The Pentangle

Artist: Pentangle
Label: Sbme Castle Us
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Original recording remastered
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 060768112025
EAN: 0060768112025
ASIN: B00005QD6X

Release Date: 2001-09-25

Related Categories:

British Folk

| Traditional British & Celtic Folk | Folk | Styles | Music

General

| Folk | Styles | Music

Traditional Folk

| Folk | Styles | Music

General

| Pop | Styles | Music

Folk Rock

| Rock | Styles | Music

General

| Rock | Styles | Music

Tracks:

Let No Man Steal Your Thyme
Bells
Hear My Call
Pentangling
Mirage
Way Behind the Sun
Bruton Town
Waltz
Koan
The Wheel
The Casbah
Bruton Town
Hear My Call
Way Behind the Sun
Way Behind the Sun

Customer Reviews:

One star deducted for sound.......2003-10-27

To my ears, the first three Pentangle albums--titled Pentangle, Sweet Child, and Basket of Light--represent the band's apogee. This first album is great, and gets 4 stars instead of 5 because the sound is rather cold/thin, and because Sweet Child is their best album. I don't reallyagree with the other reviewer who liked the bonus cuts better. Great to have 'em, but ....
After Basket of Light (their 3rd album), Pentangle began to focus much more on traditional songs--and, for some odd reason, they abandoned their trademark jazz-inflected approach to trad songs, and began to render them in a rather stiff fashion--a sad shift from the band's early originality and verve. This trend was interrupted by isolated tunes on Cruel Sister, Solomon's Seal, and Reflections--exceptions that make these last three albums worth pursuing, but not essential.

Bonus tracks are the best thing........2002-09-19

This is a rare case where the bonus material is better than the original album.

This is Pentangle's first album, and it is typical of first albums from the sixties. A group is quickly rushed into the studios, lays down some quick tracks and a short album is produced to see if it will sell.

The original album was very short at 33 minutes. There were 7 songs ranging from 2 to 4 minutes and 1 instrumental.

The music is stark and limited. Although the sound quality is generally good, there is no brightness or depth to the sound (compare this with Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow). Jacqui MacShay's voice is just flat throughout. As the group would mature on later albums, there would be more richness to the music and greater depth to the songs.

The bonus tracks are better in that they have more life and energy. There is more power and emotion in MacShay's vocals. The playing really opens up. The 7 tracks increase the total time to 53 minutes.

One of the great British folk albums.......2001-11-16

I remember checking out an old LP of this in 1993 from a public library and I find this nothing short of amazing. This album was released before Steeleye Span even existed and Fairport Convention was still a West Coast-sounding folk-rock group with Judy Dyble instead of Sandy Denny, and yet this album bears more than a striking resemblance to Steeleye Span, except bluesier and jazzier, with all acoustic instruments (instead of electric like Steeleye Span). Vocalist Jacqui McShee sings in a soprano that seems like an obvious influence on Steeleye Span's Maddy Prior. While folk purists would not complain that the Pentangle's debut was too electrical, they would complain about the about jazz and blues included in their style, so this is truly recommended for the more open-minded folks who don't mind outside styles being incorporated. I have to admit some of the songs are rather dorky with some really laughable lyrics, such "Way Behind the Sun" ("Well, I'm going back baby/way behind the sun/I'm gonna find me some honey/I might just bring you some"), but there are some really great songs here like "Let No Man Steal Your Thyme", "Pentangling", "Waltz", "Bruton Town". "Bruton Town" sounds exactly like Steeleye Span, except all acoustic, which means their music seems to owe a lot to the Pentangle's, apparently. Especially since the vocals of Bert Jansch seems to remind me a whole lot of Tim Hart's. So if you can imagine the likes of Steeleye Span going completely acoustic with jazz and blues thrown in as well, you're sure to dig this album. I have heard the Pentagle's followup, Sweet Child, but I just don't remember that one being as good as their debut.

Music CD:

Music CD

Music CD

Music CD

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