Finale

Forty-one years after they first got together and 35 since they split, guitarists Bert Jansch and John Renbourn – both now lost to us –singer Jacqui McShee, bassist Danny Thompson and drummer Terry Cox reconvened in June 2008 at the Royal Festival Hall, where half of Pentangle's legendary 1968 set, Sweet Child, was recorded. A further 12 concert dates followed through July 2008, concluding with an appearance at Brecon's Green Man festival, before illness took Bert Jansch from further live work. He did manage to mix and sequence the recordings for this set, while Renbourn prepared the album's masters. Jansch passed away in 2011, and Renbourn in 2015, and as such, Finale is a memorial to the last tour Pentangle would ever do. The delicacy and finesse of the playing, and the deft connections between the group are as impressive here, in these 2008 performances, as they were as young musical explorers of that space between folk, jazz and pop. An era of experiment and adventure passed with Pentangle's guitarists, and what remains is the permanent record of their music. It is a fine memorial.