale in comparison to the original recordings. Still, the album is a worthy finale. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Comprehensive set from the original run of the classic British folk rock band, including all six of their 1960s and 1970s albums in attractive replica card sleeves, an extensive booklet, and a wealth of bonus tracks. To my mind, Pentangle never quite put out a five star album, but they were pretty consistent in quality within this period and this is a good way to get more or less all the Pentangle stuff you're likely to want, unless you're so keen on the band you want to dip into their reunion albums from the mid-1980s onwards. If you're out to explore the British folk rock scene you'll probably want to check in on Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span first, but this is a good next stop.

If I had to choose just one British folk rock band, my choice would be [The] PENTANGLE. The jazzy touch especially on the terrific rhythm section of Danny Thompson and Terry Cox, the crystal clear vocals of Jacqui McShee who's been compared to Renaissance's Annie Haslam, the finesse of acoustic guitars of John Renbourn and Bert Jansch, the elegance of their own compositions and their arrangements of traditional songs. The band's original -- and finest -- era ended with their sixth studio album Solomon's Seal (1972). Even though the group's success wasn't as strong as before, "Pentangle Split" was the front-page headline of the first issue of Melody Maker of the year 1973; on New Year's Day Bert Jansch had decided to leave the band.

According to Wikipedia, "in the early 1980s, a reunion of the band was planned. By this time, Jansch and Renbourn had re-established their solo careers, McShee had a young family, Thompson was mainly doing session work, and Cox was running a restaurant in Minorca." Pentangle's comeback album Open the Door was released in 1984 or 1985, depending on the sources of information. By the time the album was recorded, John Renbourn had left the band to enroll in a music degree course, and his place was taken by Mike Piggott (guitars and violin). I haven't listened to the album entirely. "It´s less jazzy and bluesy than most of their previous efforts and definitely more folk- rock oriented, but it is also very good", says the PA reviewer Tarcisio Moura. With my narrow view based on playing some songs from YouTube, my reception seems to be be very similar, equally positive. Now to this single featuring two songs from Open the Door.

'Dragonfly' is credited to the group and is immediately recognized as Pentangle. Danny Thompson is definitely among my favourite double bass players ever. Jacqui's voice on this tune is in a slightly lower register than in the old days, but still in a very good shape. The violin as a new element fits perfectly to the sound which still has the jazziness too, at least on this song. One might think of CARAVAN with the viola player Geoffrey Richardson (For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night, 1973).

On 'Taste of Love', sung by Bert Jansch, I sense the similar laid back (country-ish) feeling I have witnessed on Jansch's later solo albums -- that IMHO are far inferior to Pentangle. In other words, it's the rhythm section of Thompson and Cox that makes this one better than Jansch's solo stuff. I'm not a big fan of his voice with a slight Pogues-reminding grittiness. The guitar makes me think of Mark Knopfler, more on his solo albums such as Golden Heart (1996) than on Dire Straits. The song is fairly pleasant but not among the best ones on Open the Door.

3½ stars for this single, rounded down since it's the whole album I'd rather recommend.

Simply for the purpose of avoiding listening to "Alternate Takes", this will be a review for the original double album, sans all bonus material. [Not to mention this is the first review in too long for my tastes. Gotta take my rightful place here haha.]

Sweet Child is the second album by famed British Jazz-Prog-Folk[-Rock] group Pentangle, so famed that, despite my own ignorance of them, I recognize most everyone's name performing here. A year before producing the cover for this'n, artist Peter Blake had designed the cover to The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper. Much different art direction, not that that's any surprise, comparing these two bands. Funny to me, as I didn't realize this was a now- classic/archetypal half-studio, half-live album. Anyways, especially for ones second ever album, it's pretty remarkable to release a live album, but in their case it is a chance to truly show off their individual and collective chops. Mad respect.

Onto the album, "Market Song" is a relaxed yet upbeat, jazzy number. Wonderful vocals and phenomenal instrumental performances. Again, in my ignorance, this also feels like a stylistic platform for the great Joni Mitchell (to come), culminating in her albums The Hissing of Summer Lawns (1975) and Hejira (1976). In a less definitive way, the sweet yet full vocals of Pentangle's Jacqui McShee--heard most fully at first with the next track, "No More My Lord"--may strike you as Joni-esque, if you, like me, are a Folk ignoramus (more interestingly, I heard similarities to The Cranberries' Dolores O'Riordan in her vocal inflections). That number, "No More", by the way, is indeed lovely and meditative, but nothing more to my ears, unto my tastes.

"Turn Your Money Green", having been writ by Country Blues songwriter Furry Lewis, strikes me as an at times dark Rock n' Roll number. Even in my general disfavor for these two popular modes, this was a head-bopper for sure, and again a showcase of their known talents via the 6-strings specifically. The first of two Mingus compositions, "Haitian Fight Song" begins with a solo upright, joined slowly and quietly by brushed drums; the second is the classic "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat", performed most quietly and soulfully. The mid-section of "Goodbye..." ramps up, crescendo'ing to a delightful guitar solo section. The crowd certainly liked that one quite a bit (they must have had an enthusiastic and avid following, for sure).

Folk, more or less straight-up, untethered by the likes of Rock or even Jazz, is represented in "A Woman Like You"; the Southern-folksy "Watch the Stars"; the hauntingly beautiful, a capella "So Early in the Spring"; the eerie tale of murder, "Bruton Town"; our first track on side 2 and the title track, "Sweet Child", a number with full instrumentation and a rolling rhythm and a great solo showcase (and later one of the rare moments of Folk Rock); "I Loved a Lass"; "Sovay"; "In Your Mind", which is rightly Psych-light to my ears; and the story of... pedophilia(?!) by way of arranged marriage (I think?) on "The Trees They Grow High".

The "Three Dances Medley" (tracks not so strung together seamlessly, but performed simply one after the other) is a return to the fresh and at times brilliant mish-mash of Folk and... Third Stream(?), featuring Terry Cox on glockenspiel. This in particular, especially the third piece ("The Earle of Salisbury"), should appeal well to fans of Anthony Phillips. Another of this general feel is the near-Medieval "Three Part Thing".

Big Blues continues later down the road on the jammy "No Exit" [Pentangle were Fates Warning fans?! /s] and the instrumental closer "Hole in the Coal". Mingus-adjacent Jazz-Folk can be found on "The Time Has Come", a delightfully bright number; "In Time", with some more cool, bluesy soloing; and "I've Got a Feeling". One of the more interesting songs of the whole is "Moondog", simplistic in its wild hand drums-vocal duo, purportedly an homage to the iconic composer of the same name.

I wasn't too much impressed with much of anything on the album. It lacked the overly, overtly or daringly experimental or progressive to my ears, though the band certainly offers much here on a (more than) basic musical level (as opposed to my more specific sights on "Prog"). If any highlights can be found, they'd be "Market Song", "Sweet Child", and "In Time".

True Rate: 2.75/5.00

This final album featuring the original Pentangle lineup of Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Jaqui McShee, Danny Thompson and Terry Cox is not a bad album, and in fact is quite enjoyable taken on it's own merits. Gone forever, however, is the astounding guitar interplay between Jansch and Renbourn and the exciting experimental guitar based instrumentals in which they were performed. Instead, we have mix of traditional British and American folksongs, along with a handful of originals penned by both Jansch ("Jump Bay Jump", "People On The Highway") and double bassist Thompson ("No Love Is Sorrow"), which are excellent. Of The trad. songs "The Snows", "Willy O' Winsbury" and "Lady Of Carlisle" are the best, with the rest more than pleasant. Jacqui McShee's vocal is especially stellar on "Winsbury". The group manage to shake things up a bit by still employing eclectic instrumentation such as banjo and sitar, with Renbourn even playing recorder on three songs. The group's languorous cover of "Sally Free And Easy" is also a standout, with Jansch performing a perfect heartbroken sailor's lament with his made for the song lead vocal while McShee contributes a haunting wordless vocal to cap off the tune.

The down side is that the group has morphed into exactly what they claimed never to be. A British folk rock band. And that's exactly what they are on Solomon's Seal. Not much different from either Fairport Convention or Steeleye Span, who perfected the formula of playing traditional folksongs in a rock format just a few short years earlier. This Pentangle lineup was soon to dissolve after this album, so it's a fitting swansong as this lineup would not reunite until 2008! But what I would give to hear just one more experimental jazz/blues instrumental by these amazing musicians. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.