Bert Jansch: All Alone

It’s sometimes difficult to suss out the differences between Brit (and Irish and Scottish) folksters due to the odd and incestuous nature of all of their careers. Bert Jansch as much as anyone else, though, should be credited as the force that propelled the UK folk scene during the early and middle portions of the ‘60s prior to joining some ensemble that your mother might like listening to while making dinner or reading a book.

Coming from Scotland and settling in London in 1960, Jansch arrived with a guitar acumen unmatched by most of his cohort. The singer and guitarist was also one of the earliest folk musicians on the island to truck mostly in his own compositions. It wasn’t for lack of knowledge in the genre’s background, it just seemed that Jansch had some things to get off his chest.

At the same time that Jansch began working and recording a spate of other, similar minded players started cropping up around. Most notably – because of their similar background and singing style (kinda) – was Jansch’s countryman Donovan. The younger singer, who on some occasions seemed to model his own compositions on those of Jansch, went so far as to cover some of that latter man’s work.

Regardless of his fan base, Jansch would wait until ’65 to record his self titled debut, released via Transatlantic Records, which bought the rights to the disc for £100. Ratcheting up the mystique surrounding this sparse affair is the fact that Jansch borrowed not just the guitar that he used on the album, but the recording device he set it down on in his kitchen. Despite the lo-fi quality of the recording, the disc would go on to sell pretty briskly. More importantly, though, is that the track listing, while greatly given over to compositions by Jansch, also included a few nods to jazz players like Charles Mingus and Jimmy Giuffre. The inclusion of works by those two gentleman foreshadowed the coming of Pentangle, which should be rightly considered an affront on ear lobes across the globe even as the group worked to mesh various genres rather deftly.

Anyways, that would all happen a few years on.

The rest of the disc can be seen to presage a great deal of the folk come rock ensembles of the next few years. Neil Young’s most famous track is arguably “The Needle and the Damage Done,” which chronicles the problems that the singer and guitarist saw heroin causing in his social group. “Needle of Death,” written and performed by Jansch a half decade earlier touches roughly on the same subject matter, although the Britisher’s song focuses on a single person that passed away.

Regardless of the first Jansch album being seen as an antecedent to a great deal of rock stuff, the guitar playing over the entirety of the disc is just short of masterful. But if those vocals get in the way, go track down Bert And John, which was released just a year later. It’s boss…