Customer Reviews

Rare Conundrum

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

 

 

Even though this album consists of highs and averages, it's still a solid album. Thanks to an older brother, I had the good fortune of appreciating this release when it was first issued during the halcyon punk and new wave days of 1977. Although the liner notes are generally correct in stating this kind of finely wrought folk didn't make much of an impression during those brashly creative days, it certainly seemed like a sylvan glade amongst an urban riot at the time and had a way of freshening up your ears for dealing with the more abrasive material of the new wave. In many ways, it was very much part of those pluralistic times, compared to today's monotonous, unimaginative offerings.

The remastering is superb making an album that already sparkled positively glisten: Daybreak, One to a Hundred, Pretty Saro, Doctor, Doctor; 3 AM, The Curragh and Lost Love are all sterling performances. On Doctor, Doctor, we're treated to an unaccompanied banjo groove by Bert, doing what he does best.

The band is just great with violin, drums, bass and acoustic guitar all on the same musical frequency and as with all of Bert's music, there's always space for a raunchy drumming groove to beef things up, as on Lost Love.

So good to have this recording back in the collection and perhaps more than ever it really is A Rare Conundrum.

not bad, a bit more "ralph Mctell" cheese than dylan folk. However ther L,A turnaround reissue was great. Be warned the Santa Barbara honeymoon reissue is absolute s@#@#**T! stay away. And buy the live river sessions for sure.

I'm almost embarrassed to say how long I've been searching for this album on CD. A friend let me borrow her LP years ago, and I made a cassette tape of it and wore it out. I'd almost lost hope that I'd ever get to hear this again. What a gem this is! The melodies are accessible, Bert's guitar playing is, as usual, outstanding, and the variety of styles is wonderfully refreshing. One of the 10 best albums I've had the pleasure of listening to.

I'm a big british folk fan and have always found Bert's records to be inconsistent, with great gems spread out over his lps. But I have always loved this record. I think it is the instrumentation that makes it so great. It is a pretty relaxed groove, but everything seems to be in exactly the right place. A beautiful record. I found this [...]. Re-affirms my feelings about the record.

"English folk great Bert Jansch's trilogy of titles released on the old Charisma label back in the 1970s during his short sabbatical in Los Angeles have been known as the rarest works in his catalog by collectors. So rare, in fact, that Jansch himself had to bid on 1973's L.A. Turnaround from eBay, while longtime fan Johnny Marr gave Bert his own treasured vinyl copy of 1977's A Rare Conundrum when the one-time Smiths/Modest Mouse/Electronic guitar maven heard that his six-string hero was in search of one. "
Doug D

This is one of my favorite Bert albums, unavailable on CD until now. Great stuff.