THE ALBUMS

Comprehensive set from the original run of the classic British folk rock band, including all six of their 1960s and 1970s albums in attractive replica card sleeves, an extensive booklet, and a wealth of bonus tracks. To my mind, Pentangle never quite put out a five star album, but they were pretty consistent in quality within this period and this is a good way to get more or less all the Pentangle stuff you're likely to want, unless you're so keen on the band you want to dip into their reunion albums from the mid-1980s onwards. If you're out to explore the British folk rock scene you'll probably want to check in on Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span first, but this is a good next stop.

This mini CD box set is a gem with a few caveats. First off, it contains Pentangle's first 7 studio albums placed together for the first time, with a myriad of bonus tracks and alternate takes. First, the good: There are some stellar previously unreleased alternate mixes such as 5 Bert Jansch tunes taken from his 1969 solo album Birthday Blues, that's stripped of the fey flute and sax accompaniment. The sound is beefed up as it would be heard played live in the studio before the sound volumes were mixed down. Another is John Renbourn's song "So Clear" from the Reflection album outtakes that features a searing fuzzed electric lead solo in place of the more sedate acoustic lead work found on the released version.

So, there are some nice rarities with this set. What I find lacking is the remastered sound quality. Gone is the thinner sound mix of the original albums, which has now been messaged to sound like a modern sound mix with more mid bass prominence and less treble, along with some heavy handed use of noise reduction at times. Gone is some of the detail such as string noise on guitar and bass as well as a duller overall sound. This is especially prominent on the Basket Of Light disc (which I found quite annoying), but is less noticeable on the the band's first eponymous release and their stellar follow up album Sweet Child.

With that said, I can only recommend this set for diehard fans as much of the bonus material has been released previously, barring the songs mentioned above. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 sounds right for this modestly priced mini box with it's oddly inconsistent sound quality.