Basket Of Light – PENTANGLE****

Light Flight/Once I Had A Sweetheart/Springtime Promises/Lyke Wake Dirge/Train Song/Hunting Song/Sally Go Round The Roses/The Cuckoo/House Carpenter

Basket Of Light was the follow up album from the folk group Pentangle which brought together some of the leading players in the British folk movement. Night Flight was the theme tune to a popular TV sitcom. (US:200 UK:5)

“A brilliant fusion of folk and jazz, and a terrific album. Pentangle manage to showcase incredible instrumental and vocal talent without seeming like show offs. It fluidly shifts through different genres, interpreted through the folk idiom - jazz, blues, rock and eastern music.”

“Hauntingly beautiful and revealing more and more with every play, Basket Of Light on first listen, sounds quite insubstantial, but in fact almost all of it has a melodic character that was entirely out of reach of the more popular rock music from the late 1960s. It stands as an album with a mood of its own: a timeless, alternately joyful and despairing mood that is so typically and so beautifully English.”

“Given a big boost by Light Flight being used as the theme music to a TV drama, the Pentangle's Basket Of Light is a grab-bag of folk originals as well as traditional standards, all given a mild twist - a jazz rhythm here, a bit of rock and roll energy there, and some occasional light psych touches. Pleasant enough, and if you are into traditional British folk you might find it a rewarding experiment, but if you aren't especially into folk the album doesn't deviate from the folk style sufficiently that it would likely appeal to you.”

“They sound like the England you read about in stories, the England your history teachers taught you about, the England you wish still existed. You need to be totally absorbed in their sound to feel that, of course, but Pentangle make it easy for you.”

“The great thing about Pentangle was that they annoyed the folk purists, mixing in elements of jazz and rock. This album has examples of all they were good at, with both original songs and traditional numbers. And it doesn't outstay its welcome.” “Pentangle's biggest popular success, this is a very good record that mixes originals, mostly by Bert Jansch, with traditional folk material. It's a sweeter, gentler listen than contemporary Fairport releases, very much a folk record, not a folk-rock one.”