Unbridled creativity
Audun Myskja | 01/27/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I confess to a love of the late sixties work of both Bert, John and Pentangle. Somewhere along the line, Pentangle lost their spirit. What they lost is evident in this unique document of two young lads sharing a flat and playing guitar in a frenzy of inspiration, welding, English folk, American blues, jazz (Mingus!), baroque and renaissance styles into a unique amalgam. Not having listened to this album for years, I saw a cut of Bert and John rehearsing "Bells" on a John Renbourn video and was amazed at the sheer level of inspiration and creativity. Bursting at the seams with creativity, seldom stopping long enough to perfect the sometimes flawed expression, this CD has a higher spine-tingling factor than ever, over 30 years on. Prove me wrong, but this is a hidden gem if ever there was one."
Finger-style steel-guitar duels between Jansch and Renbourn
Lawrance M. Bernabo | The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota | 08/06/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Much is made of the Yardbirds having had two lead guitarists of the caliber of Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page at the same time, but while it is certainly true that you are talking a pair of great guitarists you cannot really point to a bunch of songs where they proved the point. On the other hand, Bert Jansch and John Renbourn provide an entire album showing what happens when two great steel-guitar players duel each other through a dozen tracks. One day I may be proficient enough to tell which speak is Jansch and which one is Renbourn, but I am not there yet and it is not a pressing concern with me. These two are masters of English folk music are that is all that really matters here.
If you had to identify a dominant music element on "Bert & John" it would be that they play the blues, sometimes subtle as in "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," and sometimes downright funky, as with "Tic-Tocative" and "Red's Favorite." Then they do songs that represent traditional English folk music, such as "Orland" and even modern folk music, like the happy little "Stepping Stones." Of course there are times when these styles seem to merge and blend, as is the case with the final track, "After the Dance," which puts the exclamation mark on this album. I am getting to appreciate Jansch's singing a bit more, but I still find the songs with lyrics (e.g., "Soho," "The Time Has Come") to be a bit intrusive because I just want to listen to these two guys play guitars. But even on those tracks there is still plenty of good guitar playing to listen to.
These two guitarists did most of their collaborative work together in the group Pentangle, but they first recorded together in 1965 on Jansch's second album, "It Don't Bother Me." In 1966 they recorded "Bert & John" together and Renbourn showed up for half the tracks on "Jack Orion," also recorded and released that same year. The two were roommates for a while and discovered that they were on the save wavelength when it came to guitar playing, which is why it might be nigh impossible to tell them apart of these songs. Clearly Pentangle was a result of these collaborations and the idea that they should take it to the next level and have other musicians added to the mix as well (vocalist Jacqui McShee and the rhythm section of Danny Thompson and Terry Cox). But the chief attraction remained the finger-style guitar playing of Bert and John."
Track Listings (18) - Disc #1