1. Black Waterside
2. Nacht Tanz / Shaeffertanz
3. A Maid in Bedlam
4. Gypsy Dance / Jews Dance
5. John Barleycorn
6. Reynardine
7. My Johnny Was a Shoemaker
8. Death and the Lady
9. The Battle of Augrham / Five in a Line
10. Talk About Suffering

John Renbourn – guitars, vocals
Tony Roberts – vocals, flute, recorders, oboe, piccolo
Jacqui McShee – vocals
Sue Draheim – fiddle, vocals
Keshav Sathe – tabla, finger cymbals

A Maid in Bedlam is credited to the John Renbourn Group, not to John Renbourn alone, and that is an important distinction, since this is not another album of Renbourn's acoustic guitar stylings. It really is the work of a group, consisting of Renbourn on guitar and vocals, his Pentangle partner Jacqui McShee on vocals, Tony Roberts on vocals and wind instruments, Sue Draheim on vocals and fiddle, and Keshav Sathe on tabla and finger cymbals. The song list consists of traditional British folk music dating back to the Renaissance, with three instrumentals mixed in with the vocal numbers and one -- the concluding hymn "Talk About Suffering" -- an a cappella performance. The most familiar number to contemporary listeners is likely to be "John Barleycorn," if only because of the Traffic recording, and the Renbourn Group is careful to present a different arrangement with an altered time signature. The arrangements are traditional, with the singers giving the words a madrigal feel. It's true that the tabla is not a traditional British instrument, but as Sathe plays it, it resembles a bodhran enough to get by. Thus, A Maid in Bedlam works as a collection of music that inspired the members of Pentangle in their contemporary folk-rock, played by some members of that band and their associates. ---William Ruhlmann, Rovi

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1. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat-3:53
2. The Hermit-03:20
3. White House Blues-3:37
4. The Wildest Pig in from Captivity-02:05
5. Country Blues-3:38
6. Train Tune-02:39
7. Can t Keep From Crying-2:04
8. After the Dance-2:27
9. Lord Franklin-03:25
10. Sweet Potato-03:21
11. Beth s Blues-2:08 pm
12. Winter Is Gone-2:17
13. I Know My Babe-3:30
14. Kokomo Blues "-3:55
15. The Cuckoo-03:59
16. Faro and Rag-2:41
17. Will the Circle Be Unbroken? -04:07
18. Nobody s Fault But Mine "-1:58
19. Sally Go Round the Roses-3:38
20. Debbie Anne-1:42
21. Piano Tune-01:40
22. So Clear-4:52

Compilation covering John Renbourn's solo work,
 works with Pentangle and collaborations with Bert Jansch.

This compilation provides an excellent overview of John Renbourn's recording career up to The Hermit (1976), showcasing his ability to balance tradition and studied technique with an innovative, adventurous sensibility. Jesse Fuller, Big Bill Broonzy, and Ramblin' Jack Elliot were among Renbourn's earliest muses, inspiring folk-blues explorations like the Appalachian tune "Winter Is Gone," from his 1965 self-titled solo debut. In addition to American music, Renbourn also drew on the sounds of Alexis Korner and Davey Graham; their influence began to manifest itself particularly on his 1966 record with Bert Jansch, Bert and John, which blended folk and blues with jazz. The guitar duets from that release appearing on the present compilation nicely capture what critics called Renbourn and Jansch's "folk Baroque" sound. The collaboration with Jansch led to the formation of the Pentangle and Renbourn's Another Monday (1966) featured his first recordings with that band's eventual singer, Jacqui McShee; of these, "Can't Keep From Crying" is included here. The medieval and Renaissance orientation of 1968's Sir John Alot of Merrie Englandes Musyk Thyng and Ye Grene Knyghte proved influential among new age Celtic musicians; however, that album is represented by a more bluesy track featuring African percussion, "Sweet Potato." Renbourn's sitar playing brings non-western nuances also to "The Cuckoo," from Faro Annie (1971). That record saw him revisit his folk-blues roots, re-enlisting an old collaborator, American gospel singer Dorris Henderson, whose vocal contributions help make "White House Blues" one of this collection's standouts. As a selection of work from 1965 to 1976, which also includes several Pentangle tracks, The Best of John Renbourn offers a solid introduction to his music. Above all, it attests to Renbourn's range as a writer and a performer, making the inadequacy of the catchall tag "folk guitarist" very apparent. ---Wilson Neate, AllMusic Review

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