SWEET CHILD

This second effort is amazingly enough a double album, released the same year as their debut. It is a good indication that they had an extraordinary and fruitful collaboration and plenty ideas were blossoming even quicker than the flowers in the hair of the hippies. Most Pentangle fans will rate this album as their favourite, but personally I find this album a bit uneven but there are some real gems with high drama to stick you enough spine chills to give you a solid cold in the dog days of summer. Such is the case with No More My Lord were Jaqui dishes her plaintive vocals with such dexterity and greatly underlined by Cox's tom works that you wish the song lasted twice that long.

This double disc affair (remember that the Beatles had just managed the double white album) is a combination of a live album and studio recordings mixing also many short tracks - which could've easily doubled in length without problems - and longer tracks but there is not one single moment of self-indulgence even if some tracks have a lesser interest for the progheads; among the highlights are A woman Like You and No Exit (a guitar duo). The only time that individuals are put forward is in the Three Part Thing, but there is a section where the bowed bass gives a thoroughly medieval ambiance while the two guitarists are busy experimenting scales - very impressive. Another major highlight is In Time that holds your breath with its superb intensity and real suspense. Although brilliant, one could see that their excellent ideas were still not exploited to the fullest but nevertheless still spine tingling. There are also two songs from jazz great Charlie Mingus - both daring adaptations.

As with most double albums, there are some lesser moments but in this case never any weak ones. This is a true confirmation of the potential they had uncovered in the debut!

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