PLEASE TO SEE THE KING

Steeleye Span´s second effort is probably their most traditional and less pleasant work. Terry and Gay Woods had left the band before they even toured and they brought in the celebrated folk guitarist Martin Carthy to the fold (he wouldn´t stay long, either). They also included a young fiddler player, Peter Knight, that would be one of the key figures in moulding the band´s future sound. But this time there would be no drummers to help giving the band a rocking beat.

The result was a good, intense and quite dense sound. To my taste, it was a bit too traditional and the band lost some of the charm they had showed with the first album. And I still can´t see why they opened the record with the same first song they did on their debut. Ok, the arrangement is quite different, but the same opener as before? What´s the point really? Anyway, Please see The King apparently did not satisfy anyone involved, even leader and founding member Ashley Hutchings, who left the band suddenly, along with Carthy. Still, the CD shows the band doing some great guitar work and cemented their popularity (a talk of an american tour was rumoured, but they had to cancelled it after Hutchings and Carthy decided to quit).

Although not quite as melodic and accessible as their first (and latter) work, it is still a good display of their talents, specially Carthy´s outstanding technique.