Live In Italy

Bert Jansch

29th August 2020 - Album - EARTH040

Previously unreleased live recording of Bert Jansch’s stunning concert in Mestre at Teatro Corso, Italy 1977.

The performance also features appearances from Martin Jenkins, Sam Mitchell and Leo Wijnkamp, jr.

  • The double vinyl is housed in a wide spined sleeve and includes a download card and released for Record Store Day 2020.

£22.00

It is the height of punk in the UK; things will change; heroes are zeroes and veterans are vanquished… the muse wears a leather jacket and worships a safety pin. History is re-written from ground zero. It happens overnight.

Meanwhile, guitar stylist, troubadour and former Pentangle Bert Jansch is in Italy for a show at Mestre at the Teatro Corso in Venice, accompanied by Martin Jenkins, Sam Mitchell and Leo Wijnkamp, Jr. It’s recorded but, post Pistols it gathers dust in a box, in an attic, somewhere. Lost.

Some 43 years later, senses have been regained; perspective restored, reputations re-valued, the world respects musicians from Son House to Shirley Collins, Jimmy Page to The Black Keys (some punks included). And archivists are in the attic. In the box. The tape is dusted off; one hour and eleven minutes of gorgeous folk music; it’s a group setting, playing the “hits”, the standards, jamming, improvising, feeding off each other, punctuated by Jansch’s Scottish lilt. They break into a jig, leave space for Bert’s guitar to hum and vibrate, to roll and tumble, to tingle the spine. It’s been a long, strange trip.

Throughout, Jansch and his ensemble weave everything into a masterful flow; there’s ‘Blues Run The Game’, a couple of songs from the gorgeous ‘Avocet’ album he would go on to record with Danny Thompson, ‘Pretty Saro’, ‘Angie’ and there’s still room for them to make it up as they go along. That’s what they did.

Live In Italy is a joyous experience, “a great night out”, a show for just under one thousand people, a moment in time when four performers spar and sway, swagger and soar; folk music as it should be heard from an era that nearly ended it all. What were we thinking?

“Bert Jansch famously hated fame.” The Quietus

“Traversing a musical map of his life, hard times and all.” Pitchfork

Previously unreleased live recording of Bert Jansch’s stunning concert in Mestre at the Teatro Corso, Italy 1977.

The performance also features appearances from Martin Jenkins, Sam Mitchell and Leo Wijnkamp, Jr.

The double LP is housed in a wide spined sleeve, released on Vinyl only for Record Store Day.

Tracklist

A1 Cat And Mouse
A2 Daybreak
A3 Blues Run The Game
A4 Bittern
A5 Kingfisher
B1 Come Back Baby
B2 Running From Home
B3 Pretty Saro
B4 Alimony
C1 Avocet
C2 Una Linea Di Dolcezza
C3 Sweet Mother Earth
D1 Angie
D2 Cluck Old Hen
D3 Encore No. I
D4 Encore No. 2

Description

It is the height of punk in the UK; things will change; heroes are zeroes and veterans are vanquished… the muse wears a leather jacket and worships a safety pin. History is re-written from ground zero. It happens overnight.

Meanwhile, guitar stylist, troubadour and former Pentangle Bert Jansch is in Italy for a show at Mestre at the Teatro Corso in Venice, accompanied by Martin Jenkins, Sam Mitchell and Leo Wijnkamp, Jr. It’s recorded but, post Pistols it gathers dust in a box, in an attic, somewhere. Lost.

Some 43 years later, senses have been regained; perspective restored, reputations re-valued, the world respects musicians from Son House to Shirley Collins, Jimmy Page to The Black Keys (some punks included). And archivists are in the attic. In the box. The tape is dusted off; one hour and eleven minutes of gorgeous folk music; it’s a group setting, playing the “hits”, the standards, jamming, improvising, feeding off each other, punctuated by Jansch’s Scottish lilt. They break into a jig, leave space for Bert’s guitar to hum and vibrate, to roll and tumble, to tingle the spine. It’s been a long, strange trip.

Throughout, Jansch and his ensemble weave everything into a masterful flow; there’s ‘Blues Run The Game’, a couple of songs from the gorgeous ‘Avocet’ album he would go on to record with Danny Thompson, ‘Pretty Saro’, ‘Angie’ and there’s still room for them to make it up as they go along. That’s what they did.

Live In Italy is a joyous experience, “a great night out”, a show for just under one thousand people, a moment in time when four performers spar and sway, swagger and soar; folk music as it should be heard from an era that nearly ended it all. What were we thinking?

“Bert Jansch famously hated fame.” The Quietus

“Traversing a musical map of his life, hard times and all.” Pitchfork

Previously unreleased live recording of Bert Jansch’s stunning concert in Mestre at the Teatro Corso, Italy 1977.

The performance also features appearances from Martin Jenkins, Sam Mitchell and Leo Wijnkamp, Jr.

The double LP is housed in a wide spined sleeve, released on Vinyl only for Record Store Day.

Description

It is the height of punk in the UK; things will change; heroes are zeroes and veterans are vanquished… the muse wears a leather jacket and worships a safety pin. History is re-written from ground zero. It happens overnight.

Meanwhile, guitar stylist, troubadour and former Pentangle Bert Jansch is in Italy for a show at Mestre at the Teatro Corso in Venice, accompanied by Martin Jenkins, Sam Mitchell and Leo Wijnkamp, Jr. It’s recorded but, post Pistols it gathers dust in a box, in an attic, somewhere. Lost.

Some 43 years later, senses have been regained; perspective restored, reputations re-valued, the world respects musicians from Son House to Shirley Collins, Jimmy Page to The Black Keys (some punks included). And archivists are in the attic. In the box. The tape is dusted off; one hour and eleven minutes of gorgeous folk music; it’s a group setting, playing the “hits”, the standards, jamming, improvising, feeding off each other, punctuated by Jansch’s Scottish lilt. They break into a jig, leave space for Bert’s guitar to hum and vibrate, to roll and tumble, to tingle the spine. It’s been a long, strange trip.

Throughout, Jansch and his ensemble weave everything into a masterful flow; there’s ‘Blues Run The Game’, a couple of songs from the gorgeous ‘Avocet’ album he would go on to record with Danny Thompson, ‘Pretty Saro’, ‘Angie’ and there’s still room for them to make it up as they go along. That’s what they did.

Live In Italy is a joyous experience, “a great night out”, a show for just under one thousand people, a moment in time when four performers spar and sway, swagger and soar; folk music as it should be heard from an era that nearly ended it all. What were we thinking?

“Bert Jansch famously hated fame.” The Quietus

“Traversing a musical map of his life, hard times and all.” Pitchfork

Previously unreleased live recording of Bert Jansch’s stunning concert in Mestre at the Teatro Corso, Italy 1977.

The performance also features appearances from Martin Jenkins, Sam Mitchell and Leo Wijnkamp, Jr.

The double LP is housed in a wide spined sleeve, released on Vinyl only for Record Store Day.

Tracklist

A1 Cat And Mouse
A2 Daybreak
A3 Blues Run The Game
A4 Bittern
A5 Kingfisher
B1 Come Back Baby
B2 Running From Home
B3 Pretty Saro
B4 Alimony
C1 Avocet
C2 Una Linea Di Dolcezza
C3 Sweet Mother Earth
D1 Angie
D2 Cluck Old Hen
D3 Encore No. I
D4 Encore No. 2

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