Topic Records is proud to announce the release of ‘FINALE’ on 7th October 2016, a remarkable 2 CD set recorded during Pentangle’s triumphant reunion tour in July 2008 which saw the original members of the folk-jazz ‘supergroup’ touring for the first time since 1973. They also revisited their classic repertoire; and unlike so many reunions of the time (and since) it featured the original line-up of legendary and highly influential guitarists Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, singer Jacqui McShee, renowned bassist Danny Thompson and drummer/percussionist Terry Cox.
This beautifully recorded and packaged set captures the band in a series of scintillating performances. Its long awaited release by Topic now comes with added pIt’snancy in the knowledge that Bert Jansch supervised the mixing and sequencing and John Renbourn prepared the album masters before their untimely deaths in 2011 and 2015 respectively.
Having long gone their separate ways, it was in February 2007 that the original members of Pentangle received a BBC Radio 2 Lifetime Achievement Award from Sir David Attenborough where they performed two songs together for the first time in 25 years. The group – which had originally come together in 1967 and had split up in 1973 – was simultaneously celebrated by a box set,The Time Has Come, released the following month. It was a reminder that Pentangle was one of the most exciting and innovative groups in the world, genuinely pushing the boundaries of folk and jazz in a way that defied categorisation. They enjoyed an unprecedented degree of worldwide success for an acoustic band and their influence and musical impact was clearly still revered and relevant forty years later. It remains undiminished almost a further ten years on. In reappraising the group in April 2007, The Word described Pentangle as: “The greatest and most adventurous acoustic ‘supergroup’ of their time.” Mojo put it quite succinctly: “Pentangle revolutionised 60s music.”
In the wake of such acclaim, on 29th June 2008, exactly 40 years since the recording of their monumental live album Sweet Child at the Royal Festival Hall, Pentangle returned to the very same venue to begin their first British tour since 1973. Like the box set the previous year, the sell-out 2008 reunion tour was greeted with tremendous critical and popular plaudits.
“It’s an absolute joy to have them back” – The Times, five stars.
“It was an emotional evening that was far more than an exercise in nostalgia, both because they are now even finer musicians than before, and because their sophisticated, quirky fusions sound as in tune with the current acoustic scene as with the more chaotic hippy era.” The Guardian.
“The musicianship on display is awe inspiring, virtuosic and still somewhat perverse; an endless knot of strings, disparate influences and textures.” The Observer.
Now, at long last, you can hear Pentangle’s unique and remarkable return for yourselves; we won’t see their like again.
Tracklisting
CD one
1. Let No Man Steal Your Thyme
2. Light Flight
3. Mirage
4. Once I Had A Sweetheart
5. In Time
6. People On The Highway
7. House Carpenter
8. Cruel Sister
9. Hunting Song
10. Market Song
CD Two
1. The Time Has Come
2. Bruton Town
3. A Maid That’s Deep In Love
4. I’ve Got A Feeling
5. The Snows
6. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
7. No More My Lord
8. Sally Free And Easy
9. Wedding Dress
10. Pentangling
11. Will The Circle Be Unbroken
Released October 7, 2016 via Topic Records
Pre-Order via: Amazon | ProperMusic