13 November : The Lady and the Unicorn

Amongst the different musical personalities in Pentangle, John Renbourn was the man who most embodied the notion, now something of a cliche, of the English folk-baroque. While Bert Jansch had that bluesy swing, Renbourn dove into so-called early music and put together a guitar repertoire from it, going on to study formal composition.

The Lady and the Unicorn was Renbourn’s fourth solo album, and is lovely. The first four tracks are taken from a C14/15 Tuscan manuscript, setting the tone for most of the album, which only truly can be called baroque in the sense that Bach’s Sarabande is included. The album concludes in familiar late 60s/early 70s folk territory with versions of My Johnny was a Shoemaker, Westron Wynde and Scarborough Fair. taking up most of the second side. The instruments are not authentic, but the intent is.

I should add that this album features Dave Swarbrick essentially playing it ‘straight’, withholding some of his usual exuberance, and, imo, all the better for it. His fiddle playing on the My Johnny Was A Shoemaker medley is lovely.

I have a copy of this, dubbed onto CD-R for me by a friend some years ago, but it’s lost in a box of CD-Rs and hasn’t been played for a long time. To be sure, it is late-night music rather than afternoon, but there’s nowt wrong with that. In that absence of that CD-R, Iistened on  Spotify. There is also at least one YouTube playlist.