Pentangle

I came across Pentangle a while back through the one of the personnel in Nick Drake's albums – the bassist Danny Thompson. And while Danny intrigues me in his own right, Pentangle pocesses such a uniqueness that on the first listen through of this album I was absolutely hooked. It's this weird freak-folk-jazz-celtic-blues mashup which of course shouldn't be described by a mere mixture of genres. Pentangle is Bert Jansch and John Renbourn on guitar, Danny Thompson on double bass, Terry Cox on drums, and Jacqui McShee vocals. They tangle everything together so well that you will feel at home regardless of any previous aversions to fusion, and although somewhat of a super-group, they manage to create a coherent sound all their own. I'm going to leave all the original introductions on the songs – it's a live album and they are actually interesting, especially the introduction to Burton Town.

Market Song


Burton Town showcases the group as a whole - in particular the way in which they can collectively improvise without tripping over one another.

Burton Town


Jacqui McShee's voice has this eerie angelic effect on So Early in the Spring; her voice feeds on the natural harmonics of the room, allowing for a faint reverberating echo. Usually the disparity between Bert and Jacqui's vocal tones broadens up the harmonic scope of the lyrics, so although strikingly beautiful in each song, her voice is no more important that the rest of the group. But here she appropriately exploits the limit of the song's freedom.

So Early In The Spring