Robbie Basho - Venus In Cancer (1969)
Robbie Basho’s Venus In Cancer is an album of guitar compositions that are some of the most beautiful ever composed. Basho is little well known for his work, despite writing over six albums in his lifetime. Venus In Cancer is one of the greatest in the Basho discography and one of the most captivating guitar albums ever written. With supreme tenderness, Basho weaves rich tapestries that entwine like ivy.
His skill on the guitar is nothing short of spectacular, however his ability to evoke such powerful emotions from the one instrument is an even greater spectacle. The album develops with all the intricacy of a classical composition, as Basho’s sensitive arrangements reveal themselves as dreams, and then vanish.
Every second composition also sees Basho implement his incredible voice, which soars powerfully through the music with the intensity of a free spirit. The title track Venus In Cancer is an Eastern lullaby of delicate originality, while Kowaka D’amour and Cathedrals Et Fleur De Lis move like shadows on the sea, evoking feelings of undying love and passion. Basho’s guitar work is to rock music what Turner’s watercolour is to the world of art. Tender and passionate, beautiful and mysterious, Basho is simply a free-thinker in the grip of a romantic enlightenment, and Venus In Cancer is his crown.
- Jim Harris
