''Basket of Light'' is a

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

album by the

folk rock Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...

group

Pentangle Pentangle may refer to: *Pentagon, a five-sided polygon *Pentagram, a five-pointed star drawn with five straight strokes *Pentangle (band), a British folk rock band ** ''The Pentangle'' (album), a 1968 album by Pentangle *Miss Pentangle, a character ...

. It reached no. 5 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

. A single from the album, "Light Flight", the theme from BBC1's first colour drama series ''

Take Three Girls ''Take Three Girls'' is a British comedy-drama television series that aired on BBC1 from 17 November 1969 to 1 January 1971. It follows three young women sharing a flat in "Swinging London" (located at 17 Glazbury Road, West Kensington, W14). I ...

'', reached no. 43 on the UK Singles Chart. Another single from the album, "Once I Had a Sweetheart", reached no. 46 in the charts. The album's liner notes state that "Springtime Promises" was written "after a ride on a number 74 bus from Gloucester Road to Greencroft Gardens on an early spring day".

Legacy

The album was included in the books ''

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music criti ...

'' and ''

1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die ''1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book written by Tom Moon, published in 2008. Synopsis It consists of a list of recordings, mostly albums (with some singles), arranged alphabetically by artist or composer. Each ...

''.

Tracks

The album cover uses photographs of Pentangle's 1968 concert in the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

. A note about the instrumentation states that "All the instruments played on this album are acoustic."

Personnel

;Pentangle *

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

– drums, glockenspiel, hand drum, lead and backing vocals *

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

– lead and backing vocals, guitar, banjo on "House Carpenter" *

Jacqui McShee Jacqueline 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 Bri ...

– lead and backing vocals *

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 ...

– lead and backing vocals, guitar, sitar *

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 Ma ...

– double bass ;Technical *

Shel Talmy Sheldon Talmy (August 11, 1937 – November 13, 2024) was an American record producer, songwriter, and arranger, best known for his work in England in the 1960s with the Who, the Kinks, and many other artists. Talmy arranged and produced hits ...

– producer *Damon Lyon-Shaw – engineer * John Pantry – engineer

Released versions

''Basket of Light'' was released as a UK LP in October 1969, as Transatlantic TRA2O5. The U.S. version, in the same year was Reprise R56372. The album was re-released as a digitally remastered CD in 2001, as Castle CMRCD207, which includes two alternate takes of "Sally Go 'Round the Roses" and the non-album B-sides: "Cold Mountain" and "I Saw an Angel".

References

{{Authority control 1969 albums Pentangle (band) albums Albums produced by Shel Talmy Transatlantic Records albums Reprise Records albums Albums recorded at IBC Studios