CRUEL SISTER

The Pentangle

Prog Folk

3.51 | 79 ratings

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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 medi�val 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.

BrufordFreak | 4/5 | 2023-5-8

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