Jack Orion – BERT JANSCH****

The Waggonner’s Lad/The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face/Jack Orion/The Gardener/Nottamun/Henry Martin/Black Water Side/Pretty Polly

Although Bert Jansch was an accomplished songwriter, on Jack Orion he performed acclaimed interpretations of traditional folk songs. He is accompanied by guitarist John Renbourn on some tracks.

"There are no Jansch originals anywhere to be found on Jack Orion, his third album released in 1966. It’s made up of seven traditional interpretations and one conventional cover. This hardly matters though - it’s what Bert does to these pieces in the space of the record which is important. He adds a then ‘hip’, weary blues quality to even the oldest sounding trad folk melodies and completely makes them his own, with some dazzling finger-picking and all round awesome acoustic playing."

"Bert Jansch's third album is, in my humble opinion, his greatest. An album filled with traditional songs it truly goes to show just what a great guitarist he was. As if Bert's talent wasn't enough he is joined by the equally great John Renbourn on some tracks, which even further heighten the worth of this album to any guitar player. The album is so full of great songs that you won't be able to stop listening to it."

"Like so many Bert Jansch albums, nothing but great tracks on this one. Hearing him play banjo on the opener is delightful. It's tough to do better than Bert Jansch. The only things that keep this from being a five star release is the fact that some of the tracks sound a little too similar, and that, as usual, the coherence isn't superb. Nevertheless, just try not to enjoy this album."

"Although this album consists entirely of British folk songs and traditionally inspired instrumentals, Jack Orion's appeal as a folk album is an awkward one, for in essence it is blues album. Yet its mix of styles and hypnotic background arrangements, makes it more revolutionary than all that had come before it."

"This album is an absolute gold British folk classic. Here, although the banjo does feature in the first track, he plays mainly acoustic guitar. This is executed with perfect skill and sense of rhythm making this truly enjoyable and interesting to listen to. Most of the tracks compile a masterclass in the art of solo guitar playing, with Jansch playing alone, but there are a few tracks in which the great man plays with his old flat-mate John Renbourn."