The first album by the John Renbourn Group, Renbourn's post-Pentangle mid-'70s project, is one of the highlights of his long and varied career. Pentangle singer Jacqui McShee, whose angelic voice is one of the largely undiscovered treasures of English folk music, is featured. Meanwhile, Renbourn hooks up here with woodwind and reed player Tony Roberts, whose playing had previously graced Renbourn's solo records.
A MAID IN BEDLAM combines two sides of Renbourn's musical personality. The material is mostly traditional British folk like "Black Waterside," "John Barleycorn," and "My Johnny Was a Shoemaker," but the presentations and arrangements are tinged with the jazzier and more world music-oriented elements of Renbourn's solo records. The combination is intoxicating.