Steeleye Span Commoner's Crown (Vinyl, Chrysalis Records, 1975) *****
Steeleye Span All Around My Hat (Vinyl, Chrysalis Records, 1975) ****
Steeleye Span Rocket Cottage (Vinyl, Chrysalis Records, 1976) ****
They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6
Active compensatory factors: I have mentioned a couple of Steeleye Span's albums already on this blog - Hark! The Village Wait and Below the Salt - their first and fourth albums.
It begins with a different version of The Blacksmith (which was also on their debut). It's a radically slowed down version, though, that concentrates attention on the singing and guitar. Maddy Prior is superb as always.
By 1974's Now We Are Six the band had morphed into a much more commercial proposition. The six members were now Maddy Prior – vocals; Tim Hart – vocals, guitars; Peter Knight – vocals, violin; Bob Johnson – vocals, guitars; Rick Kemp – vocals, bass guitar; Nigel Pegrum – drums.
All Around My Hat was their highest charting album. Given it has rocky drums and guitars providing some power chords at times, that's the result they were after, I guess. It's still absolutely Steeleye Span though - traditions were still there under the surface and the resulting sound is a lot of fun - purists can try elsewhere.
Where do they all belong? A few gaps need plugging. I'll get there eventually. I have a few compilations that are okay but they tend to be wide ranging and so the different Steeleye Spans jostle for attention.
Genre: Folk, folk-rock
Places I remember: Amoeba Music, Real Groovy Records, Slow Boat Records
Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Two Magicians (Now We Are Six), All Around My Hat
Gear costume: Cold, Haily, Windy Night (Please to See the King), Thomas the Rhymer (Now We Are Six)
Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Two Magicians (Now We Are Six), All Around My Hat
Gear costume: Cold, Haily, Windy Night (Please to See the King), Thomas the Rhymer (Now We Are Six)
Active compensatory factors: I have mentioned a couple of Steeleye Span's albums already on this blog - Hark! The Village Wait and Below the Salt - their first and fourth albums.
My musical proclivities are interesting. I have always loved Steeleye Span and Maddy Prior and for a while, I collected their albums when I saw them. But I was never drawn to collect a similar band - Fairport Convention, in the same way. Curious.
While visiting Los Angeles this year, I found a copy of Please to See the King, their second album, so we'll start there.
This first song signals a changed sound for the album overall, as Martin Cathy (guitar) and Peter Knight (fiddle) join the band (they also dispense with drums).
Commoner's Crown was their seventh studio album and the band were well into their folk-rock stance on this album. In many ways it was a peak moment for this version of Steeleye Span. It's a five star classic!
Final album on my list is Rocket Cottage from the year after All Around My Hat. This year (1976) also happened to be Year Zero for punk in the UK and folk-rock wasn't cutting it at that time. It was the last album featuring the mid-seventies version of the band. It's another excellent folk-rock album.
Where do they all belong? A few gaps need plugging. I'll get there eventually. I have a few compilations that are okay but they tend to be wide ranging and so the different Steeleye Spans jostle for attention.
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