British Folk Luminaries
Telling the stories of some of the best of the British Folk Scene and appreciating their innovations.
I wanted to write about Pentangle. More accurately, I hoped someone else would write about Pentangle, and then realized that I should tackle it.
They were an early part of my listening history. I got a Pentangle collection as a gift, which was probably one of the first 20 or 30 CDs that I owned, and I listened to regularly.
On some level I thought of them as, “An elegant music, for a more civilized age” — which, I realize now, isn’t correct. What strikes me now is the complicated balancing act involved in their music and that they were both cutting edge and very much of their era.
As I was trying to figure out how to tell their story, I reached out on Notes to other music writers to ask if they would offer a reaction/opinion to two songs. I am very happy at the people who responded, and you will see their responses threaded throughout this post.
I asked, because my goal in writing is to offer some way to put the music in context which will help the reader enjoy the song. I share songs that I enjoy and care about and I want my post to offer an on-ramp to help someone else approach them. I wasn’t sure how best to do that with Pentangle. The more I look into them, and read people’s responses I think that, in this case, I am less concerned with recommending them to everyone, and more inclined to think that they are a very skilled band who can be polarizing.
I also sent a performance from Andy Irvine / Paul Brady / Donal Lunny; which I will discuss at the end.
“No Love Is Sorrow” Pentangle Live 19721
I selected this song because it demonstrates what’s unusual about the band — a strong jazz influence, and five members each of whom have a significant creative influence on the band. Guitarists John Renbourn & Bert Jansch2, vocalist Jacqui McShee, bass player Danny Thompson and Terry Cox on drums. Renbourn knew McShee, and had collaborated on an album with Jansch. In August 1966, “Beatles’ ‘Revolver’ [topped] the mainstream UK album chart, ‘Bert And John’ and ‘Jack Orion’ were at Nos. 1 and 2 in the Melody Maker folk chart”3 and they saw an opportunity and believed that they could combine, “Jazz, blues, traditional songs, original material, mediaeval influences, unusual time signatures and potentially three vocalists … but on a business level this was new and seemingly foolhardy territory. There were, as yet, very few bands on the folk scene: the economics were unappealing and, in any case, the use of drums and the consequent need for amplification was against the very ethos of folk music.”4
Pentangle played their first concert in May 1967, and the original line-up stayed together for five years and split up in January 1973. The video comes from a program promoting their final album.
Not surprisingly, this inspired a range of reaction.
What people thought of Pentangle
In order of increasingly positive reactions.
responded, “I have nothing . . . Not my interest. Cheers.” says:Folk music –at least in the traditional sense—has always been a blind spot for me. … First, I should say that the standup bass is fantastic. It’s alive and out front, something that doesn’t happen enough in any genre, let alone folk. Nice to see something crowd out the lutes and lyres for once. The voice of the woman singing is gorgeous. It’s like a songbird. Shame the song sounds so melancholy. [Jansch’s singing] feels like a competition [rather than a compliment. Honestly, it quickly became distracting, and it was all I could focus on. It felt like the origin story for the worst parts of the B52s or Sugarcubes.
Kevin was happy to learn that McShee was the primary vocalist on most songs and said, “her voice is a gift.”
emphasized the larger scene that included Pentangle ( also shared his memories of them at the time which will be included below):This music may sound quaint or 'twee' to some contemporary listeners, however its influence is undeniable. The British and Irish folk traditions date back centuries, and in the 1960s bands like Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span electrified the music, covering traditional material and composing new songs in the style.
There’s a lovely song in there. I’m not a fan of the way it’s sung - rather too flowery for me. Good to see Danny Thompson on double bass. As it happens, I read an article on Pentangle in Mojo yesterday (headlined ‘Fuck folk, let’s swing!’). I didn’t realize they were originally produced by Shel Talmy of Who and Kinks fame.
The opening with the stand up bass is leading us into a beautiful anti-hymn. The words are quite poetic and malleable, which I like in a lyric. My husband knows this band and likes them. I had never heard of them until Nick sent me the video … Pentangle are a folk band but they definitely have all the elements of a rock band, unplugged. The harmonies are beautiful and there is a drummer playing the high hat for the most part. … Of course my mind wants to rock it up and make that drummer hit the snare, but really I don't. It is a beautiful song and it is performed beautifully.
"When listening to the music for “No Love is Sorrow” and “Băneasă's Green Glade” without really hearing the words, I was filled with an overwhelming sense of loss. In both cases, the music in and of itself is beautiful but sad. … “No Love is Sorrow” extols the value of loving another, even if that love remains hidden and unrequited. But underneath are the real emotions that the singer is struggling to suppress — the sense of frustration and resignation that they cannot have the courage to declare themselves and see if that love will be returned and heaven on earth realized.
had heard of Pentangle but wasn’t familiar with their music.I love both of them! And I love them precisely because of the unusual things they're bringing to traditional music. I love Pentangle for the same reason I love Fairport Convention, Trees, Steeleye Span, the Albion Band, and also the many 'spiritual jazz', psyche and prog bands of the era: exploratory music which is simultaneously true to a template and stretches it almost beyond recognition.
Listening to and watching them perform "No Love is Sorrow", I wonder what I have been missing out on. This is some blissed-out music. Acoustic sounds uncompromised by amplification. A middle ground firmly consecrated between jazz and folk. A taste of something that leaves me wanting more. It's an itch I'm going to scratch--I already have their album, Cruel Sister, on order to me and my turntable.
It is clear that whatever one’s reaction to Pentagle it will nevertheless be in good company. I am very grateful for people coming to it with an open mind, being honest, and it feels appropriate that they would prompt such diverse responses.
My Own Reaction
Listening to Pentangle now I appreciate the musicianship more than I had when I was younger. I also hear a tension trying to incorporate so many different influences and personalities5 — it is thrilling when it works but contributes to some of the band’s inconsistency. One writer says, “In hindsight, Solomon’s Seal is a record of people’s weariness, but also the product of a unit whose members were still, however low the ebb, among the best players, writers and musical interpreters of their day. … TV concerts for Granada and RTBF in Belgium – appearances that, though barely months apart, show a group with new life and a group with its life visibly extinguishing.” (the video is from the first of those)6.
In that song, the instrumental break with Renbourn and Thompson playing is fantastic, and doesn’t sound like any other band. I admit to feeling a little impatient with McShee’s singing. Her strengths are clear — she has a great voice, and fits well with the rest of the musicians. In particular the combination on tones between her voice and Thompson’s bass is the first element that I think of as the Pentangle sound. At the same time, she isn’t very emotionally expressive. As Ellen from Endwell found, the emotions only come through once you already understand the song.
This may be an unfair comparison, but consider Linda Thompson on “I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight” and “The Great Valerio.” Two songs from the same album, and arguably two of the best songs of the 70s. Thompson is also a very controlled singer, but adapts her style to the song to bring out the emotions (I may expand this into a separate post later).
Having said all of that, McShee is quite capable of carrying a song. For example “The Trees They Do Grow High” is a great performance by McShee and a nice arrangement of a traditional classic by the band, which doesn’t take anything away from the vocals.
The story of Pentangle
Reading about the history of the band, it’s easy to wish that things had gone better for them. Among the stresses that contributed to the breakup of the band are fatigue from touring, heavy drinking, and disputes with their label about money. I can wish that some of those had been easier, and the had continued to record.
On the other hand, it sounds like they arrived at the perfect moment for their style of music, and it’s hard to imagine them having more success earlier or later. From the beginning they were selling out venues larger than a typical folk club, and they had a very active manager
, remembers their promotional material. It’s a sign of Lustig’s effort that the were sending promos to radio stations in the States a year after their first performance.Bert invited Jo down to the Horseshoe and the matter of the group’s management was swiftly settled: ‘I went to see them and I liked them very much,’ said Jo. ‘My philosophy is simple: if you can apply commercial techniques to crap, it can happen. Why can’t you apply it to fine music? I have a strange way of managing: I like to get a group of musicians who know their way. I let them handle their own way artistically, I handle their business. I’m not out to make friends with my bands. Bert once said to me, ‘Jo, you never hang out’. I don’t like hanging out – that’s not my scene.’ . . .
At the time Jo [Lustig] was introduced to the Pentangle the only act he was managing was Roy Harper. In later years Jo would manage a stream of successful acts – Ralph McTell, Steeleye Span, Jethro Tull, the Chieftains – but the Pentangle were the making of his reputation and he, in turn, the making of theirs. Almost overnight, they were transformed from a cult folk-club act to a bona fide concert attraction with an extraordinary appeal across the social spectrum and considerable, sustained media coverage. ‘Most of the band had fairly rough things to say about Jo,’ says Bert. ‘But I quite liked him. He very, very rarely made mistakes.’ Where everyone agrees is that Jo Lustig was the best PR man there was.
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Fellow musicians were also taken aback by the speed of the Pentangle’s progress from cultdom to the upper echelons of celebrity: ‘I did listen to the first Pentangle album and I liked it,’ recalls Pete Townshend, a slight acquaintance of Bert’s from the early 60s and by then a major figure in British pop. ‘Although it never really engaged me there was something new and innovative about. But I was obviously delighted with their success, which as far as I could see was instant – they seemed to be playing the Albert Hall almost immediately.’7
I first became aware of Pentangle in 1968 (I was 13). Dad worked at a Houston radio station in ad sales, and would regularly bring home promo albums. He loved jazz and kept those promos, and I'd get the rock stuff! I can't recall having any reaction to "The Pentangle," their debut on Warner/Reprise Records that year; I was still fairly hooked on The British Invasion bands that followed The Beatles after their 1964 "Ed Sullivan Show" appearance, which hooked me at 8! By the time their second Reprise album ("Sweet Life") came out, later in 1968, I was a little more "ready" to listen and take them in a bit more. I remember "the female singer," which was an element pretty new to me at the time....Jacqui McShee....especially fronting a rock band! By this time, promo albums by the likes of Jethro Tull, Alice Cooper, Frank Zappa, and Black Sabbath had started to make their way into my junior high bedroom, so a certain "style" of rock was certainly starting to influence my tastes! Then, the more "adult" rock mags I was starting to buy and subscribe to started mentioning the guitar prowess of John Renbourn and Bert Jansch, and their work in Pentangle. … Bands like Fairport Convention (whose albums I never received, as they never recorded for Warner Bros), Renaissance and Annie Haslam (Warners thru their affiliation with Sire Records), Sandy Denny, et al.....all this "new British folk" started to roll across the otherwise very heavy rock landscape. By 1973-75, I was in college radio for two years, and then spent two years 1975-77 in commercial FM rock radio (KLOL/Houston and WFMF/Baton Rouge, LA)....at those, all these bands were well-represented in the control rooms, and I was, by now, very aware of their new and still-different sounds, and had no problem working them into my sets in any given hour!
In Wikipedia’s description, Pentangle didn’t fit neatly into the “new British Folk” Brad mentions.
says (of “No Love Is Sorrow”), “Even the by-then familiar sounds of folk-rock would more likely have opted for electric bass and a less ‘jazzy’ sound. Second, the singing style would not at that time be considered unusual for a British folk band, having been used by many of the prominent UK female singers of the time (Sandy Denny, Anne Briggs to an extent, Celia Humphis of Trees, though that was a more obscure band) and some American folk/psyche bands too (Grace Slick?). Nevertheless, it was still quite removed from ‘trad.’ styles, being accent-free and ‘beautiful’ in a placeless kind of way. Third, that John Renbourn guitar solo is full of blues stylings and speaks to a hybrid style that he pioneered in folk along with Davy Graham and Bert Jansch. It's a very post-‘Angi’ way of playing.”Pentangle are often characterised as a folk-rock band, although Danny Thompson preferred to describe the group as a "folk-jazz band." John Renbourn rejected the "folk-rock" description. He said, "One of the worst things you can do to a folk song is inflict a rock beat on it. . . Most of the old songs that I have heard have their own internal rhythm. When we worked on those in the group, Terry Cox worked out his percussion patterns to match the patterns in the songs exactly. In that respect he was the opposite of a folk-rock drummer." This approach to songs led to the use of unusual time signatures: "Market Song" from Sweet Child moves from 7/4 to 11/4 and 4/4 time, and "Light Flight" from Basket of Light includes sections in 5/8, 7/8 and 6/4.
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In their final two albums Pentangle returned to their folk-jazz roots, but by then the genre's musical tastes had moved to British folk rock. Colin Harper commented that Pentangle's "increasingly fragile music was on borrowed time, and everyone knew it."
Their most commercially successful album was _Basket Of Light_ (1969) which spent 28 weeks on the UK Albums chart, peaking at number 5. It’s success was helped by a surprise single, "Light Flight", which was used as theme music for a television series, Take Three Girls. It is surprising that they reached that level of fame, and not surprising that subsequent albums didn’t sell as well.
“Băneasă’s Green Glade” Andy Irvine 1976
I picked this video because it is my favorite recording that I discovered in 2024. I found it somewhat by chance, and my initial reaction was just to be amused by the story — at the time I thought, “living in a forest outside Bucharest for a couple of months is quite the commitment to the life of an itinerant musician.” But, as I sat with it, I really like everything about it, and it renewed my appreciation for Andy Irvine.
In my post about “The January Man” I described some performers projecting the music out to the audience, while others are inviting the audience in. This performance is a remarkable example of a dynamic powerful piece of music which never feels like they’re embellishing for effect, or strongly projecting it outward. There’s nothing wrong with bands who put on a show, but I really how grounded it feels, and that you have the sense that they are very much measuring the performance against an internal sense of, “how do we best play this piece of music” rather than, “how do we impress the audience?” The transition into “Mominsko Horo” (the instrumental piece they close with) feels natural and also completely shifts the mood from the contemplative reverie of Irvine’s song into a performance that feels very physical and in-the-moment.
Fewer people responded to that video, both because I’d listed it second and, I suspect, because they don’t have as much going on as Pentangle, but I’m pleased that people mostly enjoyed it.
says, “This is great. Lovely traditional melody sung beautifully. This reminds of the source and, while I prefer modern folk, it can only exist because of what went before.” , “This is no less radical than what Pentangle were doing. In some ways, it sounds more ‘traditional’, but there are all kinds of global and historical connections going on here. . . . I love Irvine and co.” , “There is something deeply impressive in how "Baneasa's Green Glade" shifts from a very English folk ballad to a heated kind of English raga that happens so subtly you're not even aware anything has changed until it has become firmly entrenched. Consider me impressed.” , “His voice is a little too "random folk singer" for me, but the accent helps him out of that a bit. The highlight is the instrumental section at the end. It rocks! Again, I have the urge to put a slamming drummer in there and a bass and let them go! They do go really far without it though, and it is the best part of the song.” “‘Băneasă's Green Glade’ is sad for the opposite reason, that heaven on earth has already been realized and lost. It was but a carefree period in time but, alas, not recognized for what it was and taken for granted.” “On the other hand, Andy Irving’s ‘Baneasa’s Green Glade’, felt more “up.” It’s still not my bag … The vocals themselves are solid, and no one is trying to overwrite Irving here. Nor are the instruments fighting it out for top billing. Instead, the interplay between the three is exquisite and creates a lush soundscape. For my money, this is what traditional folk music should sound like.”Sincere thanks again to everyone. I would strongly recommend their music to anyone interested in an extremely well-done version of folk music which is rooted in both traditional and modern influences.
The story behind the band
This concert is from the same year as the self-titled album8 with Paul Brady; this is also one I’ve had in my collection for a long time, and have only later realized that it’s incredibly influential and considered a classic of Irish music.
They met playing together in Planxty; a successful and well-regarded Irish band. Brady joined in 1974, and it broke up in late 1975.
Brady and Irvine had a natural musical chemistry. “We got on very well,” says Irvine. “It wasn’t really a surprise after the band split up that we said, ‘why don’t we do something, the two of us?’. At the time it seemed a really good idea. And it was: it flourished.”
“We were a natural pairing,” agrees Brady. “I was into [old time string band] the New York City Ramblers and [mid 20th-century folk singer and folklorist] Mike Seeger and people like that. Before I joined Planxty I was doing a lot of country blues and stuff. We had a good rapport, Andy and I. I also was very much impressed by his grasp of Eastern European music. I wanted to learn as much about that as I could. The album was the result of our first year, year and a half touring together. Neither of us would have a clue that over 40 years later it would be an iconic record.”9
Andy Irvine’s interest in Eastern European music came from a trip he made in 1968.
Andy Irvine fancied somewhere…….different. For that reason and that reason alone he finally settled on Bulgaria, and it might have been Pluto for all he or anyone else knew about it in 1968. Except that it was behind the Iron Curtain and, as our daily newspapers regularly informed us, anyone who ventured beyond it would be instantly arrested, chopped up into little pieces and fed to eight foot soldiers in jack boots and fur hats.
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“I suppose I was kinda nervous” Admits our intrepid explore 24 years on. “I had no idea what to expect at all. I didn’t know if they allowed hitch-hikers in or anything, and of course, there was no tourist trade of any kind then. So I rolled up to the border guards not being able to speak a word of the language and wondering if I’d be allowed in.
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Andy spent the next eighteen months having lots of adventures not only in Bulgaria, but also in Romania and Greece. He did get arrested once or twice for busking, but nobody chopped him up into pieces and fed him to jackboots and he fell deeply in love with both the music and the people. Mostly, though he developed a passion for its music.
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Andy Irvine’s solo bid to turn the whole of Ireland into a Balkan hotbed was given further inspiration by the curious and entirely coincidental rise to eminence in Irish traditional circles of the decidedly Greek bouzouki.
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Later he was to spill blood for a new bouzouki………Literally !!
“ I remember going to Greece. I didn’t want to go to Greece because the colonels were in power there and I didn’t want to spend any money in Greece. I didn’t want to aid their economy in anyway. So I went as far as Thessalonki, Which is a Macedonian town near the Bulgarian border and sold my blood to pay for a bouzouki.”
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Andy’s first tentative step towards putting the Bulgaria up Irish music was with Mominsko Horo on a Planxty album. He had an immediate and obvious ally in the ever –adventurous Donal Lunny, but the rhythms were seemingly so alien to the accepted Irish Tradition that he was nervous about overplaying it.10
The entire concert is available on YouTube, and one of the highlights of both it and the album is “The Plains Of Kildare”
Set Of Six was a Granada production that showcased a band "from the world of modern music" live in front of a studio audience. Pentangle's performance on the show includes a selection of songs from their 1972 album "Solomon's Seal", which was the last release featuring the original line-up.
Bert Jansch is particularly praised for his importance in British music. For example, “Those he influenced included Jimmy Page, Nick Drake, Graham Coxon, Donovan, Bernard Butler and Paul Simon. According to fellow guitarist Johnny Marr: ‘He completely reinvented guitar playing and set a standard that is still unequalled today … without Bert Jansch, rock music as it developed in the 60s and 70s would have been very different.’“
https://theafterword.co.uk/pentangle-a-history-in-several-parts/ (a resource I will cite several times).
ibid
Their producer said, ‘Groups rarely fall apart because they have deep artistic differences,’ he observes. ‘It’s the social dynamics of a group that’s the problem, when they just can’t stand each other. That’s where the Spinners, of all people, had shown the way. But if the Pentangle were the sort of people who could have hung together, realized groups have difficulties and that they’d got to somehow handle that, then they would have gone on to make more music. But, at the same time, if they were the sort of people who would have appreciated that, they wouldn’t have been the sort of people they were and they wouldn’t, in the first place, have been producing such interesting music.’ — https://theafterword.co.uk/pentangle-a-history-in-several-parts-conclusion/
ibid
https://theafterword.co.uk/pentangle-a-history-in-several-parts/
That link goes to a recent re-release: https://store.compassrecords.com/products/andy-irvine-paul-brady-1
https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/artsandculture/arid-40782783.html
https://andyirvinenews.wordpress.com/2015/01/14/archive-interview-folk-roots-magazine-august-1992/
Thanks for sharing your and others' thoughts on these two great pieces of music and thanks for including me. I did a quick search for posts on Pentangle on Substack and couldn't find much, mainly mentions in longer posts covering other artists or the scene more generally. So, while other writers had the chance to write about the band if their take on them was necessary to share, they don't appear to have done so. You've therefore done us all a service with this piece.
I've seen some Set Of Six episodes. Interesting stuff. Great piece.