Pentangle - Basket Of Light (1969)

Pentangle are a British folk group originally active in the late 60s and early 70s.

The Pentangle's third album was without a doubt their best yet. Their inventive take on folk music reached its pinnacle with this collection of nine songs - four traditional numbers, four originals, and one surprise pop cover ("Sally Go 'Round The Roses", originally a hit for The Jaynetts in 1963). As before, it was the brilliant acoustic musicianship of Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Danny Thompson and Terry Cox, along with the crystal clear vocals of Jacqui McShee, that gave the band it's distinctive sound. The band's basic format of two acoustic guitars, standup bass and drums was varied on several songs, with glockenspiel from Cox, banjo from Jansch and sitar from Renbourn (the latter two giving "The House Carpenter" an eerie psychedelic feel).

The album actually gave them two minor hit singles. "Light Flight" was used as the theme tune to a forgettable BBC TV drama called Take Three Girls, and subsequently charted at #43 and became their best-known song. "Once I Had A Sweetheart" also made it to #46. The album itself got to #5 on the UK charts. As the 60s drew to a close the band were at the peak of their popularity, touring both the UK and US, performing at the Isle Of Wight Festival, recording the soundtrack to the film Tam Lin and making several TV appearances. 

Sweet Child (1968) <|> Cruel Sister (1970)

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Pentangle - Sweet Child (1968)

Pentangle are a British folk group originally active in the late 60s and early 70s.

Pentangle released their second album shortly after their debut. It was a double album, the first disc recorded live at London's Royal Festival Hall, the second disc recorded in the studio. It further explored the brilliant folk-jazz fusion their debut had introduced, the live disc going in particularly jazzy directions with renditions of Charles Mingus' "Haitian Fight Song" and "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat". Elsewhere there was a great mix of band originals and traditional songs, along with some covers of songs by Furry Lewis, Anne Briggs and Ewan MacColl, all set to brilliant arrangements which showcased the very high caliber of musicianship in the band. Also of note was that electric guitars were used on some of the songs on the live disc, so the band could no longer be called 100% acoustic. Their debut had been very good - Sweet Child was probably even better.

 
The Pentangle (1968) <|> Basket Of Light (1969)
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Pentangle - The Pentangle (1968)

Pentangle are a British folk group originally active in the late 60s and early 70s.

Pentangle were formed in 1967 by Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Jacqui McShee, Danny Thompson and Terry Cox. Jansch and Renbourn were acoustic guitarists who had recorded albums both solo and as a duo - with their innovative fingerstyle techniques, they were leading figures in the 60s British folk revival. McShee was a singer who performed in London folk clubs, and had also run her own club (at The Red Lion in Surrey) where she met Jansch and Renbourn. Thompson (upright bass) and Cox (drums) both came from jazz backgrounds, and also had played in various British blues bands, most notably Alexis Korner's Blues Incoporated (they are both on the album Sky High, and Korner's subsequent solo album I Wonder Who).

Pentangle were a folk group, but their use of four brilliant instrumentalists and strong flavours of jazz and blues gave them a unique sound which made them truly stand out from their contemporaries in the folk scene. They quickly became successful, touring both the UK and Denmark. They soon signed with Transatlantic Records, and their debut album came out in 1968, which presented their innovative fusion of folk material (both traditional and original) with jazz-styled playing. They were not folk-rock (all their instrumentation was acoustic, and the drums were used more as percussion instruments than for laying down a rock beat), but they found a keen audience in the rock crowd, and indeed they helped break down the boundaries between the traditional folk and the rock/pop worlds.

|> Sweet Child (1968)
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