The Pentangle

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Professional reviews
The Pentangle

Studio album by Pentangle
Released	1967
Genre	Folk rock
Length	30:52
Label	Transatlantic Records
Producer(s)	Shel Talmy
All Music Guide link
Pentangle chronology
	The Pentangle (1967)	Sweet Child (1968)

The Pentangle was the 1967 debut album of the band Pentangle: Terry Cox, Bert Jansch, Jacqui McShee, John Renbourn and Danny Thompson. It brought together their separate influences of folk, jazz, blues, early music and contemporary song-writing into a sound that was unique, at the time, and has never been matched by another band since. John Peel's sleeve notes close by saying:

Is it necessary to talk of "fusions of traditional folk-forms", "musical innovations", "collective explorations" and the like? Answer "No" in sixty words or less. Play this record to those you love.

By the time that the album was produced, the members of Pentangle were already accomplished musicians, in their own fields, and had played together in various combinations: Jansch and Renbourn were recognised as solo artists and played together regularly, including their recording of the Bert and John album. McShee had sung folk and blues in pubs and clubs and had recorded with Renbourn on Another Monday. Cox and Thompson were experienced session musicians and had played together in Alexis Korner's band.

Hence, although this was their debut album, it was a confident work by accomplished musicians exploring new musical opportunities, and it represents the fully-formed "Pentangle sound". In some ways, this early maturity of their music was the ultimate limitation of Pentangle. Later albums developed their sound further: Sweet Child was more polished and provided more space to explore their musical influences; Basket of Light was more commercial; Cruel Sister explored their folk influence more deeply. However, any developments away from their original characteristic sound tended to take them closer to the musical mainstream, so they tended to stay in their own musical niche, with later albums being criticised for being "more of the same".

Richie Unterberger's verdict on the album was:

If it was more a folk-jazz-blues stew than it was folk-rock, it certainly rocked with a beat, and was executed with vocal harmonies, vocal and instrumental solo trade-offs, and a daring, irreverent spirit that immediately connected with rock-oriented listeners. And rock listeners, rather than folk ones, probably comprised the majority of the Pentangle's audience. The album stopped just short of the British Top 20.^[1]