Track Listing

1. East Wind
2. Piano Tune
3. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
4. Soho
5. Tic-Tocative
6. Orlando
7. Red's Favourite
8. No Exit
9. Along The Way
10. The Time Has Come
11. Stepping Stones
12. After The Dance

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4309 in Music
• Released on: 2008-02-26
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 26 minutes

CD Description
Released in 1966, when Bert Jansch and John Renbourn were two of England's hottest young folk guitarists-but before theduo formed The Pentangle with Danny Thompson, Terry Cox, and Jacqui McShee-- BERT AND JOHN shows two guitarists at the peak of their immense instrumental and interpretive skills. Performing mostly with Jansch on acoustic guitar and Renbourn on electric, both playing in the traditional finger-picking style, the two spin dizzyingly complex webs of sound, soloing in counterpoint and playing in unison, sounding like twoclose friends who have been playing together for decades. Highlights include the playful "Tic-Tocative," the exquisitely detailed "Soho," and the lovely closer, "After the Dance."But the centerpiece is a magnificent rendition of Charles Mingus' "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," recasting the jazz standard as a folk-style tour de force. The Wooded Hill reissue of BERT AND JOHN includes six bonus tracks, including The Pentangle's "Hole In The Cole."

Customer Reviews

A superb creative fusion
In 1966 two of England's best folk guitarists/singer-composers got together to collabrate on a joint project and the results were excellent. It led directly to the formation of the well-known folk group of the era, Pentangle. All of the tracks except two on this CD are short instrumentals; the longest is their version of the Charles Mingus jazz classic "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" at 3:54 (incidentally it is interesting to compare this version with Jeff Beck's). Most of the tracks were written by the pair, either jointly or singly and contain plenty of innovative melodies, themes, and guitar licks. The total running time is a meagre 26:33, but there is plenty of absorbing accoustic guitar music within it.

Absorbing, intoxicating guitar
This album is so much part of me, I really am struggling to describe why you should own it. It's the truest, most pure & wonderful music you can find. The songs have a haunting, seductive quality - you really feel Bert & John are having the time of their lives, and in total control of where they're taking you.

Just try it, you'll be suprised. After the 5th listen you'll have it on top of your CD pile...

Will

Inspired
Why does Amazon attribute this to Bert Jansch? If ever you were looking for an inspired collaboration of two equal partners, then surely this delivers the goods. More than forty years on and it still gives me shivers. I have several versions of 'Goodbye Pork Pie Hat' and this version stands with the best of them. 'Stepping Stones' continues to make me wince with delight, though I must have heard it a hundred times. And 'After the Dance' always leaves me wanting more. John Renbourn came up, less than two years later, with 'Sir John Alot Of Merrie Englandes Musyk Thyng And Ye Grene Knyghte', surely one of the most cringemaking titles ever contrived but also a seminal and utterly brilliant album which I still rank amongst my top ten of all time. Virtually simultaneously, the first of the Pentangle albums was released. Three gems.