Customer Reviews

Live in America

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

 

 

It had been eight years since the breakup of the original Pentangle (which featured the equally gifted British folk artist Bert Jansch)) when John Renbourn released this album featuring original Pentangle vocalist Jacqui McShee. This was the John Renbourn Group's second album with this lineup (the other being the lovely A Maid In Bedlam) and it contains many of the elements of the Pentangle sound. The music is firmly rooted in the English folk tradition, yet it also incorporates elements of jazz, blues and classical music.

Each member of the group is an accomplished musician. "The Month of May Is Past/Night Orgies" features a dulcimer solo (provided by John Molineaux) enlisting the use of a phase shifter. McShee adds her clear-as-a-bell vocals to "The Cruel Mother" and the drinking song "Ye Mariners All." The 11-minute instrumental "Sidi Brahim" showcases the group's jazzier side with solos from Renbourn (guitar), Molineaux (dulcimer) Tony Roberts (flute) and Keshlav Sathe (tabla, an intrument which adds an Indian influence on many of the tracks). My favorite track, however, is "John Barleycorn Is Dead." And, of course, Renbourn's playing throughout illustrates why he is regarded as one of the best fingerstyle guitarists today.

This album was recorded live in April of 1981 at San Francisco's The Great American Music Hall. This live, intimate setting is a perfect forum for the John Renbourn Group. If you are unfamiliar with Renbourn, this would be an excellent introduction. If you're already a fan, this is a necessary addition to your collection. RECOMMENDED

This Cd has timeless folk songs that have been rendered by John Renbourn. This music master can create so many different sounds from the guitar, that it sounds like two or three people playing. He is accompanied by Jacqui Mcshee(also ex-Pentangle singerw/ John. Jacqui's voice can take you to euphoric heights while John gets lost in a musical journey. There are also two musicians playing with John and Jacqui that play various types of wind instruments, dulcimers, fiddles, tablas and more!!! This Cd is highly regarded for it's LIVE feel, if not more mind expansion. Todd Meadows 1-23-99

The opening track "Lindsey" and the next to last track "So Early In The Spring" are two of the best "folk songs" I've ever heard. In between these are some wonderful tunes, and some not so perfect songs (Sidi Brahim being one that I don't much enjoy).

Renbourne is a major figure in the world of folk music and he is a very capable guitarist (though not very flashy). His backing band here is very high caliber and the tabla (Indian drum) is a great addition to the group.

If you like Altan, Willian Ackerman, and Niel Young (like me), you should give this record a listen. It will be worth your time.

`Live in America' 13 tracks) by the John Renbourn group and `Pentangle Early Classics' (14 tracks) are two albums of a kind with nearly identical personnel (Bert Jansch is not in the John Renbourn group) recorded between 1967 and 1977 with the Pentangle's material being the earlier.

I review these two together because of their similarities so that anyone who wishes just one can have some basis for deciding between the two.

Personally, I think the Pentangle recording is preferable, even with the similarity in material and personnel. My first reason is very personal, as I bought the very first Pentangle album as an English import when it was first released in, I believe, 1968. At the time, I was under the spell of The Incredible String Band and I had not yet heard of Jansch and Renbourn, so I was hoping for more of the Robin Williamson style of Celtic influenced original material.

What I got was a lot different, but better for that fact. Jansch and Renbourn are great acoustic guitarists who cover the range of guitar material, but specialize in traditional British music of days gone by. The group The Pentangle focused on that speciality and came out with several albums in quick succession with lots of great old English folksongs, the kind that Joan Baez started out with, except that The Pentangle really made them sound interesting.

In fact, as I listen to them today, it makes me wonder why so many of the songs, certainly written by men, dealt with the tragedies of womens' lives. These must have been the soap operas of Medieval England, in between visits by traveling minstrels and companies of actors (See `Hamlet'). This `Pentangle' album is a selection of pieces from their first two albums that I have been listening to for the last 35 years.

The John Renbourn Group album, in contrast, has much of the similar kind of traditional material. But, aside from the track `John Barleycorn Must Die', the songs seem less familiar to the non-specialist. If I had to buy an album to get `John Barleycorn', I would get the great album of the same name by Traffic.

Both albums feature vocals by Jacqui McShee, who may be my very favorite folk vocalist. She may not have the writing chops of Sandy Denny from Fairport Convention, but I really love her evocative voice that really fits the material to a tee on both albums.

So, as an amateur commentator on interpretation of old English folksongs, I recommend both, with a slight edge to the Pentangle material, as just a bit stronger selection of material. I guess they got to all the good stuff first.