On their first album,
Dando Shaft
came off as something like a more
folk
-oriented, yet also more hippie-oriented
Pentangle
. The percussive pulse of
Roger Bullen
's bass in particular gave much of the material a rhythmic swing that helped it stand apart from
traditional folk
, as did original material based around images of nature: rain, wind, leaves, the dawn, flowers, the country, and so on. The singing and songwriting betrayed a notable debt to
Bert Jansch
, though with a more whimsical bent that
Jansch
usually allowed. Their greatest assets, certainly in terms of putting their own stamp on a sound that bore close resemblance to aspects of
(and, more distantly,
the Incredible String Band
), were the colors added by multi-instrumentalist
Martin Jenkins
' mandolin, flute, and violin. As
progressive folk
that was pastoral in mood and not quite
folk-rock
, it was pleasant but ultimately not as distinguished or interesting as their unavoidable reference point,
. The
comparisons would if anything multiply when they added a female vocalist,
Polly Bolton
, for their next two albums. ~ Richie Unterberger