so good.
― omar little, Sunday, 5 February 2012 05:07 (twelve years ago) link
first 3 albums are excellent. electric folk > folk rock
― buzza, Sunday, 5 February 2012 07:38 (twelve years ago) link
I got a cheap collection of the next five (or six) albums and even those are mostly very good (albeit none of this is a patch on Fairport, pre-78/79 Richard & Linda or maybe even Pentangle).
― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Sunday, 5 February 2012 14:37 (twelve years ago) link
been listening to the first one a lot lately -- Liege & Lief II, basically! even though i dig the drum-less thing later on, dave mattacks is pretty great on it. only issue i have is that i sort of expect some rad thompson-esque guitar solos to break out every now and then.
― tylerw, Sunday, 5 February 2012 20:14 (twelve years ago) link
ok this is killerhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Q7RIwvvnNT0
― tylerw, Friday, 6 December 2013 16:19 (ten years ago) link
^^^^live tv performance from some medieval castle in 1974
― tylerw, Friday, 6 December 2013 16:20 (ten years ago) link
naturally
I haven't checked that link but i think i have the program its from a 1974 bbc show. Interesting stuff, featuri.ng a morri.s side. An area that was being explored elsewhere by Hutchings who left after 3rd lp.Those 1st 3 can be had as The Lark In The Morning a 2cd on Sanctuary. That stuff is really dark electric psych while being all traditional songs.
― Stevolende, Friday, 6 December 2013 16:47 (ten years ago) link
yeah it's a bbc thing! totally fun, devolves into a rambunctious morris dance party. well, not that rambunctious, but still.
― tylerw, Friday, 6 December 2013 16:50 (ten years ago) link
I would love to come across some original material that sounded like those early dark SS tracks. Still not found anything that resembles it very closely. Do know things like Trees (who have a large feature in the new Flashback! btw), Spirogyra, Stone Angel, Spriguns, Caedmon and Carol Of Harvest but don't think they are too similar.
― Stevolende, Saturday, 7 December 2013 10:18 (ten years ago) link
mr fox, maybe? i do believe the peggs were at one point discussing plans with hutchings to form what would become steeleye span soon after (there's even a hutchings co-credit on one song from the first album i think)
― no lime tangier, Saturday, 7 December 2013 13:59 (ten years ago) link
damn, rocket cottage is pretty great! always kind of avoided it because of the ridiculous cover art, but it is mostly a super tight trad-folk-pop LP. great riffs, cool production.
― tylerw, Friday, 25 April 2014 15:45 (nine years ago) link
i've not heard that one and have been (un)fairly wary of anything beyond below the salt. maybe it's time for me to make a change?
― It's Pablum Time with (NickB), Friday, 25 April 2014 16:00 (nine years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGRbPYhHM64
^ enjoyed seeing this on tv the other day, which is michael chapman backed by 3 steeleye people iirc
― It's Pablum Time with (NickB), Friday, 25 April 2014 16:02 (nine years ago) link
SEVEN HUNDRED ELVES COME OUT DA WOOD
― Khamma chameleon (Jon Lewis), Friday, 25 April 2014 16:06 (nine years ago) link
3 2 (pegrum & kemp) xp
― It's Pablum Time with (NickB), Friday, 25 April 2014 16:06 (nine years ago) link
I think all of their '70s studio albums are good-to-great!
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Friday, 25 April 2014 16:06 (nine years ago) link
oh nice, never saw that chapman clip! yeah, i'm finding that all of the 70s steeleye span records are pretty solid, though there's certainly a bit of filler throughout. just an interesting/weird band -- the more pop stuff is actually really successful to my ears.
― tylerw, Friday, 25 April 2014 16:06 (nine years ago) link
i do remember enjoying the ridiculous guitar sound on parcel of rogues
― It's Pablum Time with (NickB), Friday, 25 April 2014 16:09 (nine years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_BXh6DL4lg
― It's Pablum Time with (NickB), Friday, 25 April 2014 16:10 (nine years ago) link
Love that ridiculous guitar -- so massive on "Alison Gross," e.g. Plus Rogues has "Cam Ye O'er Frae France," which is maybe my favorite Span song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL0A9bGQaZk
(Also has a fascinatin' backstory: http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2010/03/great-moments-in-pop-music-history-steeleye-span-cam-ye-oer-frae-france/.)
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Friday, 25 April 2014 16:19 (nine years ago) link
argh i read that url as steeleye-span-cum-oer-yr-face
― Khamma chameleon (Jon Lewis), Friday, 25 April 2014 16:20 (nine years ago) link
Ha.
I like or love everything through All Around My Hat, but I've never listened to Rocket Cottage. I should.
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Friday, 25 April 2014 16:20 (nine years ago) link
lolyeah the guitar! there are some heavy riffs. were steeleye heavier than sabbath? rocket cottage also brings in some funky wah action too.
― tylerw, Friday, 25 April 2014 16:21 (nine years ago) link
the albionic hard rock thing was kind of underused IMO. but then Songs from the Wood is one of my favorite records of its decade so what do i know.
― Khamma chameleon (Jon Lewis), Friday, 25 April 2014 16:23 (nine years ago) link
'King Henry' flattening me rn with its tick tocking menace
― Khamma chameleon (Jon Lewis), Friday, 25 April 2014 17:05 (nine years ago) link
commoner's crown and storm force ten are pretty sweet lps
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Friday, 25 April 2014 17:55 (nine years ago) link
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Friday, April 25, 2014 9:06 AM
agree w/this
― RSD-rolled (sleeve), Friday, 25 April 2014 18:16 (nine years ago) link
(xp) "Storm Force Ten" is a favourite of mine
― A frenzied geologist (Tom D.), Saturday, 26 April 2014 11:25 (nine years ago) link
I've been listening to Below to Hat lately. Some weird pop crossover bits sure. Parcel is a particular fav.
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Saturday, 26 April 2014 19:49 (nine years ago) link
I find a lot of that era of Steeleye Span a bit annoying and worryingly Jethro Tull-like (I mean after "Below the Salt" and before "Storm Force Ten")― TS: Mick Ralphs vs. Ariel Bender (Dada), Tuesday, April 18, 2006 9:27 AM
a little, yeah. all around my hat has some kind of corny pub-rock boogie on it (including the title track). but i still like it pretty well.
― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Tuesday, April 18, 2006 4:36 PM (thirteen years ago)
Ian Anderson has production credits on Now We Are Six and Prior's Woman In The Wings. I actually started my Steeleye journey recently with Now We Are Six for this reason (from reading the books in the recent Tull reissues). But my first Prior thing was Silly Sisters with June Tabor.
I'm loving Now We Are Six. Her Americanized singing voice on the last track is wonderful.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 1 November 2019 22:33 (four years ago) link
Track order varies a lot in different releases. Mos versions include a shorter "Thomas the Rhymer", including mine, I think.
"Seven Hundred Elves" is great but I think "Drink Down The Moon" is the best thing on it, very lovely.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 8 November 2019 17:37 (four years ago) link
Watched that BBC performance with the castle and Morris dancers. When she's singing by the fireplace without a microphone is that an overdub or is she projecting her voice that well. Always liked something Robyn Hitcock said about her voice sounding like it could be shot across the sky.
The part in "Drink Down The Moon" where she cries "I'M A BIRD and a very pretty bird" is so amazing.
Sung a bit differently here but still very goodhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugomHQ70F2w
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 29 March 2020 18:15 (four years ago) link
She's an amazing singer, who tends to get overlooked imo.
― Bridge Over Thorley Waters (Tom D.), Sunday, 29 March 2020 18:29 (four years ago) link
Bass playing on Steeleye records is so good. First Ashley Hutchings and then Rick Kemp, two great players.
― The Corbynite Maneuver (Tom D.), Friday, 1 May 2020 16:50 (three years ago) link
woooooow this is cool
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWK_zzrS1xw
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 19 February 2021 19:59 (three years ago) link
oh hell yeah! nice ...
― tylerw, Friday, 19 February 2021 20:43 (three years ago) link
Oh man, great stuff!
― The Goodies font (Maresn3st), Friday, 19 February 2021 21:12 (three years ago) link
what the hell is this show. I love it.
― tylerw, Friday, 19 February 2021 21:43 (three years ago) link
I have vague memories of shows similar to this in the mid/late 70s - I know this is 1970 - lots of kids shows looked exactly like the way this one does for instance, super nostalgic for me, in a weird way.
― The Goodies font (Maresn3st), Friday, 19 February 2021 22:12 (three years ago) link
it has some deep dreamlike qualities
― tylerw, Friday, 19 February 2021 22:16 (three years ago) link
yeah we're just kicking it with steeleye span in an apartment....brb let's take a quick break to show you how to make a dulcimer
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 19 February 2021 22:17 (three years ago) link
feel like I need a prestige drama tv series about the early music scene in england in the 1970s
― tylerw, Friday, 19 February 2021 22:28 (three years ago) link
Oh God yeah, catnip
― The Goodies font (Maresn3st), Friday, 19 February 2021 22:30 (three years ago) link
"it's like mad men — but with pan flutes!"
― tylerw, Friday, 19 February 2021 22:35 (three years ago) link
Detailed Vanity Fair article about how the costume dept uncovered a stash of uncut period corduroy in Hereford.
― The Goodies font (Maresn3st), Friday, 19 February 2021 22:39 (three years ago) link
You could make a miniseries just about Fairport Convention in 1969.
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 19 February 2021 22:49 (three years ago) link
would watch
― tylerw, Friday, 19 February 2021 22:55 (three years ago) link
nice to see martin carthy with his tele there. seem to remember steeleye were on british telly quite a lot when i was a kid, definitely the first folk band that i knew anything about, them and ralph mctell
― would a nit be nice? (NickB), Friday, 19 February 2021 23:25 (three years ago) link
Yes, I think they were on television more than most rock bands of the era - folk music than being considered of more cultural value than pop music no doubt.
― I'm Going to Bring a Watermelon to Mark Grout Tonight (Tom D.), Friday, 19 February 2021 23:57 (three years ago) link
One of their best albums imo.
― Renaissance of the Celtic Trumpet (Tom D.), Wednesday, 21 June 2023 15:44 (nine months ago) link
I was going to bring them up +on the Lankum thread recently. Another mainly trad based band who morph everything into a really idiosyncratic version of psychedelia. I'm still really interested in hearing bands that sound like those first 3 lps but do original material.Ashley Hutchings seems to bring a touch of something I'd think of as psychedelic to a lot of the work he's put out. I also really love the Albion Country Band's lp Battle of the Field for an inner glow that reminds me of kosmische stuff. Also worth seeing if you can get hold of early live stuff with Richard and Linda Thompson in the band an an unexpected cover of the Left Banke's Barterers and Their Wives.
Steeleye Span are worth hearing the next couple of lps by at least too. Below The Salt and Parcel of Rogues and possibly a few others. Not quite the same but still have something.I'd also check out Sweeney's Men, the Irish folk band that Terry Woods had been with.It seems that the version of the band featuring Henry McCullough on electric guitar were a major influence/imperative in Hutchings forming the band. Unfortunately there don't seem tio be any recordings of that lineup. The 2 lps they did put out are pretty great. 1st lp the s/t one is a 3 piece acoustic folk band, 2nd one drops a member and becomes more spacious. I love it. band broke up or morphed intoSteeleye Span but Woods and his wife didn't get along with the other couple in the band. Which does at least mean there is a classic s/t lp by The Woods Band
― Stevo, Wednesday, 21 June 2023 15:47 (nine months ago) link
"When I Was On Horseback" was the song that turned me on to Steeleye Span, it reminded me of the Velvet Underground and Popol Vuh...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAWz9SR5_dE
― Renaissance of the Celtic Trumpet (Tom D.), Wednesday, 21 June 2023 17:40 (nine months ago) link
Hills of Greenmore sounds incredibly ahead of its time, not too far off the more psych indie folk of the late 00s
― vexingvexillologist, Wednesday, 21 June 2023 18:37 (nine months ago) link
wow i think i'm going to get into this band now.
― budo jeru, Wednesday, 21 June 2023 20:29 (nine months ago) link
i think their first ten studio albums are varying degrees of good to great. they're so underappreciated.
― omar little, Wednesday, 21 June 2023 20:34 (nine months ago) link
I picked up a set called Hills of Greenmore in I think the late 90s which was a 2cd cheap label compilation which had the Hutchings era stuff in non chronological order. So great stuff but couldn't really tell what came from where, I didn't seem to come across the really early stuff much, then picked up the Lark In The morning set when it came out in the early 00ies which at least was in chronological order and had some kind of linernotes. I think there have been more recent multidisc sets of the early stuff, possibly 1st 5 lps together and a 2nd volume of similar length following it .
I'd definitely look into what Ashley Hutchings did on leaving the band cos the Albion stuff is great. No Roses with his recent wife Shirley Collins doing a rare electric setting set, Battle of The Field which is a more proggy take on traditional and traditional style music. PLus definitely the 1st 4 Fairport Convention sets and the BBC material . Hope those don't need to be mentioned really
― Stevo, Wednesday, 21 June 2023 22:45 (nine months ago) link
... first 5.
― Renaissance of the Celtic Trumpet (Tom D.), Wednesday, 21 June 2023 22:53 (nine months ago) link
My gateway into them was Zeni Geva's version of their version of When I Was On Horseback. On reflection I'd say Steeleye's version is superior, but has less grinding noise riffery.
― darts macabre (Matt #2), Wednesday, 21 June 2023 23:33 (nine months ago) link
digging into Hark! more...this is definitely up there with any Fairport, Thompson, Pentangle etc. just excellent.
also that whole electric UK folk thing....the records just sound so beautiful, like the apex of recording bands.
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 22 June 2023 18:13 (nine months ago) link
i wish i could go back in time and convince my teenage self to pay attention when i saw them open for procol harum in 1973. no recollection whatsoever. same deal when i (apparently) saw lindisfarne open for yes in 1972.
― Thus Sang Freud, Thursday, 22 June 2023 18:39 (nine months ago) link
oh wow that would have been amazing
with all this stuff i just love the guitars, those twisty serpentine parts derived from folk modal scales, that stinging fender tone
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 22 June 2023 18:44 (nine months ago) link
also the super dead, woody drum and bass sounds
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 22 June 2023 18:45 (nine months ago) link
from hark to parcel it's all stellar stuff, then it starts getting just a bit iffy for me. along with hark the next two albums featuring martin carthy are def my faves. the prior/hart summer solstice lp is well worth checking out too!
― no lime tangier, Friday, 23 June 2023 09:31 (nine months ago) link
I think those Pentangle records are about my favorite sounding records ever. That rhythm section!
All I have of Steeleye is Parcel of Rogues, which I like fine, but felt like it leaned too much in the rock direction. I need to check out the earlier stuff.3
― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Friday, 23 June 2023 12:23 (nine months ago) link
I think the thing I heard earliest was All Around My Hat which I think was a hit or certainly got a lot of airplay in the mid 70s. & first thing I bought I think was Now We Are Six though can't quite remember at which point. I did note the AA Milne nod in the title.I was being driven around to morris dances in my pre teens so may tie in with that.
But discovered the really early stuff in the wake of knowing the Fairport Convention stuff that Hutchings is on, those first 4 lps after which he left on the same day as Sandy Denny. Do wish there was more unofficial material from that era, could do with a couple more live sets.The book the Guv'nor was pretty good but it has been a while since I read it and I think it may not have been reprinted since Helter Skelter books closed.
― Stevo, Friday, 23 June 2023 13:00 (nine months ago) link
Can I just put in a good word for the Maddy Prior/June Tabor album 'Silly Sisters'? Amazing folk album, their voices sound incredible together
― rincton monkspoon (NickB), Friday, 23 June 2023 13:14 (nine months ago) link
Alan Partridge is a fan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCBV-VrfxV4
― Renaissance of the Celtic Trumpet (Tom D.), Friday, 23 June 2023 13:15 (nine months ago) link
i think i have to admit that the cover art of basically every record is a factor in me avoiding them for so long
― budo jeru, Friday, 23 June 2023 18:42 (nine months ago) link