Steeleye Span Below The Salt (Vinyl - Chrysalis, 1972) ***
Places I remember: Fives (on The Broadway, Leigh-on-sea, UK); Slow Boat Records (Wellington, NZ)
Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: The Blacksmith (Hark!)
Gear costume: John Barleycorn (Salt)
Apart from the life weary instrumentation and the everyday content of the folk songs - shoemakers, miners, blacksmiths, sailors and fisherfolk inhabit these songs, it is the peerless vocals of Tim Hart and Maddy Prior (along with Gay Woods on that first Steeleye Span album) that make this such a rewarding experience.
Perfect starts to debut albums are scarce as hen's teeth (tip o' the hat to I Saw Her Standing There and Good Times Bad Times at this point) - but here's another contender thanks to the one two punch of a capella A Calling-On Song and then The Blacksmith.
Being transported back to my spiritual home of England is one of my favourite-ist things in the world and hearing Ar-a blacksmith courted ME (etc) does the trick admirably!
The rest of the album is set up for more rollicking tales from England's folk past via fiddle/dulcimer/ banjo/ autoharp/bodhran/mandolin on top of a drum/bass bed and I'm thankful to be along for the ride. Yes sirree!
By 4th album, 1972's Below The Salt, The group had undergone radical transformation personnel wise.
Bit of a shock when you see the cover - all look like they are in their bloom of youth, but then they sound like they've accessed a time tunnel from the 16th century.
Folk rock bands often have fluid line-ups and so it is with Steeleye Span. Gay and Terry Woods had left after Hark! and, further down the road, so had Ashley Hutchings.
That left the glorious Maddy Prior and Tim Hart as the core members. Cue a simpler sound in many ways but all the Spanisms are intact - a cappella, jigs, catchy folk rock, Tim and Maddy harmonies - all present and correct.
Where do they all belong? Now We Are Six is next.
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