NICOLA

A solid three. It's kind of sad that the first review on a Jansch album is a three-star one, but that's the album.

There is a bit of prog here, which is evident in the presence of jazz drumming, alternating meters, strings, a piano, and a flute. Also, Bert took on more of traditional ditties, which maintained his reputation as a folk revivalist.

Just because you are seeing three stars here doesn't mean that you must avoid this album. There are quite a few decent numbers here. The album opens with a dark 'Go Your Way My Love', followed by a gentle and splendid 'Woe is Love My Dear'. In the middle we have 'Little Sweet Sunshine', a little, sweet, and successful mix of Motownesque pop with blues. If this is R&B, then it is R&B of a caliber very different from the one I used to know.

After that we have 'Rabbit Run', which I assumed to be a song that is literally about a rabbit and other forest animals, but then I was a bit confused when I found out that the rabbit was on a motorcycle. So, we are talking about a young hobo on a bike. I like the 'nature' version better than the 'human' version, though. Plus, I really admire Bert's technique of juggling those catchy melodies in the middle and in the treble. Also, I like the interplay of the vocal melodies.

Then you get 'Life Depends on Love'. The songwriting on this little piece of chocolate isn't important; it's the arrangement and the melodies that count, which is why I really like that song. As for the rest of the album, you decide whether it works or not.

By the way, if the musical and lyrical resemblances to Bob Dylan here bug you in some way or another, do yourself a favor: please, don't take them seriously.

Ratings/comments (if you have to ask):

1. 'Go Your Way My Love' - ***** ; 2. 'Woe is Love My Dear' - **** ; 3. 'Nicola' - *** ; 4. 'Come Back Baby' - ** ; 5. 'Little Sweet Sunshine' - **** ; 6. 'Love is Teasing' - ** ; 7. 'Rabbit Run' - ***** ; 8. 'Life Depends on Life' - **** ; 9. 'Weeping Willow Blues' - ** ; 10. 'Box of Love' - ** ; 11. 'Wish My Baby Was Here' - *** ; 12. 'If the World isn't There' - **

Stamp: 'I like it.'

Rudderlessly lying in wait for PENTANGLE's illustrious history to commence, JANSCH marks time with this often depressive, sometimes angry sometimes pastoral and sometimes ingratiatingly sunny release. Acoustic blues, folk and naive 1960s pop are some of the outfits modeled.

It doesn't take long to go wrong, and "Go Your Way my Love", while actually decent, certainly hints at boredom being the likely cause of the departure. In a rare moment of thematic continuity, "Woe is Love my Dear" is really part 2 of the self induced self pity, but musically this is much more successful. It and the title track which follow result in an early pinnacle that is never even approached. Arrangements by David G Palmer which presumably include the uncredited flute and strings add luster to both tracks, to which NICK DRAKE may have listened.

After this, a combination of ouch and meh, with a few trad styled blues numbers like "Come Back Baby" (geez, again?) and "Sweet Little Sunshine" intermixed with his DONOVAN interpretation, minus the likeability ("Love is Teasing"), 2 or more Jansch's singing at once, netting the expected results ("Rabbit Run"), a PET CLARK impression ("Life Depends on Love", "Wish my Baby was Here") experiments, ditto. All the virtuosity could be summoned but it doesn't help the cause, though if I had to nominate a tune from the backsliding backside it would be the more thankfully understated "Box of Love".

I was beginning to wonder if any of these supposed classics would crack the 3 star barrier, without realizing that the first such case would fall through the floor. Not quite 2.5 stars