“Glorious stuff, deeply atmospheric and immaculately sung and played. The current line-up of Pentangle kicks up an absolute storm and Jacqui’s voice is gorgeous.”
Tom Robinson, BBC 6 Music
Pentangle is a name that strikes a chord – a name that came to dominate the music scene of the late sixties and early seventies. Two decades later, McShee is still creating a sound that is genuinely original, this time through her own project, Jacqui McShee’s Pentangle.
The band have carried their spirit of adventure forward to the live stage, the results of which can be seen and heard on this their latest DVD release, In Concert at the Little Theatre. Material from 1998’s Passe Avant is allowed even greater freedom to grow and develop away from the studio setting, the band thriving on the improvisational nature of their playing. They also visit some of the many high points of their history – turning a new eye to such classics as Cruel Sister, The Wife of Ushers Well, Lovely Joan as well as the traditional standards like She Moved Through the Fair. The combination of jazz and folk music has never sounded so natural, the two great examples of the people’s music meeting in one thrilling whole.
Pentangle expanded the frontiers of folk music in the 1960s and since then, the various line-ups have continued to make groundbreaking music. One thing has remained constant, however – Jacqui McShee’s unique voice is always to the fore. The DVD features Gerry Conway on drums and percussion, Foss Patterson on keyboards, Alan Thompson on bass, and Jerry Underwood, soprano and tenor sax .
This has been an eventful year for Pentangle. In February, the band was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards ceremony in London. A CD set charting the bands forty year career was released, followed by a hugely successful UK tour. The release of their In Concert DVD seems a fitting end of another year in the history of this unique band.
01 - She Moved Through The Fair (4:13)
02 - Jabalpur (7:07)
03 - Once I Had A Sweetheart (4:21)
04 - The Nightingale (5:12)
05 - That's The Way It Is (5:06)
06 - The House Carpenter (6:11)
07 - I've Got A Feeling (6:25)
08 - The Bonnie Greenwood Side (3:34)
09 - Cruel Sister (8:02)
10 - The Wife Of Ushers Well (7:17)
11 - Lovely Joan (6:51)
12 - We'll Be Together Again (4:58)
Jacqui McShee - Vocals
Gerry Conway - Drums, Percussion
Alan Thompson - Bass, Vocals, Guitar
Jerry Underwood - Soprano & Tenor Sax
Foss Patterson - Keyboards