Isle of Wight Festival, Afton Down, Isle of Wight, Britain, 8-27-1970 to 8-30-1970 - 8-30-1970: Part 2: Donovan & Pentangle

After the hard rock of Free, the next two acts at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival had more of a folky sound: Donovan and Pentangle.

Unfortunately, just like the John Sebastian set I discussed previously, I have a recording of the full Donovan set, but it sounds terrible. It's an audience bootleg. Just like the Sebastian one, there was a near constant wind blowing on the microphone, messing with the vocals in a way that's impossible to improve. He played for about an hour, with the first half solo acoustic and the second half with his band Open Road.

But all is not lost, because three songs survived with worthy sound quality. "Catch the Wind" sounds the best, because it was included on the album "Message to Love" that went with the film documentary of the same name. The other two songs here apparently come from a better sourced bootleg.

We're lucky to have most of the Pentangle set. None of it has been officially released, nor did any of it appear on any bootlegs that I know of. However, in 2019, Colin Harper posted what he had of the set on YouTube, and I've taken it from there. Harper has written a book about Pentangle and has been involved in the rerelease of all their albums, so he's had access to material from their vaults. 

That's the good news. The bad news is, there were a number of problems with this recording. First off, the first three songs are missing: "Train Song," "Sally Free and Easy," and "Bruton Town." There was nothing I could do about that. Also, the first minute or so of "Hunting Song" was missing, and the last couple of minutes of the final song, "Pentangling," was missing. I found a good bootleg from the same year at Berkeley, and I patched in parts of that to fill in the missing sections. As a result, there are now about 37 minutes out of what had been a 55 minute set.

Pentangle was not happy with how their set went. Harper wrote: "The group always recalled the show as sub-par, to do with various offstage distractions, poor onstage sound, and someone stage-invading at one point and standing on singer Jacqui McShee's foot (indeed, you can hear her asking this person to get off her foot during 'Rain and Snow'). [However,] at this remove, it sounds like they acquitted themselves very well in the circumstances."

This album is 50 minutes long.

017 Catch the Wind (Donovan)
018 Henry Martin (Donovan)
019 Train Whistle Blues (Donovan)
020 talk (Pentangle)
021 Light Flight (Pentangle)
022 Will the Circle Be Unbroken (Pentangle)
023 Hunting Song [Edit] (Pentangle)
024 Rain and Snow (Pentangle)
025 House Carpenter (Pentangle)
026 Pentangling [Edit] (Pentangle)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15596244/IsleofWghtFestivlAftnDwnIsleofWghtBrtain__8-30-1970_Pt2DonovnPntngle.zip.html

The cover photo comes from this exact concert.

Pentangle - BBC Sessions, Volume 6: 1971-1973

With this album, the sixth in the series, I reach the end of Pentangle at the BBC.

Pentangle broke up at the end of 1972, though they honored a few commitments into early 1973. (They did get together for some reunions later, but this series only deals with their music from the 1960s and early 1970s.) This album catches them right before their break-up, with all but two of the songs from 1972 - the first one is from 1971, and the last one is from 1973.

All the performances on this volume have been officially released, so everything sounds very good. One comes from "The Lost Broadcasts," five come from "On Air," and three come from the box set "The Time Has Come." However, not all of the songs are actually BBC recordings. "Rain and Snow" and "Willy O' Winsbury" were recorded for a British TV show, and "Reflection" was recorded for a Belgian TV show.

This album is 42 minutes long.

01 Lord Franklin (Pentangle)
02 People on the Highway (Pentangle)
03 No Love Is Sorrow (Pentangle)
04 Cherry Tree Carol (Pentangle)
05 Jump Baby Jump (Pentangle)
06 Lady of Carlisle (Pentangle)
07 Rain and Snow (Pentangle)
08 Willy O' Winsbury (Pentangle)
09 Reflection (Pentangle)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15267363/Pentgl_1971-1973_BBSessionsVolume6_atse.zip.html

I don't know anything about the cover photo except that it's said to have been taken "circa 1973."

Pentangle - BBC Sessions, Volume 5: In Concert, London, Britain, 6-20-1970

Finally, after four volumes of Pentangle playing for the BBC, we got to a full concert. A rather short concert, admittedly, but a concert nonetheless.

The likely reason there wasn't a BBC concert before this is that the BBC generally didn't broadcast concerts until 1970, when this took place. There were a few exceptions, such as a Moody Blues concert from 1969 that I've posted here, but very few. And even when concerts did start in 1970, they usually were only half an hour at first. That's the case here. But it's a quality half hour. It has been officially released on the "On Air" album, and the sound quality is excellent.

Since the concert is short, I looked around for other material that would fit that I could add to the end. I found a few songs from a TV show the band performed for just a month before the BBC concert. This short-lived show, called "The Two Brewers," filmed musical acts in the Two Brewers Pub in London. Three of the songs were released on the band's box set "The Time Has Come." The last song here also comes from that show, but is unreleased. That's probably because it's a very atypical comedic song sung by the band's drummer.

This is the third album in a row in this series to include the song "Light Flight." But it was the band's one big hit, and it's such a good song that I don't mind.

With the four songs added at the end, this album's total length is 42 minutes.

01 Train Song (Pentangle)
02 talk (Pentangle)
03 Hunting Song (Pentangle)
04 Light Flight (Pentangle)
05 In Time (Pentangle)
06 talk (Pentangle)
07 House Carpenter (Pentangle)
08 talk (Pentangle)
09 I've Got a Feeling (Pentangle)
10 Wondrous Love (Pentangle)
11 Sally Free and Easy (Pentangle)
12 Sarabande (Pentangle)
13 talk (Pentangle)
14 Blue Monk (Pentangle)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15267361/Pentgl_1970_BBSessionsVolume5InConcrtLondonBritain__6-20-1970_atse.zip.html

The cover show is of the band playing at the 1969 Isle of Wight Festival. I would have liked to use a 1970 photo, but this one showed them in a real concert (as opposed to TV show) better than any 1970 photo I could find.

Pentangle - BBC Sessions, Volume 4: 1969-1970

This is the fourth of six volumes of the British folk band Pentangle at the BBC. Like the three previous ones, this is a collection of studio tracks.

Four of the seven performances here have been officially released. Three are from "The Lost Broadcasts," and one is from the box set "The Time Has Come." All but two of the songs are from BBC studio sessions, including two of the three unreleased songs. The sound quality is pretty good, overall.

One song not from the BBC is a live version of  the song "Pentangling." This song usually was the highlight of their concerts. I was surprised that there wasn't any version of it recorded for the BBC, at least no version that has survived. This version apparently was recorded at a concert in Scotland for a TV show. It's the one that appeared on the box set, and the sound quality for it is fantastic.

I included a version of "Light Flight" in Volume 3, but it's such a great song that I don't see a problem with having a second version here. 

This album is 42 minutes long.

01 Light Flight (Pentangle)
02 Pentangling (Pentangle)
03 Speak of the Devil (Pentangle)
04 A Maid That's Deep in Love (Pentangle)
05 Will the Circle Be Unbroken (Pentangle)
06 Wedding Dress (Pentangle)
07 Sally Free and Easy (Pentangle)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15267332/Pentgl_1969-1970_BBSessionsVolume4_atse.zip.html

The cover photo comes from an unknown TV show. Unfortunately, not all of the band members were included in the frame. (I couldn't find very many good color photos of the band from this era, period.)

Pentangle - BBC Sessions, Volume 3: 1969

Here's the third of six albums of Pentangle playing for the BBC. Like the first two, this consists entirely of studio tracks.

Like the other albums in this series, this comes from a mix of the two official BBC albums for the band, "On Air" and "The Lost Broadcasts," and unreleased songs. Tracks 1, 2, 5, and 6 are the unreleased ones. But I doubt you'll notice a difference in sound quality between them and the rest.

The band had a fluke hit, "Light Flight," probably due to it being used as the theme to a TV show. It's a great, catchy song, and the BBC studio version can be found here. The song "Name of the Game" is also here. I added this exact version to my Pentangle stray tracks album, because it's a very rare case of an original (as opposed to a cover) that they didn't put on any of their studio albums.

The album suffers from the problem of BBC DJs talking over the music, but in this case it only happened to four songs (the ones with "[Edit]" in their names). As I do, I wiped out the talking but kept the music, thanks to the X-Minus audio editing program.

This album is 42 minutes long.

01 Cold Mountain [Edit] (Pentangle)
02 I Am Lonely [Edit] (Pentangle)
03 The Cuckoo (Pentangle)
04 Light Flight (Pentangle)
05 Moondog [Edit] (Pentangle)
06 House Carpenter [Edit] (Pentangle)
07 Name of the Game (Pentangle)
08 Train Song (Pentangle)
09 Springtime Promises (Pentangle)
10 Country Blues (Pentangle)
11 The Trees They Do Grow High [Young but Growing] (Pentangle)
12 Lyke Wake Dirge (Pentangle)
13 Reynardine (Pentangle)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15267340/Pentgl_1969_BBSessionsVolume3_atse.zip.html

The cover art comes from a 1969 publicity photo shoot.

Pentangle - BBC Sessions, Volume 2: 1968-1969

Here's the second of six volumes of Pentangle at the BBC.

As I mentioned with Volume 1, two official albums of the band's BBC recordings have been released. Those two didn't help much with this, however. Only three songs here are officially released, tracks 1, 2, and 7, from "The Lost Broadcasts" album. 

However, that doesn't matter much, because all the songs here are from proper BBC studio sessions, and the unreleased ones sound about as good as the released ones. (Most of the unreleased ones come from "Live On Air," which is an unauthorized "grey market" release.)

Two of the songs suffer from the typical BBC problem of DJs talking over the music (the ones with "[Edit]" in their titles). I applied the usual X-Minus audio editing program treatment that wiped out the talking while keeping the underlying music.

While Fairport Convention mixed folk and rock, Pentangle was more about mixing jazz and rock, since most of the band members came from jazz backgrounds. I think both styles are interesting, though I must admit I prefer Fairport Convention in their peak years.

This album is 44 minutes long.

01 Sweet Child (Pentangle)
02 Hear My Call (Pentangle)
03 Watch the Stars (Pentangle)
04 Can't Keep from Crying Some Time (Pentangle)
05 Every Night When the Sun Goes In (Pentangle)
06 Let No Man Steal Your Thyme [Edit] (Pentangle)
07 Sally Go Round the Roses (Pentangle)
08 Once I Had a Sweetheart (Pentangle)
09 Bruton Town [Edit] (Pentangle)
10 Hunting Song (Pentangle)
11 I Got a Feeling (Pentangle)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15267203/Pentgl_1968-1969_BBSessionsVolume2_atse.zip.html

The cover photo is from a publicity photo session some time in 1969.

Pentangle - BBC Sessions, Volume 1: 1968

Now that I've posted a Pentangle stray tracks album, I can get on with posting their BBC sessions. There's a lot of 'em - six volumes. Here's the first.

Pentangle (sometimes known as "The Pentangle") played frequently for the BBC during their late 1960s/ early 1970s heyday. Much of it has been officially released, but much of it is a mess. There are two official releases: "On Air," which is also known as "Live at the BBC" in some versions, and "The Lost Broadcasts." Additionally, there's another album called "Live On Air" which is a "grey market" unauthorized release. These different albums sometimes have the same versions of the same songs, but occasionally with different sound quality. Then there are even more unreleased songs not on any of them. So it's taken a while to sort this out.

The vast majority of this particular volume comes from "The Lost Broadcasts." But there's one song, "Mirage," that's unreleased, and three more from the unauthorized "Live On Air" album. The sound quality can vary from song to song - these are not all pristine recordings. But I didn't include anything I felt wasn't up to snuff.

I think the band often appeared on jazz, blues, and/or folk specialty shows, so their songs weren't talked over by BBC DJs as much as if they were always on the pop oriented shows. But still, that did happen to them sometimes. Three of the songs here had that problem (the ones with "[Edit]" in their titles), so I used the X-Minus audio editing software to fix them. 

01 Turn Your Money Green (Pentangle)
02 Travelling Song (Pentangle)
03 Soho (Pentangle)
04 Mirage (Pentangle)
05 No More My Lord (Pentangle)
06 I Am Lonely (Pentangle)
07 Forty-Eight (Pentangle)
08 Orlando (Pentangle)
09 Three Dances- Bransle Gay - La Rotta - The Earle of Salisbury [Instrumental] (Pentangle)
10 The Time Has Gone (Pentangle)
11 In Your Mind [Edit] (Pentangle)
12 I Loved a Lass [Edit] (Pentangle)
13 Sovay [Edit] (Pentangle)
14 I've Got a Feeling (Pentangle)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15267206/Pentgl_1968_BBSessionsVolume1_atse.zip.html

I don't know when or where the photo used for the cover comes from. There aren't many good color photos of the band, so one can't be too choosy. But it looks to me to be from their early years, so I used it for this first album in the series.

Pentangle - Travelling Songs - Non-Album Tracks (1968-1972)

As part of my big BBC project, I'm turning my attention soon to the British folk band Pentangle. But before I get to their considerable amount of BBC material, I want to post a stray tracks album first. This gathers up all their studio material that isn't on any of their studio albums.

My apologies to PJ over at his excellent "Albums I Wish Existed" blog, because he's previously posted an album that is almost identical to this one. He had the same idea, so it makes sense that he gathered the same bunch of songs. It so happens I'd gathered these songs on my own already, and there are a couple of key differences with his album, so I think this is worth posting.

For the most part, this consists of A-sides, B-sides, and bonus tracks. "Travelling Song" is an A-side from 1968. "I Saw an Angel" and "Cold Mountain" are B-sides from 1969. Tracks 1, 3, 4, and 6 are bonus tracks. "Name of the Game" is from a 1969 BBC performance. I tried to avoid including BBC performances since I'll soon be posting a whole bunch of BBC albums by the band, but I couldn't resist in this case because it's an original they otherwise never recorded. (There are many other songs on the BBC albums I'll be posting that include covers they otherwise never recorded.)

That just leaves the last three songs. "The Best Part of You" and "Tam Lin" are from a 1970 movie, and were eventually included on the Pentangle box set "The Time Has Come." 

"Christian the Lion," from a 1972 movie, is a more complicated case. This song also was included on the box set. But it was played in sections throughout the movie instead of ever appearing as a whole. They made the strange decision on the box set to mix these sections with incidental, instrumental music by the band that was also in the movie. This instrumental music has nothing to do with this song, and is forgettable background music, so I haven't included it. Instead, I patched the different parts of "Christian the Lion" together to make one coherent song (thus the "[Edit]" in the song title).

PJ's version of this album also included an instrumental version of the song "Jack Orion" from the box set. I didn't see the point to that, especially since it was just a vocal version of the song with the vocals removed. He also split "Tam Lin" into two parts; I prefer it all together. Finally, he didn't include "Christian the Lion," probably because the version of the box set is such a mess.

Here's his version, if you want some of the different bits:

https://albumsiwishexisted2.blogspot.com/2020/12/pentangle-casbah-1970.html

This album is 35 minutes long. 

01 The Wheel [Instrumental] (Pentangle)
02 Travelling Song (Pentangle)
03 The Casbah [Instrumental] (Pentangle)
04 Koan [Instrumental] (Pentangle)
05 I Saw an Angel (Pentangle)
06 Haitian Fight Song [Instrumental] (Pentangle)
07 Cold Mountain (Pentangle)
08 Name of the Game (Pentangle)
09 The Best Part of You (Pentangle)
10 Tam Lin (Pentangle)
11 Christian the Lion [Edit] (Pentangle)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15267330/Pentgl_1968-1972_TrvellingSngs_atse.zip.html

The photo for the album cover comes from a 1969 promotional photo shoot. It's not the greatest photo, but there are surprisingly few good color photos for this rather well-known band.