Customer Reviews

Basket Of Light

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My musically enlightened bass-player friend turned me on to this album when I was going crazy for Led Zeppelin, and I still listen to it 30 years later (as well as Led Zep). Jacqui McShee is one of the original "ghost girl" singers, who forshadowed gals like Maire Brennan of Clannad, etc. If you want to hear some of the most spine chilling female wiccan-druid vocals, hear "Lyke Wake Dirge" on this one. It is interesting to think that Page was thinking of patterning his post-Yardbirds band on Pentangle. Until he heard John Bonham... Other Pentangle albums don't always hit the mark, but you can't miss with this. Band also stars two of the biggest heavyweights in trad-acoustic guitar playing, John Renbourn and Bert Jansch. Have at it.

My "hippy" parents bought this album when it was released (and I was 8) and played it over and over again until it seeped into my soul. Listening to it now, I can really appreciate how enlightening it was. A truly wonderful mix of traditional folk tunes with a 1960s feel. This album refelcts the time and place certainly, but it is still hugely enjoyable to listen to again. The vocals are crystal clear, the guitar, stunning.

This album is the best British Folk album ever recorded (Fairport who??). The album title is perfect as it fits the music.

As you begin listening a few thing kick in. The acoustic musicianship is sublime. The tunes are tunesome. You begin to feel good as you hum and tap your feet. Later on, you might begin to wonder what the point of amplified electrical music ever was. As the late sixties vibes groove into you you might imagine your self a flower-child in a basket of light...

Unlike some rather 'quaint' folk albums I've heard, this music is emotionally authentic. It's spirit is utterly modern, and the mood uplifting in it's sparkly jazziness. Past is fused with the future. Innovative musical arrangements refresh, with influences from India to the U.S.A., and from the 12th century (Lake-Wyke Dirge) to the 20th, so there is never a dulltime. Most covers are from the Scottish Folk tradition, which is the finest in Britain. Original compositions, such as 'Night Flight' are every bit as good. Jansch, Renbourn and McShee are Scottish, and the rythm section are English, making Pentangle a truly British Band. The album also has a 'rock' feel to it, so if you like rock music, and are looking for something a little different, then I would recommend this album to you without hesitation.

Finally, I just have to say that Jacqui McShee is a better vocalist than Aretha Franklin. And Bert Jansch and John Renbourn are superb guitar players. Danny Thompson's fretless acoustic bass playing is another musical treat. Buy it. Dig it. Love it.

Let`s be honest. Most people who write reviewa on amazon are not reviewers, but mostly fans who write about music they love (sometimes loathe). And so I am not an objective judge of this music. The first Pentangle LP struck me right in the gut from the first note in the summer of 67: Sgt, Pepper was for everyone, Pentangle was for me. The solid, muscular and ever creative double bass of Danny Thompson bouncing off on the jazzy pulse of Terry Cox, the ghostly pure tones of Jacqui McShee, and the interplay between Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, perhaps the finest duo ever in the acoustic folk field, created a fusion of folk, jazz, blues, classical and rock unlike no other. The first LP was brilliant, but a formative stage of their sound. The second, Sweet child, contained some of their finest moments, but is at the same time an uneven mixture of different styles that don`t always come together. By their later albums, a tinge of tiredness was beginning to show. Listening through their output after having repaired my LP player, "Basket of light" stands as their finest hour, their one pefect album, having stood the test of time, sounding fresh and contemporary in 2007. The most striking is a luminous quality that shines through the tracks, making the title apt for the music. The songs melt into a seamless whole, with not a weak track and an internal logic in the choice and sequence of the songs. Light flight starts off with a bouncing mixture of time signatures showcasing how Jansch and Renbourn had grown from folkies playing with a slightly sloppy style to master musicians following Thompson and Cox into creative reaches of jazz fusion, Lyke wake dirge is a spine-chilling a capella medieval burial chant which arguably is the group`s finest vocal moment. Listen to the incredible interplay of the instruments on Hunting song, Terry Cox? glockenspiel adding to the "inner glow" that marks every track on the album. If you don`t want to dish out for the whole new 4-disc collection The time has come (also recommended), this album is, in my view, the perfect representation of all that this unique band stood for and achieved iln their glory days.

This is the first Pentangle work I ever heard. It stands the test of time. It replaces a worn out record. Good bonus tracks

Pentangle were a ridiculously good band, but, as with many so-called "cult" musicians, you might say that they take time to grow on you.
That's how I felt before I heard Basket of Light. But then I heard Basket of Light, which is as awesome, and as accessible, as the band could get.
Pentangle were always a little bit out of time. They were classified as a folk-rock band, but they were really more of a traditional folk band with a jazz rhythm section and, occasionally, some classically sophisticated harmonies and rhythms.

On Basket of Light, the Pentangle still sound like an odd fusion between medieval folk and '40s jazz, but they remind listeners that this music was made in that special decade called the Sixties. Yet the Pentangle were only subtly effected by their era. There are still no fuzzy electric guitars or lyrics about freeing your mind, just a little sitar here, a little echoing harmonies there, and a general sense of experimentation. It's as if they had only picked up the most subtle trends of their time.

The Pentangle were always eclectic, and this album is about as eclectic as they can be. On their debut, they could be described as a "melting pot" of styles, and on Sweet Child, they could be described as both a melting pot and a bargain bin. On Basket of Light, they're a continuous musical journey that spans centuries and continents.

If albums were thrift stores, Sweet Child would be a large Goodwill, but Basket of Light would be an ideal thrift store in London's Camden Town that is small enough to navigate, full of clothes that wouldn't be uncomfortable to wear, and probably doesn't actually exist. Perhaps it was a blessing that this imaginative band of multi-instrumentalists was produced by Shel Talmy, the simple-minded studio genius who also produced the early albums of the Kinks. The songs sound complex without sounding overwhelming and dense. Instruments are just distinct enough without sounding too separate from the whole. A "simple" producer takes this complicated band a long way.

And as for the individual songs? Let's talk about a few of them.

"Light Flight" is a fast, upbeat song with simple lyrics, a classical melody, and a complicated rhythm.

"Once I Had a Sweetheart," is an Anglo-American folk song that, with the help of a glockenspiel, sitar, and some consistent, tight drumming, gets launched into somewhere in outer space. High, clear vocals by Jacqui, and some haunting and unexpected backing vocals by Bert and John at the end, top it all off.

"Springtime Promises" is a song about the changing of moods with the seasons. Like many songs from the sixties, it's about flowers and sunshine. But it doesn't come off like an ode to smoking grass while sitting on grass- it's not in that tradition as much as it is in the tradition of ancient songs and prayers from an era without heat or air-conditioning, when agriculture was supreme. It also features a deep, full, melodic, and enunciated vocal by Bert Jansch. Unlike many critics, I've always thought Bert Jansch has a great, if inconsistent singing voice, and this is certainly one of his most impressive vocal performances.

After "Springtime Promises" comes "Lyke Wake Dirge," which is a pagan/early Christian chant with no real embellishment that manages to sound like it was recorded in a 13th century abbey yet, with the addition of some spare drums and guitar, doesn't sound out of place with the eclecticism of the rest of the album.

"Train Song" has an even more complex rhythm than "Light Flight," and is done without any exotic instruments, because, if it had merely one note of droning sitar or glockenspiel, it would probably be too complex and psychedelic to function.

With "Hunting Song," we're back to the feudal era, although not back quite as far as "Lyke Wake." It's genteel and creepy in a uniquely British way.

Then comes "Sally Go Round the Roses." It's a cover of a '60s girl group song that manages to be both energetic and restrained. If the song came on in a coffee shop, everyone in the place would immediately feel infinitely cooler. Danny Thompson's prominent jazzy bass is key to this effect, but everyone else does their share as well. On this remastered CD edition, we get to hear this one three times!

"The Cuckoo" is a lullaby in which Terry Cox takes out his glockenspiel again, and "House Carpenter" sounds like many of the traditional songs on Sweet Child, but with the key difference that Bert and John trade their guitars for a banjo and a sitar, respectively.

I don't often choose favorites in any subject, and, when I do, I often change my mind. But I doubt that any other Pentangle album will replace this one as my favorite. Pentangle were an always interesting group and just about everything they recorded is worthwhile. But, as much as I like their other albums, if I had to choose only one, I would choose this one without hesitation.

Perhaps the first Brit-Folk Supergroup, Pentangle harnessed the talents of jazz bassist and drummer Danny Thompson & Terry Cox, classical/blues guitarist John Renbourn, blues/folk guitarist Bert Jansch, and vocalsit par excellence Jacqui McShee. It was always a fairly volatile set-up with so much talent around, but at its best (as on this wonderful album) it produced music of timeless quality. The hook track for this, their biggest seller, was "Light Flight", as haunting and enchanting a melody as you could wish to hear, and which had received a lot of exposure in Britain as the signature tune to a popular TV drama ("Take Three Girls"). Other highlights here are the heartbreaking "Once I had a Sweetheart", Jansch's wry "Springtime Promises", the tour de force "Hunting Song" and the other-worldly (literally) "Lake-Wyke Dirge". The quality of musicianship is superb throughout. Pentangles's finest album, and one of the finest folk albums of all time.

This is one of the most captivating albums from the heyday of English folk, retaining all of its sprightly joy & shadowy mystery some 40 years later. And what an eclectic range! From traditional English folk songs, often reinterpreted with contemporary touches such as sitar, to covers of then-recent hits ("Sally Go Round the Roses"), to their own originals, Pentangle mixed folk, jazz, pop, and even a little rock to create a distinctive, ringing sound. Standouts include the somber majesty of "Lyke-Wake Dirge," which always summons images of candle-lit stone corridors & Medieval tombs; the pure, achingly plaintive "Once I Had A Sweetheart," which seems like a pastoral tapestry brought to life; and the band's own "Light Flight," featuring Jacquie McShee's crystalline voice, soaring & dipping in the oddest but most magical of ways. This could only have been made in the mid-1960s, but it has a timeless quality, making it as fresh today as when it was first released. Highly recommended!

A seamless blend of folk, rock, and jazz, Pentangle's stunning instrumentalists manage to make the old a new and beautiful thing. Jaqui McShee has one of the most beautiful voices in popular music, John Renbourn and Bert Jansch are incredible guitarists and they work brilliantly together on this album performing some of the most melodic (remember melody?) music in pop, without ever being sappy.

Forget rock, forget folk, forget jazz. Then let them all seep back to mind when you hear this album.

Basket Of Light does not touch on the bases of these schools, it digs deep into every nook of all of them, and emerges with an organic music fluid and gorgous.

The female vocals here-unaffected and perfect in their understandment--sail on top of this jazzy, sophisticated folk, perfect with its nimble guitar wook and deep, meaty, aucostic bass. Even at their apex, Unhalfbricking, the great Fairport Convention's music was never this complex.

This is what happens when true artists forget about genres and work.