FARO ANNIE

The last album ever to be recorded for and released by Transatlantic Records by any of the Pentangle members, Faro Annie is a bit of an unexpected gem. Acoustic guitar virtuoso John Renbourn eschews his fascination with pseudo Elizabethan music and concentrates on good old British folk and American folk and blues songs. Gone also is the guitar virtuosity and chamber like music that made Sir John Alot and The Lady And The Unicorn, respectively, so unique. This time around, the subdued guitar playing has let Renbourn concentrate on his usually lack luster vocals and he got them to really shine on songs like "White House Blues" and "Buffalo Skinners", the later featuring just acoustic guitar and other worldly sitar played by the great man himself. "The Cuckoo" is another song to get the fine spooky sitar treatment. Other standouts are "Little Sadie" and the English folk standard "Willy O' Winsbury", both recorded with mournful fiddle playing by Renbourn's then girlfriend Sue Draheim, with Renbourn doing one of best recorded vocals on the latter.

Old Pentangle mates Danny Thompson, and Terry Cox turn up on double bass and drums, respectively, and add a funky vibe to "Kokomo Blues", "Shake Shake Mamma" and the album's instrumental title track. All are good, but it's the songs with just Renbourn's acoustic or electric guitar, sitar, harmonica and vocals that really shine, and show that Renbourn's depth of knowledge of folk and blues was more than just skin deep. And this album, lovingly played, sung and recorded, demonstrates just how much he loved those genres. 4 stars.

After polished interpretations of compositions from the early part of the second millenium on "The Lady and the Unicorn", JOHN RENBOURN reversed course without first screeching to a halt just one year later with the stunning "Faro Annie".

Renbourn is back to singing and acquits himself respectfully on mostly traditional blues/country songs from America, as he has done earlier and giftedly, with the inobtrusive backing of DORRIS HENDERSION on a few songs. The best material here is of the slow burn type demonstrated in the opening two tracks, one about the assassination of President McKInley in 1901 and the other about buffalo hunting in the pre-statehood southwest; and the wonderful and idiosyncratically homoerotic "Willy O'Winsbury", in which the king claims he would have slept with Willy if the king were a woman. My first reaction is that I would hope Willy would have a say in this matter, but coming from the king and all, I suppose Willy might have been wise to capitulate. It's also notable for being essentially the only overtly Englische tune here.

A few other tracks are elevated by Renbourn's skill on both electric ("Kokomo Blues") and acoustic guitar ("The Cuckoo"), converting the otherwise nearly forgettable to the virtually excellent. As a fan of the long lived "The Men they Couldn't Hang", pitch perfect Brits who wore a genuine fascination with Americana, I note the similarities between the meter and melody of "Little Sadie" and TMTCH's "Silver Gun".

"Faro Annie" sees Renbourn and his select accompanists delivering again, and even better, in a style that would seem on the surface to be a poor fit, but proudly and humbly brims with authenticity. Not quite 3.5 stars.