Pentangle’s final studio album, recorded by the original line up, stands alongside the band’s finest work.
A SPIRIT OF MUSICAL ADVENTURE
Pentangle epitomised a spirit of musical adventure. Creatively blending folk, jazz and blues, and aligning this with exquisite musicianship and fine songwriting. They also had a gift for selecting impactful traditional folk songs to which they would add their own unique arrangements. Solomon’s Seal, released in 1972, was the final studio album by the original line up of Jacqui McShee (vocals), Bert Jansch (vocals/guitar), John Renbourn (vocals/guitar), Danny Thompson (double bass), and Terry Cox (drums). From the interview with Jacqui McShee, in the accompanying booklet for this deluxe edition, one gets a sense of how the relentless world-wide touring had taken its toll on the musicians, culminating in the band announcing their split in March 1973.
There were subsequent reunions of the original line up, resulting in concert and festival appearances, and BBC sessions. Pentangle – Reunions: Live & BBC Sessions 1982-2011, covers this latter period really well, and At The Barrier reviewed it here.
NEW EDITION
With this new deluxe CD edition of Solomon’s Seal, we have on the first CD, a new master of the album and several extras. These include BBC live sessions, a soundtrack recording, and an earlier solo recording by John Renbourn of Willy O’ Winsbury, which later appeared on the Solomon’s Seal album. On the second CD we have live recordings from the Guildford Civic Hall and St. Albans Civic Centre concerts on Pentangle’s Autumn 1972 tour, and in addition, another soundtrack recording. The accompanying booklet includes a new interview with singer Jacqui McShee conducted by Mick Houghton.
DISC ONE: SOLOMON’S SEAL PRESENTED IN A NEW MASTER
The album opens with Pentangle’s interpretation of Sally Free And Easy, Cyril Tawney’s song about a mariner’s disappointment in love. He wrote the song from personal experience in the late 1950s while a submariner, and Pentangle had already been playing it live prior to recording it for inclusion on Solomon’s Seal. The arrangement of the song shines a light on all the elements that made Pentangle such thrilling performers.
Danny Thompson’s double bass and Terry Cox’s drumming provide a jazz swing, over which John Renbourn adds some deliciously languid blues accents on electric guitar. Danny Thompson steps out at points to skillfully embellish John Renbourn’s atmospheric guitar runs with his own. Bert Jansch’s vocal expertly navigates the contours of the song, with a delivery that perfectly conveys the emotionally weariness of the song’s main protagonist. Jacqui McShee’s wordless vocals offer a striking ethereal counterpoint, that adds just the right sprinkling of other worldliness. On its own, this track makes the case for this album. An album which has somewhat unjustly not experienced the level of praise given to other Pentangle recordings.
The Cherry Tree Carol, a traditional song with a long historical lineage, is wrapped up in an original arrangement by the band, that has a lovely lilting intonation. Jacqui McShee’s vocal brings the spiritual elements of the song to the fore, supported by the chiming acoustic guitars. The Snows, an atmospheric original song, features John Renbourn on sitar and recorder. His breadth of instrumental contributions is a key element to the album, including his greater use of the electric guitar, adding a strong blues edge.
A GORGEOUS JOINT VOCAL
People On The Highway, has a gorgeous joint vocal by Jacqui McShee and Bert Jansch, and is a real highlight of the album. A standout feature is Terry Cox’s drumming, that moves from a soft heartbeat to pacy jazz flourishes. He also adds finger symbols that bring a magical sheen to the song. The heartfelt lyrical theme of leaving behind the stresses of urban life conjures up a picture of lazy Sunday morning coffee in the country.
Willy O’Winsbury had previously been recorded by John Renbourn for his solo album Faro Annie (this version is also featured as an extra on disc one). This epic 13 verses long traditional Scottish ballad is brought to life by Jacqui McShee’s euphonious vocal that brings compassion and warmth to her story telling. A beautiful and affecting interpretation.
A LISTENABLE CLARITY
The albums’s final song is an arrangement of Lady Of Carlisle, featuring Bert Jansch’s banjo and John Renbourn on harmonica, electric guitar, and sharing vocals with Jacqui McShee. The harmonica and banjo add an almost country music feel to the band’s interpretation. There is a striking moment where Terry Cox comes in shifting the tempo and mood of the song. Pentangle are a band that would always do something creative and unexpected with an arrangement of a much-loved traditional song.
Reaching the end of this album, one can but conclude that, unlike some of the reviews at the time, this album can be said to stand alongside the band’s finest work. This is reflected in both the span and depth of the musicianship, and the strong songwriting. Also in the imaginative arrangements the band apply to their choice of traditional songs. Arrangements that successfully meld their diverse musical influences, and passion for these iconic songs. The new master also seems to bring out a very listenable clarity and well positioned instrumental separation from the recording .
DISC ONE: THE EXTRAS
Fair Flower of Northumberland recorded by Jacqui McShee and John Renbourn for a BBC Radio session (Sounds of the 70s), with Sue Draheim on fiddle, is a new discovery. Recorded post the Pentangle split, on 25 April 1973, it is a superbly played and sung, with Sue Draheim’s fiddle adding an extra emotional dimension.
A SUPERB BBC RADIO SESSION
The BBC Radio session for Bob Harris’s Sounds of the 70’s includes five songs from the Solomon’s Seal album. The recording is exceptionally well produced, offering a sense of space and flow that allows the musicians to shine. The session version of People On The Highway is particularly outstanding. Jacqui McShee and Bert Jansch voices combine to offer both contrast and empathic symmetry, while Danny Thompson’s double bass resonates undulating melodic phrases. The session version of Cherry Tree Carol is quite splendid, with Jacqui McShee’s vocal, in all its majestic beauty, given room to fly and inspire.
The film soundtrack piece, recorded in 1972, is a twelve-minute medley of themes and spoken extracts, that formed part of a soundtrack for a day in the life documentary about Shell Oil. The music is really interesting encompassing some very intricate playing and arrangements.
DISC TWO: THE FINAL TOUR
Pentangle toured the UK from October to December 1972, in what proved to be their final tour, prior to their later reunions. The second disc contains extracts from two concerts, Guildford Civic Hall on 10/11/1972 and St Albans Civic Centre on 27/10/1972. The recordings are described in the accompanying booklet as “…the only known amateur recordings from the tour”. While this means that the audio is obviously not the best, it nevertheless gives an exciting sense of the band in the raw, and is a significant historical documentation of the band on their final tour. The Guildford recording is perhaps the better of the two audio wise, and provides most of the live tracks.
Interestingly, Jacqui McShee in her interview notes that the band only played two songs from Solomon’s Seal on the tour, reflecting that they played what they wanted to play, rather than feeling the tour was to promote the new album. Having said that, the performance of People On The Highway from the Guildford concert, one of the two songs played from the album, is incredibly engaging, with a lilting jazz swing and some lovely guitar embellishments.
A GIFT FOR IMPROVISATION
What the concert recordings illustrate in abundance is Pentangle’s ability to improvise and produce something unique in the live context. The traditional Irish folk song, She Moved Through The Fair, is one such example, featuring just Jacqui McShee and Danny Thompson. The thrilling vocal lets the words expand and fly with meaning, while the double bass improvisation is full of inventive reverb and delightful tone colours. It is a magnificent reading of this poignant song.
The second disc concludes with Pentangle’s music for the film Christian The Lion, with Christian The Lion and The Furniture Store included here in stereo and slightly longer edits than previously released. They demonstrate the wide span of the band’s writing and performing, and there are many intriguing passages of music to enjoy.
A MAGNIFICENT REISSUE
This deluxe edition of Solomon’s Seal is a fitting revisiting of an album that can justly stand with some of the best of Pentangle’s music. Including as it does, BBC session work, and historically important live recordings, alongside the band’s film music, there is much to listen to and enjoy. The new interview with singer Jacqui McShee in the accompanying booklet is a great bonus, shedding insightful light on what the band were all about.
This review is dedicated to Danny Thompson, who we sadly lost last year. I had the great pleasure of interviewing Danny a couple of years ago, when writing an article about the interaction between folk and jazz. He was welcoming, charming, and engaging, and his knowledge, love and passion for music shone through the conversation. On publication I shared the article with Danny, and his generous words about it I treasure to this day. Thank you, Danny.
You can view Pentangle performing People On The Highway live in 1972 here:
Jacqui McShee’s Pentangle: Website