Earth Recordings have announced a 40th Anniversary Edition of Bert Jansch’s Avocet album. The album will feature newly discovered live tracks (recorded live in Italy in 1977), as well as new liner notes from Pentangle bandmate (and Avocet collaborator) Danny Thompson. This is not the first time that Earth Recordings have revealed newly discovered tracks, back in 2016 they treated us to an untitled instrumental from Bert and John Renbourn which made it onto their beautifully presented Book-back release Living In the Shadows which featured an extra disc of demos, alternate versions and never-before-heard tracks, transferred from Jansch’s personal tapes.
When we reviewed the 2016 release of Avocet by Earth, Thomas Blake noted how others had also been drawn down that ornithological route. The subject of British birds is one that Jansch held close to his heart. Indeed, just preceding this album was his 1978 split 7” single with Shirley Collins – with proceeds in aid of the RSPB.
Music inspired by ornithology has mutated into a micro-genre all of its own since Bert Jansch recorded Avocet with Martin Jenkins and Danny Thompson in 1978. Composer Jonathan Harvey’s modernist Bird Concerto utilised the quasi-electronic frequency modulation found in birdsong to create a form that was indebted to both the scientific and the poetic aspects of our relationship with birds. Peregrine, a conceptual piece by Lawrence English, is the composer’s reaction to the book of the same name by J.A. Baker. The distinctly British commingling of avian, musical and poetic worlds is nothing new – Vaughan Williams’ ‘The Lark Ascending’ (which in turn crept into King Crimson’s Larks’ Tongues In Aspic) dates from 1920 and is itself based on a poem from 1881.
He concludes:
Avocet has a reputation in some quarters for being one of Jansch’s most accomplished albums, but also one of his most difficult. This is somewhat unfair. Far from being hard to listen to, it has a flow from start to finish, a liquid quality well suited to the waterbirds of its song titles. It is an album to get lost in, but not necessarily one you want to find your way out of. There is a strong case for saying it contains Jansch’s finest work. With any luck this reissue – stunningly packaged in Hannah Alice’s original artwork – will find its way to a new and appreciative set of listeners.
The supporting press draws some interesting comparison to other performers which speaks of Jansch’s musical progressiveness – “There are surprises in particular in ‘Lapwing’ (a dirge-like waltz that wouldn’t be out of place on a Nils Frahm album) and ‘Bittern’ (which speaks of Arthur Russell’s more experimental pieces).”
This is a very tempting new offering on white vinyl and limited to 500 copies. “Featuring ex-bandmate Danny Thompson, alongside Martin Jenkins (Dando Shaft, amongst others) with liner notes by Jansch aficionado Colin Harper (author of ‘Dazzling Stranger: Bert Jansch and the British Folk and Blues revival’). This new edition also comprises three never-before-heard tracks, recorded live in Italy in 1977 with Martin Jenkins (‘Bittern’; ‘Kingfisher’; ‘Avocet’), as well as Danny Thompson’s recollections of the making of ‘Avocet’, recorded by Dave Thompson (Mojo Magazine) in typical style. Remastered by Brian Pyle from original tapes.”
Listen to the title track below:
Tracks
01: Avocet
02: Lapwing
03: Bittern
04: Kingfisher
05: Osprey
06: Goldfinch
Bonus tracks (download card) – recorded live in Italy, 1977
07. Bittern
08. Kingfisher
09. Avocet
Pre-order link:
https://earthrecordings.lnk.