BELOW THE SALT

Tim Hart and Maddy Prior steer the good ship Steeleye Span into medieval waters, with a range of classic traditional songs given the electric folk treatment. With a mixture of full-band effort, a capella pieces, and a wide emotional range, the album is another success in the Span's ongoing project to explore the potential of electrified versions of traditional British folk music. It's not the trippiest, spookiest, proggiest or most psychedelic of the albums in this vein that would emerge in the UK at this time - you'd have to look to Comus or the Incredible String Band or Fairport Convention for that - but it is one of the more warm and inviting examples of the style.