Our invitation from Jim for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday is to play a song from a breakout album – as distinct from a debut album, as he tells us in his post The Big Time. As I often do, I’m going for something from the depths of my musical taste, in the hope that this might be an introduction for you to an incredibly talented band who have gone under the radar for most.
The band in question is Pentangle, who were a British folk rock band, formed in London in 1967. The original band was active in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and a later version has been active since the early 1980s. The original line-up, which was unchanged throughout the band’s first incarnation (1967–1973), was Jacqui McShee (vocals); John Renbourn (vocals, guitar, sitar); Bert Jansch (vocals, guitar, banjo); Danny Thompson (double bass); and Terry Cox (vocals, drums, glockenspiel). Critics love to pigeonhole bands into a genre, and ‘folk rock’ was as close as they got with Pentangle, who had elements of pop, traditional and contemporary folk, and jazz in their mix.
The band’s breakthrough album was their third, Basket Of Light, which was released in October 1969 and reached #5 in the UK Album Chart. They had previously got to #21 with their eponymous debut album, but didn’t make the charts with the follow up, Sweet Child, a double album which I bought and loved. I’m leading today with the opening track from that breakthrough record, Light Flight:
And in the spirit of SLS, here are the lyrics:
Light Flight was released as a single, and made #43 in the UK Singles Chart. It was written as the theme tune for Take Three Girls, a BBC tv drama series, which was the first they ever broadcast in colour. Pentangle also wrote some of the incidental music for the show, which enhanced it greatly. It ran for 28 episodes over three series, and starred – at varying times – Lisa Goddard, Angela Down, Susan Jameson, and Carolyn Seymour, among others. You can see some stills at the beginning of the video which give you a feel for it: it was based around the lives of three young women sharing a flat in the trendy part of London, West Kensington, when rapid social changes were taking place: the “Swinging London” days.
The tv show music wasn’t included on the album, which was their usual eclectic mix of their own songs, covers and traditional songs. I thought I’d also share one of those today, to highlight Jacqui McShee’s beautiful voice:
That isn’t an official video, but it has a nice atmospheric feel to it and some lovely images, though none of them are Jacqui! Once I Had A Sweetheart is a traditional song dating back at least as far as the early 18th century, and has taken several forms down the years. Pentangle’s is in keeping with the generally accepted version of the song, which has been covered many times. Joan Baez, for example, recorded it in 1963, and Oysterband – one of my favourites – did a version on their 2014 album Diamonds On The Water. It is a beautiful song by almost anyone, with a sad, wistful feel. Pentangle actually released this as a single ahead of the album, in July 1969, and it got to #46 in the UK – a rather unlikely single, I think, at a time when folk music hadn’t as yet enjoyed the renaissance it was on the verge of back then.
Having loved the band since they began I finally managed to see them in concert on one of their dates after they reunited. It was at the Festival Hall in London, in August 2011, and was a lovely evening. Sadly, it was the final show Bert Jansch ever played, before his death in October 2011 after a long battle with lung cancer. His wife, Loren, also died from cancer two months later, and they are buried together in Highgate Cemetery in London. But I still have the music and the memories to enjoy.
That’s it for today, and as always I hope you’ve enjoyed the music: two songs featuring one of the most beautiful voices there has ever been from these shores. Have a lovely day, and I’ll see you again for Tuesday Tunes 🎶
