Steeleye Span

yeah it's a bbc thing! totally fun, devolves into a rambunctious morris dance party. well, not that rambunctious, but still.

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.

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)

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.

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?

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

SEVEN HUNDRED ELVES COME OUT DA WOOD

3 2 (pegrum & kemp) xp

I think all of their '70s studio albums are good-to-great!

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.

i do remember enjoying the ridiculous guitar sound on parcel of rogues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_BXh6DL4lg

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/.)

argh i read that url as steeleye-span-cum-oer-yr-face

Ha.

I like or love everything through All Around My Hat, but I've never listened to Rocket Cottage. I should.

lol
yeah the guitar! there are some heavy riffs. were steeleye heavier than sabbath?
rocket cottage also brings in some funky wah action too.

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.

'King Henry' flattening me rn with its tick tocking menace

commoner's crown and storm force ten are pretty sweet lps

I think all of their '70s studio albums are good-to-great!

― christmas candy bar (al leong), Friday, April 25, 2014 9:06 AM

agree w/this

(xp) "Storm Force Ten" is a favourite of mine

I've been listening to Below to Hat lately. Some weird pop crossover bits sure. Parcel is a particular fav.

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.

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.

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 good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugomHQ70F2w

She's an amazing singer, who tends to get overlooked imo.

Bass playing on Steeleye records is so good. First Ashley Hutchings and then Rick Kemp, two great players.

woooooow this is cool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWK_zzrS1xw

oh hell yeah! nice ...

Oh man, great stuff!

what the hell is this show. I love it.

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.

it has some deep dreamlike qualities

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

feel like I need a prestige drama tv series about the early music scene in england in the 1970s

Oh God yeah, catnip

"it's like mad men — but with pan flutes!"

Detailed Vanity Fair article about how the costume dept uncovered a stash of uncut period corduroy in Hereford.

You could make a miniseries just about Fairport Convention in 1969.

would watch

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

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.

All Around My Hat was one of those slight outlier records I remember in my Dad's collection and was common to quite a few of my mate's parents' collections, like The Best Of Bread and that Janis Ian one that everyone seemed to have.

Great video. I've seen a snippet of it before, the "Lark in the Morning" clip has been on YouTube. But I didn't know what it was from.

Magnificent video. I'd happily watch a miniseries just about Tim Hart's hair.

were hart and prior ever a romantic couple? there was this intense rivalry between them and terry and gay woods in the first lineup and i never quite get what was going on there except the obvious "we are a pair and we advocate for our position in the group" but both of the woods made it sound like hart really did some toxic shit against them but i never heard specifics. i like the original lineup best because of the blend of female voices but obv. getting martin carthy in the fold was a huge coup. the post hutchings lineups have their fair share of good songs but it never was as good when he left.

people talk about dylan going electric but carthy plugging in is so fuckin bizarre i can hardly even. i guess swarb joining fairport showed him you could go there and not lose your artistry

His electric guitar playing was fucking great.

And I'm guessing he probably hasn't touched an electric guitar since!

yeah i'm a big fan but how much pre and post steeleye did he play electric? i mostly know brass monkey and his duo stuff with swarb, i don't recall any electric guitar

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.

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.

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.

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

also the super dead, woody drum and bass sounds

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!

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

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.

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

Alan Partridge is a fan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCBV-VrfxV4

i think i have to admit that the cover art of basically every record is a factor in me avoiding them for so long