Search - Pentangle :: Solomon's Seal

Lost and Found

Jason P. Gold | Long Beach, CA | 05/31/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Pentangle was an interesting mix of jazz, rock and folk music that had an almost Renisance period sound. Many of the songs they perform on this album are "traditional" folk songs. Interestingly, I got my first copy of the album from a top 40 radio station in Philadelphia. Times have changed.



While I am not particularly a fan of folk music, I always enjoyed this album because of its musical complexities and unusual style. My parents threw out my original copy after I graduated from college. For many years, I searched for this album on CD, but could not find it. Apparently, the master tapes had been lost. Luckily, several years ago I was able to find it on an extremely good piece of vinyl which appeard to have been virtually unplayed, and then "burned" it to CD. Now, they have finally released it on CD.



The Pentangle was formed by respected folk guitarists John Renbourn and Bert Jansch in the late '60s, and relies on the complex interplay of their usually accoustic axes. (The band was formed during a time that James Taylor called the "great folk music scare of the late '60s.") The band features hauntingly pure vocals by the talented Jacqui McShee. This was the sixth and final album by the original Pentangle band members. The album is roughly evenly divided between "traditional" folk songs and compositions by the band. The Pentangle does some "experimentation" using electric guitars and sitar. I highly recommend The Pentangle's first album, which is much jazzier, or Basket of Light on DVD-Audio. In my opinion, this album is not as good as as either of the other two albums, but still contains some fine traditional folk music and is worth having in a folk collection."

FINALLY!!!

Margaret Hamilton | Victoria, BC Canada | 01/26/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have been waiting for this music to become available again for....25 years?? My vinyl album wore out long ago but I have never forgotten the music -- it is truly in the "love it forever" category -- Willie O'Winsbury, Snows, Sally Free and Easy...Jacqui and Bert are brilliant. I am so happy to be able to hear/buy this again -- I'll be ordering several copies!"

Recommended for Pentangle fans, but far from the band's grea

B. Schuman | NY | 01/03/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"On Solomon's Seal, Pentangle sounds less lively than on any of their previous albums, but the songs are still good enough to make it worthwhile. As on Cruel Sister, the band sticks mainly to traditional folk. Also as on Cruel Sister, John Renbourne's electric guitar gives the album more of a folk-rock feel (as opposed to on Reflection, where the electric guitar playing gives the music more of a jazz feel). For the most part, the unclassifiable, not-quite-jazz, not-quite-folk sound of the band's best work is not especially evident here. Danny and Terry, like an acoustic version of The Who's Entwistle and Moon, usually had an amazing knack for sounding simultaneously tight and all over the place, but here they just sound tight and steady. What they play is complex enough to be interesting, but also uncharacteristically repetitive. When they performed these songs live, they were a bit more, well, lively. They were still capable of doing what they did best, but for some reason, they must have toned it down in the studio when they recorded this LP.

The highlights of the album are "The Snows," "People on the Highway," "No Love Is Sorrow," and "Lady of Carlisle." "The Snows" is an eerie song with good use of drums and sitar. "People on the Highway" and "No Love Is Sorrow," are the only original songs on the album, and, like the best Pentangle originals, they have a simple and mysterious quality reminiscent of genuine folk songs. They also both contain excellent harmony vocals by Bert and Jacqui (a combination that was disappointingly absent on Reflection). "Lady of Carlisle" is an odd but upbeat piece of pseudo-Americana that is reminiscent of "Wedding Dress" from Reflection. "Willy o'Winsbury" is a great folk song, but it is too long and repetitive to remain interesting under repeated listenings. Like Fairport Convention, the Pentangle knew how to develop a long folk ballad and make it more musically interesting, but sometimes they were content to play the same pattern for minutes on end.

If Solomon's Seal had been my introduction to the group, I'd have thought that Pentangle were a high-quality mellow folk-rock band. There's nothing wrong with mellow folk-rock. But at their best, Pentangle were not really folk-rock, and were not really that mellow, either."