Dazzling Stranger

iTunes Review

British acoustic folk guitar legend Bert Jansch has recorded for several labels over his long, intricate career. This collection assembles recordings from most of Jansch’s twenty-one albums issued before this compilation. In addition, two tracks from Loren Auerbach’s 1985 Playing the Game album are included. Nearly every aspect of Jansch’s career is present. The early folk-blues of “Strolling Down the Highway” and “Needle of Death,” the instrumental stylings of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” his instrumental duets with John Renbourn (“Lucky Thirteen”), the 1970s drift into singer-songwriter terrain (“Fresh As A Sweet Sunday Morning,” “Lost and Gone”), his collaboration with Auerbach (the previously unreleased “Is It Real?”) and his return to the folk tradition with his brilliant cover of Robin Williamson’s “October Song” from Jansch’s 2000 album Crimson Moon. In between the obvious are sweet little classics such as “Blackbird in the Morning” and “Soho.” Jansch had a stirring career that was still moving ahead.