THE NINE MAIDENS

With "The Nine Maidens", JOHN RENBOURN returns to what he does best: instrumental acoustic guitar with limited accompaniment by guests who are almost his technical equals. Here his focus is on Celtic and Anglo folk, occasionally in the vein of some of the better new age music of the day such as NIGHTNOISE, WILL ACKERMAN, and ANDREAS VOLLENWEIDER, but also recalling some of MIKE OLDFIELD's more jubilant work from the late 1970s and early 1980s.

When he solos, as in the middle section of the title suite, he is hard to confuse with any other, and some of the best moments here are vintage Renbourn, even though my favorite number is the flawless "Variations on my Lady Carey's Dompe", in which Toby Pedley's recorder is at least as prominent. The Northumbrian pipes and fiddles fortify the ensemble piece "Circle Dance". On par with "The Black Balloon" with which it shares honours as the best releases of his peak period, "The NIne Maidens" is an aural vision of immaculate beauty.

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