Prices have gone up, they were almost giving that box away when I bought my copy. The Japan SHM versions are fantastic, bonus tracks are included, worth looking into if you are a fan. If you have SACD capability the S/T is a real treat but now OOP.
Very nice set, this. It used to go for less than 6 euros on Qobuz. Price has raised somewhat since my purchase.
I absolutely agree. She has a beautiful voice and a subtle charisma that is compelling, as evidenced in the video of "Willy O' Winsbury" I posted above. I think she was every bit the equal of Sandy Denny and Maddy Prior.
She reminds me of one of the Queens ( from an old deck of playing cards.) Truly classic look and sound!!
Great stuff. Top notch musicianship for sure. I dig Jansch in particular, but there was a real alchemy to that group. Would love to have caught them when they reunited a few years back...glad that happened while it still could.
There's something almost mystical about the chemistry of these musicians on their first 3 albums. Incredibly different than anyone else. But I feel that it did not last as the group drew disenchanted, for numerous reasons, after the UK success of Basket Of Light, and that chemistry surfaced only intermittently on their following albums, imho. One of my favorite groups, naturally, and I will always regret not having seen them play live when they were in their prime. I can't recommend the esoteric album box set as I feel that NR was applied to heavily on them and the albums sound dull to me. If you can get the Castle/Sanctuary "The Time Has Come" box at a decent price, it's more preferable.
Agreed. Even though it's not my style either, I love the thumpy twang of Bert Jansch's guitar. My favourite song of theirs would be 'Wedding Dress'.
New SHM CDs are available at CD Japan claiiming 2023 mastering. Does anyone know who did the mastering? CDJapan : Search result Japan Mini LP SHM-CDs - New Releases, George Harrison and more
I only got Reflection and Solomon's Seal yesterday. I'm currently listening to Reflection for the first time and it's great. I know have all the original Pentangle LPs up to 1972.
Happy to see a casual Pentangle thread surface - I glazed over ages ago on the album by album thread, too linear for me. Here is a cut and paste from a thread on terrible reviews , a bit of research I did on Basket of Light: . . . "Basket of Light" by Pentangle is one of my favourite records. Here is a classic 1970 Rolling Stone smear, now revived and preserved here on SHF in all its dimbulbery. I went looking for the Rolling Stone Feb 1970 review of "Basket of Light," as the Wiki fine print said the Rolling Stone review was "unfavourable." Could not find the review online without archive subscription, so I got it through interlibrary loan. I uploaded the pdf of the microfilm to the file host below. The Basket of Light review is the second review on the page. Interesting example of late sixties early seventies post folk-revival backlash. nevermind, file host is not working. So I will transcribe it. Man, info is a pain sometimes: The Pentangle - "Basket of Light" album review - Gary Von Tersch - Rolling Stone February 1970 ' This Pentangle album disturbs me because it sounds as if the group has run out of things to do. Repetition, in style and material, dominates nearly every cut of this album. And some odd logic, on someone's part, is displayed when one looks closely at the inside cover after listening to the record - great pains are taken to emphasize the fact that "all the instruments played on this album are acoustic" (the folk "purist" ethic). So why do they resort to sloppy double-tracking of numerous vocals throughout if it's purity they're after? Finally the album cover sort of promises a "live" performance, which this definitely is not. As for the music (and its "purity"), take the butcher-job they do to the prismatic Jaynettes' song "Sally Go Round the Roses." This song just cannot be done without electricity (in the horns and in the voices) or without an overall sense of abandon which the Pentangle never even come close to mustering here. The fact that they chose to attempt it indicates they are either slipping or that they are compromising their once-unique vision. Other facets of this album dovetail with this assumption. Of the nine cuts (and why only nine cuts?) fully five are explorations of traditional tunes and material - not that this is bad in itself. But except in one instance ("House Carpenter") the performances are at best mediocre, at worst monotonous. Miss McShee's voice seems to never shift or vary to add color or madness to the material. The other cuts are too pedestrian and similar to discuss at any length. I simply have a few questions for the Pentangle and Shel Talmy, who, I assume, produced this album. Why no unaccompanied vocals? Why no blues or spiritual evocations? Why no instrumentals? Why no explorations of jazz or classical themes? Why does Pentangle take no chances at all here, when it was taking chances that made them so refreshing in the first place? ' Von Tersch, Gary (21 February 1970). "Records". Rolling Stone "Light Flight" The Pentangle From the album "Basket of Light" (1970)
their jazzier stuff I like, some of the deep folk stuff comes across to me as vert well-meaning but kind of like a history lesson
I doubt these sound better as all past CDs were mastered from the same digital masters since the 80s.
