Pentangle

Pentangle defies easy categorization as either a straight folk ensemble or a folk-rock band. Electric instruments surfaced only sporadically, and the lineup revolved around two already celebrated acoustic virtuosos, Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, both fixtures on the British folk scene prior to the group’s formation. Their wide-ranging appetite for stylistic exploration nevertheless aligned with the experimental spirit of late-1960s progressive rock and psychedelia, drawing much of their following from rock and pop listeners rather than traditional folk audiences. Fronted by Jacqui McShee’s crystalline vocals and anchored by the rhythm section of Danny Thompson on bass and Terry Cox on drums, the quintet navigated an expansive repertoire that fused traditional ballads, blues, jazz, pop songs, and inventive reworkings of earlier rock material, often within single performances. The individual brilliance of its members may have contributed to the group’s relatively short original run, yet at their height those distinct abilities meshed to push one another toward collective peaks reminiscent of the interplay heard in landmark rock units such as the Beatles and Buffalo Springfield.

By the winter of 1966-1967, when Pentangle coalesced, Jansch and Renbourn had already issued a joint album titled Bert & John along with separate solo projects. Jansch leaned toward blues and original compositions, while Renbourn brought greater depth in traditional British folk repertoire. Jacqui McShee, whose luminous high voice helped establish, alongside Sandy Denny, the benchmark for British female folk-rock singing, joined the pair in rehearsals. After an unsuccessful initial attempt with another rhythm section, Thompson and Cox, both recently employed by Alexis Korner, completed the lineup.

The band’s first three albums—The Pentangle (1968), the double-disc Sweet Child (1968), and Basket of Light (1969)—represent both their strongest work and, in many respects, their only indispensable recordings. Under producer Shel Talmy the musicians negotiated an array of styles and sources with consistent assurance. Thompson and Cox injected jazz-inflected swing and momentum even into conventional folk ballads, while the guitar dialogue between Jansch, himself a persuasive singer, and Renbourn proved consistently exhilarating, each player supporting and extending the other without competitive excess. McShee’s graceful vocals, though less overtly emotive than those of her counterpart Sandy Denny, formed a crucial ingredient in the group’s appeal to mainstream listeners.

For a period Pentangle enjoyed considerable popularity in Britain, where Basket of Light reached number five on the charts and “Light Flight” became a modest hit single. Early-1970s releases introduced occasional electric guitars but were hampered by less cohesive songwriting and diminished group chemistry. The original quintet disbanded in 1973. Jansch and Renbourn, who had never fully set aside their solo work, maintained active recording careers and continued to draw audiences on the folk circuit. Thompson spent time with John Martyn and sustained a busy schedule as a session player while also issuing occasional solo material on the Hannibal label. The classic lineup reconvened for the early-1980s album Open the Door, and assorted configurations toured and recorded through the following decades, typically retaining only McShee and Jansch from the founding membership. All five original members reunited for a twelve-date U.K. tour in 2008 and topped the bill at that year’s Green Man festival. The passing of Bert Jansch in 2011 and John Renbourn in 2015 closed the door on further full reunions, yet Topic Records released Finale: An Evening With… in 2016, documenting performances from the 2008 tour. In 2017 Cherry Red Records issued a seven-disc boxed set containing remastered editions of every studio album, each supplemented with previously unreleased material, timed to mark the group’s fiftieth anniversary.