Prog Folk / Folk Rock / Folk

Wintersmith was released in 2013, what I am rating however is the 2 cd Wintersmith Extended version which has an additional 4 studio tracks on disc 2 plus 8 live and a couple of demo.  It is a concept album based the book Wintersmith from Terry Pratchett and his Discworld fantasy world.  it seems that Terry Pratchett has been a big fan Steeleye Span since their beginnings.  It seems a fitting collaboration with Terry credited for the lyrics on all the songs ensuring these capture the Wintersmith atmosphere of the novel.

Since the concept of a concept album is different to what Steeleye normally does with the exception of the 15 minute mini concept Ned Ludd, I had to listen a few times before deciding that I liked this album a lot.   It is a little heavier than previous Steeleye Span but you can tell over the years that slowly they have been building up to that as you progress through their albums, especially with the previous decade albums.  Where as in the past the guitar not only tries to match and complement the violin, but now also has the occasional short solos that all fit and sound great.  Sadly this is also the last album on which Peter Knight plays the violin.

Anyway Wintersmith was a great start for the 2010s but the next album Dodgy b*****ds is even better. Gawd I hate Rap but even the couple of songs where they Rap the lyrics are good so there is nothing negative I can say about this album.  Jessica May Smart violin play is good and her singing just adds more pleasure.  Every track is really very enjoyable.  This album Rocks and it Folks for a whole 72 minutes.  On another sad note, this seems to be also the last album for Rick Kemp the bass player who had joined Steeleye Span back in 1972 on Below The Salt.  You can loosely say that Dodgy b*****ds is another concept album with all the songs and lyrics written around the works of the 19th Century American folklorist Francis James Child.  Steeleye Span lyrics have always been on the dark side of pre 20th Century folklore and this album digs even deeper into the darkness of those times.

Steeleye Span's last studio album leaves Maddy Prior as the sole survivor of the original 1970 line up.  Yet surprisingly this album seems to me to go back to their early 70's beginnings sound.   It is a really good album but its hard to top the previous two of this decade and as a result I rate it slightly less.  This album sees Ian Anderson playing flute on track 2 which is an added bonus for this album.  I suspect like me Ian Anderson also fancies Maddy's singing as he keep coming back for more 

In summary this last decade is in my opinion Steeleye Span best period of work which is so hard to say really since everything they have ever done has been great.  But just like a good Cognac, Steeleye Span has just gotten better and better at what they do and what they like to do, which is to make good Prog Folk Rock music and be consistent with it.  They just stick to their formula and keep improving on it.

richardh wrote: ^ talking of last 10 years, Dirty Rotten b*****ds is a constant fixture on my I-pod. Brilliant album imo.

Richard, as you can see I see it the same as you as their best studio work together with the Time album.

Nick

Winter is a Christmas Festivities album and therefore I am forced to stand back and rate it for what it is, something that I would listen to only around Christmas time while the better half is preparing dinner as background music.  But having said that, I do think it is as good as The Jethro Tull Christmas Album or Moody Blues December.  Therefore the rating fits as the songs and the sound is exactly as expected from Steeleye Span.

To end the decade Cogs, Wheels And Lovers while still a good album it just felt not as strong as the others in this decade.

I have to say though overall Steeleye Span albums over this decade seem to me the best decade so far.

PS based on my enjoyment rating I also decided to convert the Albums to a US School System grade resulting in an A for the decade body of studio album work.  

Nick

Yes in fact don't ask me why but I have 3 copies of this DVD.  Might have to sell a couple someday.  One as the Classic Rock Legends version as shown here in the Steeleye Span section.  The second one I bought not paying attention to the back of the cover when I bought A 20th Century Celebration and the third copy which is included with the Special Edition CD/DVD 2 disc set.  This one I bought because I liked the DVD so much that I wanted a CD copy of it as well.  This DVD I did score down to a 4 though because as good as it is, I think it is too short at 52 minutes and inevitably you lose another 6 or so minutes by having the inevitable All Around My Hat and Gaudete in almost every Steeleye Span live set.

OK everyone is another 15 years older, but I do think the 35th Anniversary DVD is better, I especially liked the song Tam Lin which to me alone was worth the price of buying the 35th.

You are right, I am just showing the results of rating the songs and averaging out as I had explained in the first post.  But heck it could take me weeks to write about each album!  

Generally speaking though I like Steeleye Span when they get into their folk songs and pre 20th century stories or fantasies about elves and queen's and kings, butchers, miners, witches, maidens, soldiers, sailors etc.  Their voices are great singularly and in chorus and I wish Maddy Prior would have met and married me so she could sing to me all day! 

Their sound is so precise and I like their music because it is a pleasant change to listen to a band where no one really ever takes over with long drawn out virtuoso solos other than the occasional violin which when it happens is hauntingly beautiful.  Yet you can clearly hear the individual skills of each musician on pretty much each song, the unobtrusive guitar play, base, drums, violin and of course great voice(s)

From time to time they do lose me when they break up what they are good at and throw in a song that does not exactly seem to fit ie.. a little too pop orientated or too much irish jig or some track #10 filler.  Not that any of them are really ever really bad, but just perhaps a little out of place.  But fortunately most of the time they bounce right back with the next beautiful folky rocky proggy song.

As a result some songs I score less because they don't quite fit the Steeleye Span flow that I enjoy listening to.

Best regards

Nick

Time and  also Tempted and Tried are two really good albums, which really saved a drop off over the next 20 years.  The Time album is almost perfect with every song being really good.  As a result the average rating over 15 albums remains at 4.46 out 5.00.

Best regards

Nick

I also have a 2lp Steeleye Span Story.....compilation which is not listed on PA here.