Jun 18
Back after 34 years, Pentangle still rule the roost. Pete Paphides has the first interview with Britain’s finest folk band
Terry Cox, the group’s 69-year-old drummer, feels much the same. “Prior to this year, I hadn’t touched my kit for a decade,” says Cox, who now runs a restaurant in Menorca. “People have been trying to reassure me that it’s like riding a bike. But that’s no good really. I’ve never ridden a bike in my life.”
The Times, February 9, 2007
Swa you play on the reunion tour, I grew up listening to your sound and really was inspired by your musical contribution to that genre. Anyway congratulations on your career….thats it really
Oliver
Dear Terry,
Like many I loved The Pentangle. Your drumming seemed to have more importance for finding just the right effect insted of just laying down a beat or tempo that fit. What were some of your favorite studios you recorded at and what were they like? Just curious. Thank you, Kevin
Hi, Terry
Been a mad fan of The Pentangle since 68, loved the jazzy compositions you brought to the band (to balance the folkie and early music stuff) and thought you took much of the heart out of the band when you left the first reunion…what 85?
Gerry Conway’s a great folk-ROCK drummer and fully deserves his success with Fairport and Jacqui’s pseudo-Pentangle – but I don’t know anyone who can get your ‘touch’. Back in 68-70, when I thought Joey Covington was a better drummer for Jefferson Airplane (another fave band) than Spencer Dryden, I couldn’t quite get your style. Now I just listen to your high-hats and the way you make those cymbals sing – so totally appropriate to whatever the pace is – and I just wonder!!!!! As for the way you wove a glockenspiel into it and could play melody on it while emphasising the beat…excuse me, but fucking hell!!!!!!! Perhaps the number that best encapsulates that for me is the BBC 69 recording of ‘Hunting Song’. On the opening the high-hat completely achors it while you pick out the basic melody.BRILLIANT!!!!
Perhaps THE Terry Cox moment for me, though, was the 2008 Pentangle reunion tour…in Harrogate, when you perfectly sang Jacqui’s double-tracked 2nd part on ‘Once I Had A Sweetheart’ – absolutely pitch-perfect! How do you do it live and keep the beat? (Judging from the bootlegs, Joey Covington, for all his talents in several areas, couldn;’t!!!) I actually think your second vocal that night supercedes Richard Thompson’s solo on ‘Sloth’ at the 1989 Cropredy as my most awesome live moment.
Studio samples of your harmony vocals that just blow me away include ‘Light Flight’ (of course!) and ‘Street Song’ (grossly underrated – but your vocals on that number, perhaps more than anything else on that first reunion album, anchor it back to the first incarnation.)
Just wanted to show my appreciation of both your drumming and your vocals…and, yes, I still live in hope of a fourth Pentangle before you all get too old!
As for the Bipolar, as well as being sad for the negatives, look for the positives. LIke Stephen Fry does. Could you have been such a creative musician if not for it…?
None of that excuses the problems the illness causes but it can help everybody if you call all recognise both the pros and the cons of the illness. After all, wasn’t Winston Churchill Bipolar???
I’m no expert on Bipolar by any means..but I do have a fairly expert and radical view on Psychology – see http://www.integratedsociopsychology.net If you think it might help, then do get in contact. If I could possibly help you, it would be such an honour, considering how much pleasure your music has brought into my life for so many years.
Also love the girl vocal video on the site where your vocals take over for much of the second par of the number. So distinctive…such an extra layer!!
Best
Keith E Rice (keith@integratedosociopsychology.net)