Basket Of Light [Remaster]

Performer: Pentangle
Engineer: Damon Lyon-Shaw; John Pantry
Distributor: RED Distribution

Notes: Pentangle: Jacqui McShee (vocals); Bert Jansch (guitar, banjo, background vocals); John Renbourn (guitar, sitar, background vocals); Terry Cox (glockenspiel, drums, cymbals, percussion); Danny Thompson (acoustic bass). Recorded at IBS Studios, London, England in 1969. Includes liner notes by Laurence Aston. All tracks have been digitally remastered. This is a DualDisc, which contains a CD on one side of the disc and a DVD on the other. Though they had fellow British folk-rockers like Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span for company, Pentangle explored a musical world of their own design. Their all-acoustic sound combined traditional British folk with jazz, rock and Indian music, much as American groups like the Airplane and the Dead were mating their roots with other influences. BASKET OF LIGHT is perhaps the finest of Pentangle's excellent early recordings. As always, the focal point is crystal-voiced singer Jacqui McShee, capable of giving peer Sandy Denny a run for her money. Master guitarists Bert Jansch and John Renbourn's interplay is magical throughout, and when they take to banjo and sitar respectively on "House Carpenter," they sound equally at home. Much of the jazz feel is provided by eminently swinging bassist Danny Thompson (the only man capable of making "Sally Go Round the Roses" groove) and loose-limbed drummer Terry Cox. Whether contributing jazzy rhythmic punctuation or delicate glockenspiel ("Once I Had a Sweetheart"), Cox is a gem. BASKET OF LIGHT belongs right alongside LIEGE AND LEIF and PLEASE TO SEE THE KING. Though they had fellow British folk-rockers like Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span for company, Pentangle explored a musical world of their own design. Their all-acoustic sound combined traditional British folk with jazz, Indian raga, American country blues, and early classical music, much as American groups like the Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead were mating their folk roots with other influences. BASKET OF LIGHT is perhaps the finest of Pentangle's excellent early recordings. As always, the focal point is crystal-voiced singer Jacqui McShee, capable of giving peer Sandy Denny a run for her money. Master guitarists Bert Jansch and John Renbourn's interplay is magical throughout, and when they take to banjo and sitar respectively on "House Carpenter," they sound equally at home. Much of the jazz feel is provided by eminently swinging bassist Danny Thompson (the only man capable of making "Sally Go Round the Roses" groove) and loose-limbed drummer Terry Cox. Whether contributing jazzy rhythmic punctuation or delicate glockenspiel ("Once I Had a Sweetheart"), Cox is a wizard. BASKET OF LIGHT belongs right alongside LIEGE AND LIEF and PLEASE TO SEE THE KING as a classic of the genre.

Q (11/99, p.162) - Included in Q Magazine's Best Folk Albums of All Time - "...an album that convinced a suspicious folk fraternity that jazz and blues came in peace, and brought together its two most talented guitarists...one of its finest singers...and the best acoustic rhythm section in the world..."

Along with Fairport Convention, Pentangle is one of the most important bands of the 1960s British folk revival. Drawing on a truly diverse array of sources, Pentangle developed a unique version of folk rock that was both traditional and progressive. The group formed when esteemed solo guitarists Bert Jansch and John Renbourn combined their love of classic American blues and ancient English folk songs with the angelic vocals of Jacqui McShee and the jazz-influenced rhythm section of drummer Terry Cox and bassist Danny Thompson. After breaking up in 1972, they reformed several times with varying line-ups, the most well-known of which playing under the name Jacqui McShee's Pentangle.

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