A Rare Conundrum

VINYL FORMAT. Drag City is "chuffed" to announce the re-release on LP of the three albums Bert Jansch recorded for the famous Charisma Label in the 1970s: L.A. Turnaround, Santa Barbara Honeymoon and A Rare Conundrum, all of which have been out of print for decades and are among the most sought-after Jansch albums among fans and collectors. For these new releases, Bert Jansch handpicked the bonus material, much of which is previously unreleased. In some cases this material has been unheard by anyone in thirty years, including Bert himself. Bert Jansch was signed to Charisma by label boss Tony Stratton Smith in 1973, the year that Pentangle decided to go their separate ways.

A Rare Conundrum was recorded in a more familiar style in the UK during 1976 and released by Charisma in May 1977. The majority of the album features Bert with a group he'd put together consisting of Rod Clements on bass, Pick Withers on drums and Mike Piggott on violin. By the time the album was released the group had split after Clements returned to a re-formed Lindisfarne and Withers joined Dire Straits. A Rare Conundrum marked a return to a simpler style: it includes delicate instrumentals, Irish traditional songs, a couple of slow blues and some of Bert's most overlooked songs which look back to his childhood ("One To A Hundred") and his early days on the folk scene in Edinburgh ("Three Chord Trick" and "Three Dreamers"). Each of these new editions is packaged using the original artwork along with contemporary photos, etc. plus freshly written notes including commentary from Bert Jansch himself.