Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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PENTANGLE

British folk group. Original lineup: Terry Cox, drums; Bert Jansch, guitar, vocals; Jacqui McShee, vocals; John Renbourn, guitar, vocals, sitar (b 8 August 1944; d 26 March 2015, Hawick, Scotland); and Danny Thompson, bass. Their formation sent out ripples in the folk scene, due to the the standing of Jansch and Renbourn as guitarists as well as the quality of ther others, but perhaps the group never really lived up to expectations. They played an innovative mixture of folk and jazz, though remembered as a folk band; there had been jazz inflections in Jansch and Renbourn's earlier Bert And John.

They debuted with The Pentangle '68, earning acclaim from critics and fellow musicians; two-disc Sweet Child '68 was also well received; Basket Of Light '69 was boosted to no. 5 in the UK album chart by the inclusion of theme music from the BBC TV drama Take Three Girls. They could not maintain the impetus: Cruel Sister '70, Reflections '71 (all on Transatlantic) and Solomon's Seal '72 (on Reprise) were not as highly regarded. Much of this work was repackaged after they split up; Jansch and Renbourn continued as solo artists, Cox and Thompson returned to session work.

A reunion in the early '80s was ill-fated; e.g. Open The Door '84 on Spindrift united four of them with Mike Piggott replacing Renbourn, but legends are often best left alone. Renbourn's early solo albums on Transatlantic John Renbourn and Another Monday were on CD from Castle '96; his Lost Sessions (early '70s) was on Edsel as was John Barleycorn by the John Redbourn Group (tracks from late '70s studio albums A Maid In Bedlam and Enchanted Garden).