BERT JANSCH

Avocet

I adored the work of Bert Jansch ever since I bought an early Marble Arch album with 'Needle of Death' on it and other delights (Blackwater Side, Angie,) and had arrived at his songwriting via Donovan who I had followed avidly since the early sixties and his version of 'Do You Hear Me Now' a Jansch song led my directly to Bert . . . . well I am pleased to note from the wondrous Bandcampo that they have rereleased and remastered  a project dear to my heart in my sharing of Bert's passion for our birdlife. Avocet!

He was often quoted as saying “I’m not playing for anyone, just myself” and this feels no more apparent than on 1979’s ‘Avocet’, his beautifully meditative paean to British birds. This isn’t to say that Jansch was throwing commercial success to the wind, or was unaware of his audience, more that this album feels like a uniquely personal reflection of him. (The subject of British birds is one that Jansch held close to his heart. Indeed, just preceding this album was his 1978 split 7” single with Shirley Collins - with proceeds in aid of the RSPB.) For fans of Jansch this is often the album that is singled out as his best work. The freedoms of a post-Pentangle career are much in evidence; folk rock and even trad folk give way to an album that is not only without lyrical accompaniment but really quite orchestral, classical even, in its composition. There are surprises in particular in ‘Lapwing’ (a dirge-like waltz that wouldn’t be out of place on a Nils Frahm album) and ‘Bittern’ (which speaks of Arthur Russell’s more experimental pieces).Bandcamp

Bert Jansch

Avocet at Bandcamp