ROSEMARY LANE

Definitely 5.0. Spoiler alert: no prog here, unless you count classical influences, alternate meters, and various tunings.

Sadly, this is one of Bert's most overlooked efforts. I've said 'sadly' because this album is a darn classic, even though Ritchie Unterberger of AllMusic doesn't exactly see it that way. If Unterberger says that the album "isn't quite as striking as [Bert's] best albums of the '60s" because "it's largely a restatement of already visited themes", then I say that Jansch's guitar really does a lot on my deepest senses. How? The music is somewhat different because some of the tracks here possess a classical flavor. Also, most of the tracks are mid-tempo and very quiet, which provides the listener with some room in the musical space to focus on the tone and the melodies (played in various tunings), which are usually the qualities that are emphasized in ambience music. This is, probably, the tenth time I'm bugging the readers about tone and melody, right? Well, it is for the good cause, and my man Bert is here to prove that. Check out 'Alman', for instance. Classical folk has never made such an impact on me until I heard that piece. Also, give a listen to 'A Dream, A Dream, A Dream', and see what happens for you. However, it is 'Peregrinations' that really gripped me as the moodiest and most imaginative of all tracks here.

Buyer, beware: this is modern folk at its absolute best. This album is actually in my chart of the 30 most influential (on me as a musician and as a person) and quintessential works of their genre. Buy this album, don't download it; it is worth every penny. Get the release with the liner notes in it, and you won't regret it. I once committed the sin of downloading the album once for free and now I regret it a bit because it's too good to get hold of at no cost.

Obviously, if we do some calculations, we will find that the arithmetic average of all ratings below is a four. However, my aura tells me that this record is just too good for a four. It is too good for 4.5, also. Why? This record is nearly flawless and very consistent, and some of the tracks actually sound a bit 5-star-worthy. Let me ask you this: how could it be possible for all tracks to come off as fives? How about 12 tracks? How about 11 tracks? Remember: this is ambient folk, and I usually choose ambient over anything else because it's the purest and most intimate of all musical styles that I have ever heard. Plus, there is no filler on the album in terms of texture; there is only the guitar and the voice. That's all you need. My rating for this album is just something the arithmetic average of the ratings below won't explain to you.

Ratings/comments (if you have to ask):

1. 'Tell Me What is True Love' - **** ; 2. 'Rosemary Lane' - ***** ; 3. 'M'Lady Nancy' - **** ; 4. 'A Dream, A Dream, A Dream' - ***** ; 5. 'Alman' - ***** ; 6. 'Wayward Child' - **** ; 7. 'Nobody's Bar' - **** ; 8. 'Reynardine' - **** ; 9. 'Silly Woman' - **** ;10. 'Peregrinations' - ***** ; 11. 'Sylvie' - ** ;12. 'Sarabanda' - *** ; 13. 'Bird Song' - ***

Stamp: 'Highly recommended' (since Bert's fans really like this one.)

Cutting against the grain of popular trends in folk music, whilst electric folk was at the high water mark of its fashion Bert Jansch put out this acoustic, classically-tinged album of much more traditional material, Captivatingly emotional, with an unabashedly romantic bent, there's a certain timelessness to the material here. With impeccable performance and production standards, and a complete independence from fashionable trends, the album sounds like it could have been made at any point in the last four or five decades - provided, of course, you had a Bert Jansch handy to pull off the heartfelt sincerity of the performance. Four stars sounds right.