It’s never wise to rule someone out. In 1979, the already-legendary Scottish guitarist Bert Jansch and his influential brand of folk blues had fallen well out of fashion. A new Jansch album in 1979 couldn’t have been farther away from what the braying, buying public wanted: the ass-end of punk, the ruling towers of disco and new wave, and the stirrings of next wave synth pop and heavy metal. But, it’s never wise to rule someone out.
Jansch’s Avocet was first released in Denmark on Ex-Libris in 1978 before getting licensed for a wider release in the UK on Charisma in February 1979, and it was not only well-received at the time but is widely thought of as one of the brightest gems in Jansch’s often-brilliant catalog. To commemorate the record’s 40th anniversary, Earth Recordings is issuing an expanded vinyl version (and DL) on November 15.
Featuring Pentangle bandmate Danny Thompson on bass and Martin Jenkins on fiddles and flute, Avocet was culled from a number of instrumentals that Jansch was working on at the time. Each track was named after a sea or wading bird, including the epic title track, which was inspired by the traditional song “The Cuckoo” and took up the whole of side one (all 18 minutes of this beaut can be heard below).
For this expanded edition, the original album is also joined by three newly-discovered album tracks recorded live by Jansch and Jenkins in Italy in 1977, as well as new sleeve notes written by aficionado Colin Harper (author of the Bert bio “Dazzling Stranger”) and interview quotes from Thompson about the making of Avocet.
You can pre-order the white vinyl (in a limited edition of 500) here and here.
Avocet tracklisting:
01: Avocet
02: Lapwing
03: Bittern
04: Kingfisher
05: Osprey
06: Goldfinch
07: Bittern #
08: Kingfisher #
09: Avocet #
# Bonus tracks (on download card), recorded live in Italy, 1977
More about: Bert Jansch
