Search - Pentangle :: Basket of Light

Absolutely fantastic

Mike Perlowin | Los Angeles | 02/02/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the Pentangle's best recording. It captures the band at the height of it's brilliance and creativity. The first album shows the band's potential, but the diverse elements within the band had not quite jelled when it was recorded. Their second album, the double LP "Sweet Child" is much better, and shows the band coming together and creating some wonderful music that represented what the band sounded like in concert. (Indeed half of that set was recorded live), But for this, their third outing, they pulled out all the stops, using the multitrack reording studio as a tool to create fantastic sonic constructions that could not be reproduced on stage. The results are simply spectacular. The blend of fantastic musicianship that always characterized the group, combined with their 3 or 4 years of experience playing together at that point, combined with the production techniques of whoever produced the album yeilded a masterpiece. Plain and simple.Sadly the group set such a high standard with this album that it was never again able to recapture it's quality. The next album "Cruel Sister" started to recycle the themes and sounds of this one and Sweet Child, and their final two, "Reflections" and "Soloman's Seal" are IMHO tired retreads.But at their peak, as shown on this album, Pentangle was one of the most brilliant and creative bands of the era, and one of the few whose music still sounds a good today as it did when it was first recorded. If you only get one Pentangle album, make it this one."

Wow!

C. H Smith | Bowling Green, Kentucky United States | 09/24/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Wow, was this ever a great album! Originally released in 1968, it became their best-selling and best-known work, with enough energy and creativity to reach into the new millenium. Pentangle, for those who are young or foolish enough to be unfamiliar with them, consisted of Jacqui McShee, vocalist, Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, guitar, Danny Thompson, double bass, and Terry Cox, percussion. Jansch and Renbourn are the most significant British acoustic guitarists of the late 20th century and are both still going strong; Thompson is (and has been) one of the very best session players on his instrument for nearly forty years; McShee and Cox are lesser knowns, but by no means unknowns. The group became celebrated for their experimental form of folk music that integrated blues, jazz, and even classical influences. "Basket of Light" has a lot of high points, but beyond the overall guitar interplay between Jansch and Renbourn I personally liked the highly rhythmic opening cut 'Light Flight' (from a British tv show), Jansch's 'Train Song,' and the atmospheric 'Once I Had A Sweetheart' best. The album even contains a very good cover of the classic pop hit 'Sally Go Round the Roses.' 'Still like it muchly!"

A MAGIC AND MASTERFUL ALBUM

Larry L. Looney | Austin, Texas USA | 06/13/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's hard to shop for Pentangle cds these days -- unless you stick to the newly remastered re-releases of five of their first six albums (the sixth, SOLOMON'S SEAL, is sadly lost to us -- the masters have vanished), throughout which the personnel remained the same, the original band: Jacqui McShee, John Renbourn, Bert Jansch, Danny Thompson and Terry Cox. There have been other amalgamations of the band over the years, and all of the members have recorded some fine work since the band split up, but this original grouping was mind-boggling in their talent -- truly a case of the whole being much greater than the sum of its magnificent parts.There are also many collections available of tracks from these fine albums, but be careful -- they're not all labelled as such, and the packages can be deceiving. Best stick to these clearly labelled re-mastered editions for the quality stuff -- and quality is exactly what the listener will find on this cd, their third, recorded and released originally in 1968, when they were at the height of their form and creative powers. Jacqui McShee's voice is one you will never fail to recognize, once you've experienced its beauty. The vocals of Renbourn and Jansch each have their unique characters as well, and the blend of the three of them was something the likes of which British folk music hasn't seen since. The varied guitar styles of Jansch and Renbourn add depth and breadth to this music as well. Danny Thompson's work on standup bass, rooted equally in folk and jazz, was another hallmark of their sound, and his virtuosity has made him a valued contributor to innumerable recordings over the ensuing years. Terry Cox's tasteful percussion (including some achingly beautiful work on glockenspiel) adds the crowning touch to the 'sound' of this group. You could hand-pick some of the finest players of these instruments in the world and put them together, but the sound of the Pentangle would never be duplicated. These five musicians drew from such seemingly diverse material as traditional British Isles folk, jazz, American blues and midieval dirges and chants -- and made them all their own. Nothing they did seemed out of place or forced in any way (And this mix worked in concert as well -- as the live half of their SWEET CHILD set will attest).I wholeheartedly agree with the statement made by another reviewer of this cd -- if you buy only one album by the Pentangle, make it this one. Know, however, that all of these first six releases were high quality: PENTANGLE, SWEET CHILD, BASKET OF LIGHT, CRUEL SISTER, REFLECTION and SOLOMON'S SEAL. Once you've experienced BASKET OF LIGHT, I'll bet you're going to keep exploring the unique beauty that was Pentangle."