Recorded with a portable tape player on a borrowed guitar in the kitchen of his London flat, the impact of
Bert Jansch's debut has been somewhat blunted by time, but it was a vastly influential work. His masterful acoustic picking, which blended elements of traditional British folk, blues, and jazz, inspired not just other folk players, but rockers who frequently used acoustic guitars. Specifically,
Jimmy Page and
Neil Young have gone on record as noting their heavy debts to
Jansch's early material. He was also a talented songwriter, and all but one of the 15 tracks on his debut was an original composition (the set closes with his version of the instrumental "Angi," originally performed by fellow British folk guitarist
Davy Graham, and popularized by
Paul Simon). The artist sounds quite close to early
Donovan with his Scottish inflections, though he is darker and less pop-oriented; indeed,
Donovan recorded a couple of early
Jansch tunes, and wrote a couple of songs directly inspired by the artist ("Bert's Blues" and "House of Jansch").
Jansch reflects a rambling, beatnik sort of lifestyle with his compositions on this album, which includes one of his most famous tunes, the somber "Needle of Death" (about the heroin-induced death of one of his friends). ~ Richie Unterberger