FOLK ROOTS July 2005

Another long running brand, Pentangle 2005 has few shackles that bind it to previous incarnations beyond the lady who gives her name to the prefix. Rather the links are conscious ones, made to further their chosen path and not some vainglorious reflections of yesterday. The improbably entitled Feoffees’ Lands is however an enticing prospect, one that employs an amount of guile and cunning in order to deliver its undoubted charms. When the old band caved in, Jacqui McShee’s rescue package involved bringing in people she knew she could work with, musicians who had a proven track record, the likes of Spencer Cozens, Alan Thomson, who understood that a dose of funk-lite could perform wonders.

The intelligent mix here of folk, jazz, blues and standards, in many ways mirrors the eclectic path mapped out years back, yet lost when the group diverted in to soupy folk rock. No such divergence is evident, McShee’s voice though soft is an all encompassing sweep that takes in the common trad currency of Banks Of The Nile, Sovay, Two Magicians, supper club cosiness You’ve Changed and original groove drives Nothing Really Changes, Acrobat. Around her the band, with guests like Martin Barre, David Hughes, John Giblin and a fiery brass section, switches between the acoustic elements to fine effect. Nor is this just a studio creation, I recently witnessed a very convincing gig that proved whilst they may not be the most animated band, Pentangle can still be absorbing. What was it they used to say about old dogs and new tricks?

SIMON JONES