The description of Pentangle as a British folk band has always been as misleading as it is inaccurate. Spanning musical genres, while Bert Jansch and John Renbourn were steeped in folk, they had roots in skiffle, ragtime, and medieval forms. The two teamed up with Jacqui McShee, who had been running her own folk club. Danny Thompson and Terry Cox had played with Alexis Korner’s The Blues Incorporated and Duffy Power’s Nucleus which also included future Mahavisnu Orchestra leader, John McLaughlin. The band covered so many bases their music couldn’t possibly be limited stylistically to mere folk, as evidenced by their premiere performance, a sold-out May 1967 Royal Festival Hall concert.
Shel Talmy, better known for his productions with The Who and The Kinks produced their first album, The Pentangle, released the following May. Featuring a bright, bell-like tone, this was not folk-rock in the least. More accurately their style blended folk, jazz and blues. From Thompson’s bowed bass to the acoustic tones of Renbourn and Jansch, Cox’s work on drums of all sorts merging with McShee’s voice, ‘Let No Man Steal Your Thyme’ heralds something completely different. Shattering any further doubts the drum solos of ‘The Bells’ clearly establish that no single style could capture the vigour of this aggregation. Combining the bluesy breaks of ‘Hear My Call’ with McShee’s pure tones left the uninitiated in a state of shock. Nothing like this had ever existed before.
The jazzy solo Danny Thompson unfolds on ‘Pentangling’ leads into a blend of blues before transforming into something approaching but clearly not simply folk music. This is a hybrid of all the influences that these five have experienced. It’s easy to see why this music existed on a level all its own. By the time you’ve reached ‘Pentangle Waltz’ you can hear how the various musical camps have merged forces to create a language all their own, where folk blues and jazz have all joined forces in music that changes styles as easily as they change time signatures.
November of 1968 saw the release of a double album, Sweet Child, comprised of live recordings from a Royal Albert Hall concert earlier that June, and studio recordings again overseen by Talmy. This particular mixture of recordings was due to not having enough material worked out thanks to the constant touring schedule. The live half is a revelation as Pentangle covers Charles Mingus on ‘Haitian Love Song’ and ‘Goodbye Pork Pie Hat’ an elegy to the recently deceased Lester Young. The former gets a complete workout by Danny Thompson, while the latter reflects the sensibilities of six string gun slingers Renbourn and Jansch. Their brand of the blues is on full display during ‘Turn Your Money Green’, a fascinating combination, where Jacqui McShee plays second fiddle to the guitar.
At home in the studio, the rumble of Thompson’s bowed bass sets off ‘Three Part Thing’, where guitars gently begin to take the song on a bluesier trail than one might have initially suspected, before going off an ever more psychedelic direction, all in less that two and half minutes. While ‘Sovay’ is a traditional song, Pentangle takes it off the beaten path. The two guitarists hew the traditional path while the bass plays a more prominent role, and Cox provides a remarkable blend of percussion. A bluesy workout for Jansch and Renbourn, ‘In Time’ gets added muscle from Thompson’s plucked bass. Talmy plays slightly with McShee’s vocals on ‘The Trees They Do Grow High’, giving them an added depth that seems to be doubled at points by Thompson’s bass. This becomes even more clear on the bonus track of this song.
Almost a year later, Basket of Light came out and Pentangle had their first hit with ‘Light Flight’. While the album was still in the developmental stages, the producers of the TV drama came to them about recording a theme for the opening of Take Three Girls. The 42-second snippet they provided, began the journey of ‘Light Flight’. While its shortened form suggested notions of the swinging 60s London, built out to its classic 3-minute 14-second form seemed to go in the opposite direction, leaving London behind. The rhythm tracks featured alternating sections of 5/8, 7/8 and 6/4, eliminating forever any notion that what Pentangle recorded were simple folk tunes. ‘Once I Had a Sweetheart’ overflows with further evidence as the song offers up a wealth of overdubbed vocals by McShee and Jansch.
Feeling more of one piece, with instruments and sections merged more clearly to reflect the needs of the song, this album may well be the ultimate reflection of the band. ‘Springtime Promises’ all come true as the snow melts and a greener world begins to take hold, while the band verges on both jazz and blues. A single guitar and the voices of Jansch and McShee provide a sense of a medieval chorus to ‘Lyke Wake Dirge’. Danny Thompson’s bass provides the propulsion fuelling ‘Train Song’, while Jacqui McShee adds speed to the engine. Cox exhibits moments of great beauty using bells and chimes to a most amazing effect on ‘Hunting Song’. The guitars that inhabit ‘Sally Go Round the Roses’ kick the song into a high gear, removing it from the realm of merely being folk. Again and again they find new formats to instil these songs with added sinew.
Cruel Sister revealed the cracks that were beginning to affect the band. Morale was low, relationships were strained, the touring schedule was insane and members propensities for drink weren’t helping things either. Bill Leader replaced Shel Talmy as producer, and in place of original material the band recorded folk standards. Despite the grim nature of these moments, what emerges still has much to recommend. Simpler and more straightforward, McShee’s voice comes to the fore, even in moments like ‘Lord Franklin’, where she plays second fiddle to the lead vocals of Bert Jansch. Her unadorned and unaccompanied version of ‘When I Was in My Prime’ reveals the purity of every note.
While Reflection didn’t examine the turmoil at the heart of it, cracks were threatening to tear the band apart at the seams. Members of the group were constantly on the verge of leaving and there was a bitter dispute with their record label, Transatlantic, over royalties. Despite all that, the album recorded in March of 1971 offered a series of covers and original tracks that while not revolutionary were far more than serviceable. Jansch’s banjo gives ‘Wedding Dress’ a rural American feel while McShee’s vocals and harmonies alongside Jansch gleam like a band of gold.
With a simple downbeat ‘Will the Circle Be Unbroken’ feels like a song questioning the resolve of the band to stay the course. Manning an electric guitar, Renbourn plays phrases that dig into his own love of the blues, while McShee offers just enough soul to show she’s more than just a simple English folk singer. Renbourn and Jansch electrify ‘When I Get Home’, taking the song for a ramble through the blues. Despite being close to the end of the road, harmonies and backing tracks illustrate that band was still capable of moments of great beauty as well as great soul. Rather than examining the chaos, ‘Reflection’ examines coming face to face with the devil over the course of 11 minutes, with McShee holding out hope in the end.
The original Pentangle’s last gasp came with Solomon’s Seal in 1972. Jansch takes the lead on ‘Sally Free and Easy’ while McShee can be heard deep in the background, as Renbourn uses his electric guitar to instrumentally reflect on the tale of a sailor devoted to a woman who does not return his love. Illustrating that the bloom had gone off the rose, these songs, while filled with moments to magic never seem to fully gel. Although ‘Lady of Carlisle’ tries mightily, with McShee and Jansch telling a tale of two soldiers vying for the hand of the same woman. With the electrified Renbourn playing his heart out and Cox laying it out on the drums, one still the sense that there isn’t much left in the tank.
Over the course of 14 sides of vinyl, loaded with a raft of extra tracks – both live and in the studio – this collection makes the case that Pentangle are one of a handful of bands that moved folk into directions that expanded the notions of what this music could be. They moved music forward by being unafraid of following wherever the music leads. And their legacy can still be heard today in the work of everyone from Devin Hoff to Bonny Light Horseman. The road goes ever onward.