STEELEYE SPAN

Several factors converged in 1996 to "Time" a favorable reception from critics and fans alike. First, it was the first STEELEYE SPAN album in since 1988's "Tempted and Tried", so it was long overdue and most welcome. While the band had been touring through most of the interim, having new material to promote always rallies the enthusiasm of supporters. Second, it marked Gay Woods' first album with the group in over a quarter century, and Steeleye suddenly had two frontwomen. Third, it featured several powerful cuts, namely "The Prickly Bush" (though it does drag somewhat); "the Old Maid in the Garrett/Tam Lin, IMO the best thing they EVER did, with its almost countryish verses, hilarious wordplay, an a fierce jam to close it out, oh my; and "Corbies".

Unfortunately, a dispassionate look behind the curtain is more troubling. The choice of material is a bit predictable, in particular the overdone "The Water is Wide" and the nonetheless well executed "The Elf-Knight". About the half the songs are placed on a redlining rack to make the whole a respectable CD length, when they aren't even engrossing enough to justify outlasting an egg timer, for example "Harvest of the Moon" thru "Go from my Window", "You will Burn" and "The Song will remain".

In spite of weaknesses that are obvious in retrospect, this is still good enough to lightly eclipse 2.5 stars, and significant enough to be rounded up. No wonder I was underwhelmed by the new material when I saw the touring group in 1997. Be selective with your time on this one.

— First review of this album —

Clamshell boxed set featuring the first three Steeleye Span albums, plus some non-album bonus tracks appended to Ten Man Mop. The discs come in card sleeves with the original LP art on, and there's a reasonably detailed booklet. As the title implies, this pretty much sums up all of Steeleye's pre-Chrysalis material, and therefore it includes some great albums; Please To See the King is probably the strongest of them, but the debut and Ten Man Mop are no slouches either. The original liner notes are included in the booklet, and the remastering job has been tastefully accomplished, so you're really not missing out on anything unless you are a true vinyl fanatic.

— First review of this album —

This 12 CD boxed set covers Steeleye Span's entire run on Chrysalis, aside from the 1989 album Tempted and Tried (a one-off return to the label which seems to have only ended up there at the last minute, since the advance single was released through other channels). Commencing with 1972's Below the Salt album, it contains all the studio releases from there to the contractual obligation release Sails of Silver, plus the two live albums Live At Last and On Tour (the latter having previously been hard to find outside of Australia). To sweeten the deal, you also get two archival releases, never before released, and a sprinkling of bonus tracks.

The first of the archival live shows hails from the Rainbow Theatre in November 1974. Why this was let to sit in the archives for so long without a release boggles the mind - much like other Rainbow gigs from the era from the likes of Queen or Genesis which only got an official release long after the fact, it's an absolute classic, excellently capturing the band right at the peak of their powers having just wrapped the sessions for Commoners Crown. The performance of Long Lankin, a standout track from that album, is a particular highlight.

The other archival show is a Berklee Performance Centre appearance from the Rocket Cottage tour. This is a bit harder-edged than the earlier show - for Span were dialling up the rock aspect of their folk-rock mix at this time - but still very solid, and with enough differences to feel like good value next to the other three live releases in here.

As far as the sound quality goes, it's pretty solid. The archival live releases and bonus tracks are newly remastered; the bulk of the rest of the material is as it was when released in the now out-of-print Parcel of Steeleye Span boxed sets. Compared with those two packages, I would say this is the better deal: sure, you lose Tempted and Tried from the second box (Another Parcel of Steeleye Span), but that was a bit of an odd one out anyway, and getting On Tour and especially the Berklee and Rainbow shows in its place is a more than adequate trade. In addition, the two Parcel sets didn't dedicate a CD to each album, which meant some albums had their tracks split awkwardly between discs; here each album comes in an individual cardboard sleeve replicating the original LP, which isn't uncommon these days but is far nicer than the Parcel presentation.

Get this and the 2019 All Things Are Quite Silent box, which collects their pre-Chrysalis material, and I don't think anyone would say you are missing anything truly essential from their work.

— First review of this album —

A bit of an overlooked live album from Steeleye Span, this one - it was only ever released in Australia, having been recorded there, though the tracks from it have appeared on compilations since (and it's now seen the light of day as part of the Good Times of Old England boxed set). On top of that, it was recorded on the Sails of Silver tour, and that album wasn't an especially well-regarded or commercially successful release.

However, this is still a classic line-up of the band, and whilst the recording quality is a shade below, say, that of Live at Last! or the archival live shows in the Good Times of Old England box, it's still pretty decent. In addition, taken away from the polish that Gus Dudgeon applied to their studio versions, the Sails of Silver songs fit among the older material much better - and there's more than enough older material to keep long-standing fans happy.

Sails of Silver itself might have been a mixed bag in the eyes of many (though I quite like it), but it at least provided this last hurrah. After this, co-founder Tim Hart would leave the band permanently, and they'd part ways with Chrysalis (though they'd briefly return with the Tempted and Tried album), so in that respect it captures the end of an era - and it does so in a manner much more true to that era's spirit than the Sails of Silver album did.

British folk rockers fourth album shows them honing their skills as well as drawing some classics from their countries folk tradition.

1. "Spotted Cow" (3:06) If ever there was a truer Engllish folk song please let me know it: singing about one's errant bovine seems so mundane it must be a common enough event to make a valid topic for a folk song--a song worth singing (obviously). (8.6667/10)

2. "Rose Bud In June" (3:41) very traditional English Folk. (8.5/10)

3. "Jigs: The Bride's Favorite, Tansey's Fancy" (3:10) a very traditional English Folk instrumental with some rock and country elements. (8.66667/10)

4. "Sheep-Crook And Black Dog" (4:44) brooding electric guitar strums the opening before Maddy enters, accompanied by a second electric guitar, electric bass, and violin. Kind of cool. Halfway the music takes a left turn with arpeggiated guitar chords and a more subdued vocal style coming from Ms. Prior. I don't know why the band fashioned this rather radical shift--unless it's due to an entirely different song being tagged onto the opener--but then the music shifts back to the original motif for the final minute. Odd! But interesting enough to make my top three. (8.75/10)

5. "Royal Forester" (4:33) a more-dance-oriented song with some lively singing from Ms. Prior. The electric bass is too far forward while the annoyingly distorted electric guitar strumming is way back. Then, after the first verse and chorus, the electric instruments balance themselves in the foreground while Maddy dances along. I like the multi-voice vocal arrangement for the next chorus in the middle section. (8.75/10)

6. "King Henry" (7:09) A long story that suffers from the too-forward annoying bass play but is made interesting from the crazed violin and lead electric guitar play. (13/15)

7. "Gaudette" (2:25) an all-vocal performance in the ancient church traditions. Very cool effect of slowly fading in as if the troupe was coming up a street toward the listener. A top three song. (5/5)

8. "John Barleycorn" (4:48) Steeleye Span's take on a traditional English folk tale. This is surprisingly upbeat and loose-- like a late night drinking song--quite dissimilar to the interpretation made by fellow Brits, Traffic. I like Traffic's version better. (8.75/10)

9. "Saucy Sailor" (5:47) odd choice to give Maddy the lead vocal on a sea shanty--but then, this doesn't play out at all like a rollicking drunken sailors' song. The delicately played treated acoustic guitars and piano are quite interesting (though the bass is typicaly dull). My final top three song. (8.875/10)

Total time 39:23

A little more pure traditional English Folk fare than is my liking, I appreciate these skilled performers, I just prefer something a little more progressive or "proggy."

B/four stars; a recommended addition to any Prog Folk lover's music collection though not necessarily for the straight- laced prog rocker. I'm rating this down for this progressive rock music site.

Steeleye Span made their name playing folk with rock influences, so the idea of them putting out a whole album of what is essentially rock with folk influences - think Fleetwood Mac crossed with a strong pinch of A-era Jethro Tull - is somewhat disconcerting. The band had actually broken up as a conscious, deliberate decision after recording the Live At Last! album, having decided they'd achieved all they wanted to as a unit, but Chrysalis coaxed them back, giving this something of the reputation of a "contractual obligation" album; certainly, they faded away again pretty soon after this, spending the rest of the early 1980s dormant until exploring new visas away from the label (and without cofounder Tim Hart).

Honestly, as a more commercially-leaning, accessible, and rock-and-pop-influenced take on British folk rock, I don't think it's half bad. The problem comes if you try to regard it as a Steeleye Span album, because it's undeniably pretty distant from their classic sound. Still, Maddy Prior and Tim Hart's vocals are still present and correct, and that's a big help, with their harmonies being as charming as ever. Maybe it's not what we usually want from Steeleye Span - but if you went to a Steeleye Span concert and heard a support act playing music along these lines, it wouldn't be totally incongruous and you might get into it.

Had they left the Steeleye Span name in the dust and put this out as an album for a new "Sails of Silver" project - and perhaps wore disguises so people didn't realise it was just Steeleye Span again - maybe Sails of Silver would have done better... had it fallen through a time hole and gotten published in the mid-1970s. As it is, it was not only out of step with the band's back catalogue, it also feels hopelessly unfashionable for an album from 1980. With the benefit of hindsight, I've grown to like it and think it's been hard done-by, but even then I admit I have to take a moment and remind myself not to judge it on the same criteria as the group's classic work to fully give it a chance.

While "Back in Line" seems overly optimistic for what is actually going on here, I suppose that, relative to the monumental misstep of "Sails of Silver", a bounce back was inevitable. It's just a shame that the only orb available was an underinflated balloon.

Once again the band is determined to write and perform its own material and, once again, it will never be mistaken for anything by Trad Arr, but at least here the emphasis is on the darker more brooding mood for which the group is better known rather than upbeat middle of the road rockers. "Edward" establishes this shift at the outset, and "Take my Heart" and "White Man" are even better, with Peter Knight the fresh choice for lead vocalist on the latter. He also contributes fiddle solos here and there that raise the bar on some ordinary numbers like "Isabel" and "Cannon by Telemann".

A dreary mood is all well and good I suppose, but it becomes oppressive on the otherwise promising "Lanercost" and "Scarecrow", with its 1980s oriented robotic percussion. A few of the other tracks are all too reminiscent of the prior effort, particularly "Lady Diamond" and "Peace on the Border". A sad truth is that the live version of the oft covered historical tune "Blackleg Miner" makes even the high points here seem dispirited by comparison.

For Steeleye to actually fall back in line would have to wait until the excellent "Tempted and Tried" 3 years later, but here at least the group has inserted itself a ways back in the queue. Just under 2.5 stars.

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.

Exit, for the moment, Bob Johnson and Peter Knight, and substitute returning earlier member Martin Carthy and newbie John Kirkpatrick. The net effect is twofold: Martin Carthy was present for 2 of Steeleye's least distinguished outings in the early 1970s and his stodginess is here manifest once again, unfortunately in the long song format that suggests Steeleye, while obviously aware of their waning popularity, and no idea why or how to recover.

Luckily Kirkpatrick plays accordion, which means that fiddle has seeded to squeezebox as ethnic instrument of note, albeit only for this release and the subsequent "Live at Last". That does help to invigorate the best material here. Even if "The Victory" is 40% "Demon Lover", 40% "All Around my Hat", and only 20% noteworthy and "Awake Awake" isn't convincing as ballad or rocker, reflecting the band's new found clunkiness, "The Black Freighter" suggests that SPAN can rock more than just trad arranged material and send JUDY COLLINS into the corner to cry herself to sleep, "Treadmill Song"'s accordion and guitar interplay hint what might have been given more time, which sadly was not afforded, as it were, and closer "Seventeen Come Sunday" is actually fun.

It's a shame the band did not include a studio version of the incredible "Montrose" epic at this time, though the live rendition that was issued the next year remains a career highlight, while this isn't. Now we are storm force six?

What can I say? Folk is the name of the game, and really well played it is. Robust vocal harmonies, whimsical but expert changes in rhytmic accents and signature, very physical and never electronic textures on all registers and on the percussion in particular.

A refreshing new instalment by a classic band, not leaning so much on tradition, as on present inventiveness. Concerning precisely the creative forces involved here, the album benefits greatly (even when not only) from the outstanding guest musicians: Ian Anderson on flute, adding as much dynamics as you might desire to "Old Matron", and Sophie Yates on harpsichord, wrapping "The Boy and the Mantle" with cristaline texture.