An instrumental album (originally called
Sir John Alot of Merrie England) featuring
John Renbourn with his
Pentangle bandmate
Terry Cox on percussion and
Ray Warleigh on flute. Originally released in England in 1968, the same year that
Pentangle started to record,
Sir John Alot was steeped largely in English folk music. Highlights include "The Trees They Do Grow High" (aka "Long A-Growing"), solo guitar miniatures such as "Lady Goes to Church," the epic "Morgana," with its sharply nuanced tempo and timbre changes, and the sprightly "My Dear Boy." Some parts of this album are surprisingly contemporary sounding, such as the bluesy "Transformation," which sounds like "What'd I Say" transposed for acoustic guitar and African drums; "White Fishes," which veers dangerously close to quoting
George Gershwin's "It Ain't Necessarily So" and Rodgers & Hammerstein's "My Favorite Things"; and "Sweet Potato," which sounds like a folk-rock song without words, even as
Renbourn quotes "Satisfaction" at one point. ~ Bruce Eder