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STEELEYE SPAN |
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A new Steeleye CD is always an event and this one is a MAJOR event. The ole’ folk-rock dinosaurs have hit vintage form in a big way. This is a collection of 11 traditional songs (plus a hidden track) sung and played by a Steeleye at the top of its game. Maddy, Peter Knight and Rick Kemp represent Steeleye’s Mark 1, 2 and 3. Liam Genockey (drums) joined in 1989 and Ken Nicol (guitar) in 2002 – so this Steeleye is a bit like Johnny Cash’s One Piece at a Time Cadillac! Joking aside – this CD has some really well-known songs (Locks and Bolts, Creeping Jane, Our Captain Cried all Hands) and some lesser-known (The Machiner’s Song and an unusual version of Ranzo). As you’d expect, Maddy Prior sounds like she has always done … and several decades younger than she obviously is. One semiquaver into a song and you know that you’re listening to that magnificent voice. This CD is a crunchy, buoyant, melodic joy from start to finish. If you want my stand-out track, however, it’s the one I was most nervous about … Creeping Jane. I’ve known and loved this from the singing of Martin Carthy and then Martin Simpson as a beautifully irregular song about a dead racehorse! How would it survive Steeleyfying? It’s very odd, but they’ve given it the full All Around My Hat treatment, complete with a rumpy-tumpy Womblebeat and it simply works. The rollicking rhythm conjures up a horse race and brings a smile to the face. I love it, especially the bit at the end when Ken Nicol cuts loose and has some fun on his guitar (sounds like a Telecaster, but I think it’s a Strat … what a geek I am!) In fact, I’d go as far as to say that this is the best studio Steeleye CD since Storm Force Ten. That is a real compliment, as the Steeleye albums up to and including that one are all in my “Desert Island Discs” list. Alan Murray |
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