SAILS OF SILVER

The ever morphing British folk rock institution that STEELEYE SPAN had become over the course of the 1970s had supposedly disbanded days after their farewell concert documented by "Live at Last" in 1978. It was therefore a surprise to find the classic lineup resurface just 2 years later. Whether this was at the request or demand of Chrysalis records is unclear, but it doesn't seem like anyone who mattered was happy with the result. Producer Gus Dudgeon might have briefly revived the fortunes of LINDISFARNE a few years earlier and, while that effort was predictably slick, at least it bottled the sloppy sweetness that was at the core of their popularity.

"Sails of Silver" offers no such qualified success as it bleaches the group's roots and parades a parody of power balladry to a bewildered public. It's not all dismal, with the opening two numbers offering promise that they might be able to achieve the unthinkable but the premise is so ludicrous that it could not have withstood 40 minutes even if the quality hadn't subsequently careened off the tracks. Workaday rhythms, forgettable tunes, and a pervading suspicion that the band is trying to fool us make this a rather uncredible retooling. "Let Her Go Down" and "Harvest Home" seem authentic enough to effect a waterlogged rescue but they don't nearly make up for the generic indignities of "Barnet Fair", "Senior Service", "Where are they now", and "Longbone", any of which could have been a fair throwaway number on previous outings but here are like a gaggle of unsavory hall monitors you can't get past without a whiff of their stale cigarettes.

If you need any further evidence of the destructive nature of this debacle, it propelled long time member Tim Hart out of the industry for good. It is fortunate that the group kicked off a more than respectable revival later in the decade that persists to this day, for if "Sails of Silver" had been their final voyage they might still be lost.