Bert Jansch's Heartbreak Getting 30th Anniversary Remastered Reissue

The first pressing of the LP will be issued on 1,500 pieces of clear vinyl (with subsequent pressings on black vinyl), while the two-CD collection includes the original Heartbreak album in its entirety along with 14 previously unreleased tracks recorded during an intimate live show in June 1981 at the storied venue inside McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica, Calif.

Set for release just days after what would have been Jansch's 69th birthday (November 3), this is a collector's must-have, featuring extras including special photos and liner notes by legendary English folk musician Ralph McTell and the album's original producers.

Recorded in June 1981 (and released in 1982), Heartbreak was produced by two enthusiastic fans, Rick and John Chelew. This was the first time in the studio for Rick and his brother John (producer of the pivotal John Hiatt album Bring the Family, three Grammy award-winning albums for The Blind Boys of Alabama, and many others). They borrowed money from their mother to finance the sessions and to pay enlisted musicians like renowned guitarist Albert Lee (Eric Clapton, Emmylou Harris, The Everly Brothers, Bill Wyman) and noted singer/songwriter Jennifer Warnes to accompany Bert in the small Silverlake Studio where the album was recorded. During the sessions, Bert played a few live solo shows around California, including the legendary folk club McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica. Fortunately, Rick and John had the foresight to document these concerts, and now the 30th Anniversary Edition of Heartbreak has been further enhanced by a previously unreleased, complete live show from McCabe's Guitar Shop.

Bert Jansch was one of the most important and central figures in folk music, both for his solo recordings and his work with influential British folk group, Pentangle. Born in Scotland, he was steeped in American blues and jazz, North African music, and folk early in his career, and by the beginning of the '60s he was playing the British folk clubs, extending his musical education. Artists like Martin Carthy and Anne Briggs turned him on to songs in the British folk tradition.

By the mid-'60s Jansch had set up residence in London where he began and playing live shows, and began making the studio recordings that would come to influence a generation of songwriters, singers, and guitar players. Classic artists like Jimmy Page, Neil Young, Paul Simon, Donovan, Elton John, and Nick Drake, all the way up to present artists like Fleet Foxes and Devendra Banhart, have acknowledged Jansch as a major influence and innovator of acoustic guitar playing.
By his second album, Jansch was collaborating with John Renbourn, another seminal British folk guitar giant. Together in 1967, they formed Pentangle, one of the most important British folk groups of the '60s. Bert Jansch is listed as one of Rolling Stone magazine's "Top 100 Guitar Players of All Time."
According to McTell on his liner notes, "Around this time, Bert was in a very dark place. . . Heartbreak marked an opening up in Bert's approach to his work, and from here on, although times were often difficult, Bert began to sort out his life through his music."

Jansch died on October 5, 2011.
About Omnivore Recordings:
Founded in 2010 by longtime, highly respected industry veterans Cheryl Pawelski, Greg Allen, Dutch Cramblitt, and Brad Rosenberger, Omnivore Recordings preserves the legacies and music created by historical, heritage, and catalog artists while also releasing previously unissued, newly found "lost" recordings and making them available for music-loving audiences to discover. Omnivore Recordings is distributed by EMI.

CD track listing: