SWEET CHILD

Originally a double LP, with one live record and one sutdio offering, Sweet Child shows the great band Pentangle still in a kind of embryonic stage. All the basic elements are here: fantastic musicanship of all involved, a wild variety of music styles and tremendous swapping lead vocals from Jacqui McShee and Bert Jansch. They had yet to mastered their sound (something they would eventually achieve in their next work, the brilliant Basket Of Light), but Sweet Child already shows they were something very special and innovative for the time.

The live album often rings more like individual solo performances sometimes backed by the rest of the band. Still, it is a great display of their incredible talents as musicians and singers. Jacqui Mchsee shines on No More My Lord and teh a capella version of So Early In The Spring, while Danny Thompson proves he was one of the best players of the acoustic bass doing a bold rendition of Charles Mingus Haitian Fight Song. Three Dances is another highlight, where the band members show off their skills on three short classical pieces. And, except for the use of a sole electric guitar on a couple of songs, they did it all handling only acoustic instruments. Impressive!

Folk, Blues, R & B, gospel, baroque, jazz.. you name it. They can handle it all. And very well! Although Sweet Child is not their best ever, it is an outstanding achievement for such recently assembled band. There is little prog in here as we know, but, boy, do they play good! If you´re into progressive folk this is a must have. Unfortunatly my Line single CD version is missing 3 tracks from the original double LP. A small price to pay, I guess, since the rest of the record is so rich and varied it is had to believe this band could do it all in just one release. final rating: something between 4 and 4,5 stars.