STORM FORCE TEN

A very good, if not quite an outstanding album. Storm Force Ten marked the return of celebrated guitarrist Martin Carthy to the Steeleye Span fold, along with newcomer John Kirkpatrick (accordion, vocals). It was recorded almost ´live´ in the studio, with very few overdubbing, in just one week. The tracklist consisted basicly of the songs theyr were performing live during their last tour, right before they entered the Phonogram Studio, in Holland. To their traditional repertoir of english, scot and irish traditional songs, they added this time the Brech-Weil song The Black Freighter from their The ThreePenny Opera.

It was recorded in a time they were becoming too unfashionable (as any classic 70´s band, prog or otherwise), so it was greeted with very little acclaim. The band here seemed a little shaken and lacking the confidence they had on their previous albums. Nevertheless, it was a good album and showed again their absolute amazing talents both instrumental and vocal. Highlights are the opener Awake, Awake, the brilliant and long The Victory and the beautiful a capella Sweep, Chimmy, Sweep, while The Black Freighter showed their versatility, going beyond their ´safe ground´of traditional only songs.

Not as powerful as their previous albums (reflecting the changing of the times), it is however a fine display of their great musicanship.