The Pentangle

Over the past 2 years I've heard most of the releases of the minor psych / folk bands and artists like Vashti Bunyan but they all left me feeling a bit dissappointed. The singing has always been lovely, following the traditional English style, but the backing and the songs themselves never piqued my interest at all. In comparison to the best of Fairport Convention they sound limp and fey (even if Fairport's psych elements are tame).

For most of my adult life, I've thought the same about The Pentangle. I think the name put me off for 25 years or so. It still brings to my mind songs about elves interupted with lots of nanny-hos and such. Luckily this has turned out to be a complete fabrication of my diseased and prejudiced teenage mind. A friend asked me to look out for their 1st 6 albums and what I've heard so far is very special indeed.

There are a lot of annoyingly straight interpretations of old folk tunes which make my back tighten up as I reach for a shotgun. (notice that I am still prejudiced - hippies, yuk!) But most of the time other elements are added that make the songs come alive in ways I've never heard before.

Take "Sally Go Round The Roses" from their 3rd album Basket of Light. It's driven beautifully by the bass playing of Danny Thompson. Is there one musician who has made a bigger impact on English folk music than this guy? His input to many albums has elevated them substantially (think of the best of Nick Drake for instance). On this song it's propulsively jazzy and bluesy and the others file right into the same line. It's nothing more than a 12 bar blues, really, but it sounds like so much more.

As long as there's more interesting stuff like this to hear 35 years after it was made then I can safely say my cd collection will spill into the millions by the time I die...