They're billed on the cover as "historic collaborations," and the duet work of
Bert Jansch and
John Renbourn was exactly that, both on the albums they did together and as part of
Pentangle. The bulk of the material here comes from the
Bert and John album, but there are nods elsewhere, including "The Waggoner's Lad" from
Jack Orion, although one could wish they'd included the epic title track instead, which really was a historic collaboration, one of the seminal texts of '60s British folk, which didn't so much hint at the possibilities of acoustic guitar work as explore most of them at once. It's perhaps surprising that "The Time Has Come" wasn't included, but there will always be quibbles on any compilation like this. One thing that can't be faulted, though, is the playing. Individually, each is superb, but together they became more than the sum of their parts. Their version of
Mingus' "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" showed just what could happen when two young, inventive guitar players with some remarkable telepathy worked together, but the range, from folk to blues and beyond, was fantastic. If you truly want to hear them at their peak, though, bypass this and go straight to
Jack Orion. ~ Chris Nickson