Sir John Alot of Merrie Englandes Musyk Thyng & ye Grene Knyghte

• Artist: John Renbourn
• Rating:
• Release Date: 1968
• Total Time: 31:49
• Genre: Folk

Review

An instrumental album (originally called Sir John Alot of Merrie England) featuring John Renbourn with his Pentangle bandmate Terry Cox on percussion and Ray Warleigh on flute. Originally released in England in 1968, the same year that Pentangle started to record, Sir John Alot was steeped largely in English folk music. Highlights include "The Trees They Do Grow High" (aka "Long A-Growing"), solo guitar miniatures such as "Lady Goes to Church," the epic "Morgana," with its sharply nuanced tempo and timbre changes, and the sprightly "My Dear Boy." Some parts of this album are surprisingly contemporary sounding, such as the bluesy "Transformation," which sounds like "What'd I Say" transposed for acoustic guitar and African drums; "White Fishes," which veers dangerously close to quoting George Gershwin's "It Ain't Necessarily So" and Rodgers & Hammerstein's "My Favorite Things"; and "Sweet Potato," which sounds like a folk-rock song without words, even as Renbourn quotes "Satisfaction" at one point. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
The Earle of Salisbury	William Byrd	John Renbourn	(1:19)
The Trees They Do Grow High	Traditional	John Renbourn	(3:26)
Lady Goes to Church	John Renbourn	John Renbourn	(2:50)
Morgana	John Renbourn	John Renbourn	(7:22)
Transfusion	Charles Lloyd	John Renbourn	(1:58)
Forty-Eight	John Renbourn, Terry Cox	John Renbourn	(2:51)
My Dear Boy	John Renbourn	John Renbourn	(1:15)
White Fishes	John Renbourn, Ray Warleigh	John Renbourn	(3:46)
Sweet Potato	Steve Cropper, John Renbourn, Booker T. Jones, Al Jackson, Jr.	John Renbourn	(3:17)
Seven Up	Sonny Stitt, John Renbourn, Terry Cox	John Renbourn	(3:45)

Credits

Terry Cox (Finger Cymbals), Ray Warleigh (Flute), Terry Cox (Percussion), Terry Cox (Glockenspiel), Terry Cox (Cymbals), Nathan Joseph (Producer), John Renbourn (Guitar), Terry Cox (Drums), Jean Pierre Fouquet (Artwork), Colin Harper (Liner Notes), John Renbourn (Vocals), John Renbourn (Arranger), John Wood (Engineer), Stefan Grossman (Art Direction), Robert Vosgien (Digital Mastering), Terry Cox (African Drums)