Customer Reviews

Bert And John

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British guitarists Bert Jansch and John Renbourn have created an amazing musical landscape in this album, which is their only collaboration outside of their band Pentangle. Pentangle released six albums and enjoyed an unprecedented amount of success for an acoustic band. Bert Jansch is a virtuoso acoustic guitarist, famously revered by Neil Young and Jimmy Page, and John Renbourn is a virtuoso guitarist who is every bit as talented as Jansch. This album is produced in stereo - it sounds like there are really two guitarists sitting in your room - and it is very interesting to hear how the two seperate guitar parts interplay with each other. Overall, this is a very good album, and the conver of Mingus' "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" is worth the price of the album alone.

"At one point I was absolutely obsessed with Bert Jansch. When I first heard that LP (1965) I couldn't believe it. It was so far ahead of what everyone else was doing. No one in America could touch that." - Jimmy Page

"As much of a great guitar player as Jimi was, Bert Jansch is the same thing for acoustic guitar ... and my favourite." - Neil Young

Much is made of the Yardbirds having had two lead guitarists of the caliber of Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page at the same time, but while it is certainly true that you are talking a pair of great guitarists you cannot really point to a bunch of songs where they proved the point. On the other hand, Bert Jansch and John Renbourn provide an entire album showing what happens when two great steel-guitar players duel each other through a dozen tracks. One day I may be proficient enough to tell which speak is Jansch and which one is Renbourn, but I am not there yet and it is not a pressing concern with me. These two are masters of English folk music are that is all that really matters here.

If you had to identify a dominant music element on "Bert & John" it would be that they play the blues, sometimes subtle as in "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," and sometimes downright funky, as with "Tic-Tocative" and "Red's Favorite." Then they do songs that represent traditional English folk music, such as "Orland" and even modern folk music, like the happy little "Stepping Stones." Of course there are times when these styles seem to merge and blend, as is the case with the final track, "After the Dance," which puts the exclamation mark on this album. I am getting to appreciate Jansch's singing a bit more, but I still find the songs with lyrics (e.g., "Soho," "The Time Has Come") to be a bit intrusive because I just want to listen to these two guys play guitars. But even on those tracks there is still plenty of good guitar playing to listen to.

These two guitarists did most of their collaborative work together in the group Pentangle, but they first recorded together in 1965 on Jansch's second album, "It Don't Bother Me." In 1966 they recorded "Bert & John" together and Renbourn showed up for half the tracks on "Jack Orion," also recorded and released that same year. The two were roommates for a while and discovered that they were on the save wavelength when it came to guitar playing, which is why it might be nigh impossible to tell them apart of these songs. Clearly Pentangle was a result of these collaborations and the idea that they should take it to the next level and have other musicians added to the mix as well (vocalist Jacqui McShee and the rhythm section of Danny Thompson and Terry Cox). But the chief attraction remained the finger-style guitar playing of Bert and John.

bert jansch and john renbourn are two of the finest folk guitarists on record. this is a terrific album from 1966, and is mostly instrumental, focusing on their incredible guitarpicking prowess. there are a few jansch vocals, which is fine, because mr jansch has an easy to like voice, somewhere in the neighborhood of donovan's in sound. but it is really all that astonishing acoustic guitar work that makes this such a special release. great stuff.

This album is quite the find for any fan of Renbourn or Jansch, or folk guitar in general. It is also a great album to listen to for aspiring guitarists, as well as established guitarists.

There are aspects of this album that some will not enjoy, but the grand guitar playing seems to overshadow any of that.