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BERT JANSCH "Moonshine" CMRCD112 "The Ornament Tree" CMRCD111 "Down Under : Live in Australia" CMRCD022
JOHN RENBOURN
"The Transatlantic Anthology " ESACD 858 Double CD PENTANGLE "Light Flight, The Anthology" ESACD 857 Double CD

Even more Pentangle/Jansch/Renbourn re-releases, anthologies, live albums - how much more can the world stand?! This is wonderful, inspirational, seminal, influential stuff, but we're drowning in it! I now have three each of "Best of Bert Jansch", "Best of John Renbourn" and "Best of Pentangle". Yes, of course, this music is the very dog's whatsits from the inventors of British folk-rock and folk-baroque. Jansch and Renbourn's sparkling guitar work and world-weary vocals have influenced generations. Pentangle's cool, jazzy noises provided the soundtrack for a style and jerked some traditional songs out of the libraries and attics and on to the record-players (remember them?) of the greater listening public. This is almost all peerless musical perfection. Certainly, Bert's 1990 version of "Banks O' Sicily" on "Ornament Tree" isn't my favourite of that song, but it illustrates his ability to take any song and make it his own. These CDs, especially the doubles, are terrific value. The question is - who is left that wants one of these "Best ofs" that hasn't already got one?!

Alan Murray

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This album was reviewed in Issue 50 of The Living Tradition magazine.