''Cruel Sister'' was an album recorded in 1970 by folk-rock band Pentangle. It was the most folk-based of the albums recorded by the band, with all the tracks being versions of traditional songs. Whereas their previous album had been produced by

Shel Talmy Sheldon Talmy (born August 11, 1937) is an American record producer, songwriter and arranger, best known for his work in the UK in the 1960s with the Who, the Kinks and many others. Talmy arranged and produced hits such as "You Really Got Me" ...

, and featured quite a heavily produced, commercial sound, ''Cruel Sister'' was produced by

Bill Leader Bill Leader (born 26 December 1929) is an English recording engineer and record producer. He is particularly associated with the British folk music revival of the 1960s and 1970s, producing records by Paddy Tunney, Davey Graham, Bert Jansch, John Re ...

, noted for his recordings of folk musicians. "Lord Franklin" is a version of the traditional ballad, also known as "

Lady Franklin's Lament "Lady Franklin's Lament" (also known as "Lord Franklin" and "The Sailor's Dream") is a traditional folk ballad indexed by George Malcolm Laws (Laws K09) and Steve Roud (Roud 487). The song recounts the story of a sailor who dreams about Lady Frank ...

", which describes

Sir John Franklin Sir John Franklin (16 April 1786 – 11 June 1847) was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. After serving in wars against Napoleonic France and the United States, he led two expeditions into the Canadian Arctic and through t ...

's ill-fated expedition to discover the

Northwest Passage The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arc ...

John Renbourn John Renbourn (8 August 1944 – 26 March 2015) was an English guitarist and songwriter. He was best known for his collaboration with guitarist Bert Jansch as well as his work with the folk group Pentangle, although he maintained a solo care ...

sings the lead vocal and plays both acoustic and electric guitar. "Cruel sister", the song which provides the title for the album, is a traditional ballad (known in some versions as

The Twa Sisters "The Twa Sisters" ("The Two Sisters") is a traditional murder ballad, dating at least as far back as the mid 17th century. The song recounts the tale of a girl drowned by her jealous sister. At least 21 English variants exist under several name ...

), telling the story of the violent rivalry between two sisters for the love of a knight. The whole of side two of the album is taken up with an extended version of the ballad "Jack Orion", previously recorded by Jansch on his own '' Jack Orion'' album. "Jack Orion" is a version of the Child ballad "

Glasgerion Glasgerion is Child ballad 67, (Roud 145), existing in several variants. Synopsis Glasgerion is a king's son and a harper. He harps before another king, whose daughter arranges a tryst with him. He tells his servant to ensure that he wakes in t ...

". The arrangement on ''Cruel Sister'' develops through several sections with different rhythms and instrumentation. The album cover features engravings by Albrecht Dürer. The front cover displays his "The Men's Bath" (Das Männerbad) (date unknown). The picture on the back cover is his ''The Sea Monster'' (Das Meerwunder), dating from 1498.

Reception

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

gave the album resounding approval in their retrospective review, applauding its "dense, layered sound that is woven within the fabric of each song like a tapestry" and praising Jacqui McShee's vocal work in particular. While they criticized the track "Jack Orion", commenting "one has difficulty imagining what possessed Pentangle to record a folk song that took up an entire side of an album", they concluded that the album as a whole "shows Pentangle at their artistic height".

Tracks

All songs are

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

and arranged by Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Terry Cox, except where noted.

Personnel

;Pentangle *

Terry Cox Terence William Harvey 'Terry' Cox (born 13 March 1937, in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire) played drums in the British folk rock bands The Pentangle, Duffy's Nucleus and Humblebums. He also drummed with several other artists, most notably D ...

– drums , triangle , tambourine ,

dulcitone A dulcitone is a keyboard instrument in which sound is produced by a range of tuning forks, which vibrate when struck by felt-covered hammers activated by the keyboard. The instrument was designed by Thomas Machell of Glasgow in the 1860s, at the ...

, vocals *

Bert Jansch Herbert Jansch (3 November 1943 – 5 October 2011) was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s as an acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter ...

– acoustic guitar ,

dulcimer The word dulcimer refers to two families of musical string instruments. Hammered dulcimers The word ''dulcimer'' originally referred to a trapezoidal zither similar to a psaltery whose many strings are struck by handheld "hammers". Variants of ...

concertina A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front. The ...

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

, vocals *

Jacqui McShee Jacqueline 'Jacqui' McShee (born 25 December 1943) is an English singer. Since 1966 she has performed with Pentangle, a jazz-influenced folk rock band. Biography McShee was born in Catford, South London. Her musical career began as a soloist in ...

– vocals *

– acoustic and electric guitars ,

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...

, recorder , vocals *

Danny Thompson Daniel Henry Edward Thompson (born 4 April 1939) is an English multi-instrumentalist best known as a double bassist. He has had a long musical career playing with a large variety of other musicians, particularly Richard Thompson and John Mart ...

– double bass

Released versions

Cruel Sister was released as a UK LP on 27 November 1970, as Transatlantic TRA228. The U.S. release was Reprise RS6430. In 1977, it was re-released on the XTRA label as Xtra 1172. A CD version (sourced from vinyl) was released in 1992 as Line TACD900S and in 2001, a digitally remastered version was released as Castle CMRCD206.

References

{{Authority control 1970 albums Pentangle (band) albums Transatlantic Records albums Albums produced by Bill Leader Reprise Records albums