Search - Steeleye Span :: Present: The Very Best of Steeleye Span

The best gift any band has ever given their fans

BGFN8 | Massapequa, NY USA | 05/23/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Don't let the tracklist fool you. Despite the familiar song titles (not to mention the title of the album), these are all new recording of Steeleye Span classics as chosen by those who know best: the fans. In 2001, Steeleye Span were in shambles. After the excellent Bedlam Born, three of the four members of that lineup (guitarist/vocalist Bob Johnson, vocalist Gay Woods, and bassist Tim Harries) called it quits from the band, leaving violinist Peter Knight hanging. Knight took it upon himself to rebuild his band by getting together a "classic" lineup of the band together. Reading this bit of news on Peter Knight's website was a dream come true for Steeleye fans. Maddy Prior, the voice of Steeleye Span came back after leaving in 1997, along with her bass-playing hubby Rick Kemp, guitarist/vocalist Bob Johnson was coaxed back to the fold (thus including four of the classic six lineup), along with drummer Liam Genockey, who replaced Nigel Pegrum after 1989's excellent Tempted and Tried. After two albums without Maddy Prior, to see this many members of their heyday rejoin the band excited many Spanners the world over.



Their first order of business, they decided, was to record an album of reworked versions of their classic songs with the new lineup. But what songs should they record? To answer this question, they turned to the people whose opinions matter most of all, their fans. Included on Peter Knight's website was a link to a poll where one could vote on three songs for possible inclusion this new album. All three of my choices made the final cut, and looking at the tracklist, this is sure to please any Steeleye Span fan.



Everybody is in top form on here. Maddy's singing is as great as ever, it's as if her time away had never existed. Rick Kemp's bass playing is excellent, stunning in spots, Bob Johnson's guitar absolutely wails throughout, Peter Knight, as always, is in top shape with his new "octave" violin adding new depth and demention to classic songs, and Liam Genockey's drumming is great as well. The band shines on here, both individually and collectively (no pun intended).



Most of the songs sport arrangements which remain faithful to the original recordings, such as "Sir James the Rose," "Black Jack Davy," "Long Lankin," and the two obvious inclusions "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat," but all contain an element of freshness throughout. Others, namely "Hard Times of Old England" and "When I Was On Horseback" have been given completely new makeovers, the former being slowed down to a slow-tempo ballad, which suits the nature of the song's lyrics better than the original. "Horseback" is transformed into a driving, mid-tempo rocker, driven by Peter's "octave" violin. Both are excellent new versions. Rick Kemp handles the lead vocals on "John Barleycorn," and does great justice to Tim Hart's version on Below The Salt. "Gaudete" proves that they can still sing together acapella as well as ever, as does another track, which will be discussed further on. "Cam Ye" and "Misty Moisty Morning" both feature extended endings with Peter really, pardon my french, kicking @$$ and making the listener want to get up and dance. This new version of "Let Her Go Down" sports the lyrics which Peter had originally intended to use when he first wrote the song. "Blackleg Miner" sounds more like the version on Back In Line than Hark! The Village Wait, featuring some great slap bass from Rick, eerie violin playing from Peter, and great guitar work from Bob, topped off with a powerful performance from Maddy. "King Henry" closes off the album with a bang, and though it doesn't surpass the original version of the song (nothing ever will), it is easily one of the album's finest moments. Some 17 minutes into this track, after long silence, Maddy comes in singing an unaccompanied "Rosebud In June," ending the album wonderfully.



Looking at the tracklist, one will notice an unfamiliar song title among classics known to all Spanners. This song, "Lyke Wake Dirge," was performed live by the band during their heyday, but was never recorded until now. The song's subject matter deals with death and purgatory, and was usually sung over the remains of the dead. It is sung acapella, and is dark, eerie, and spooky, which is the Steeleye Span that I like best. It rekindles the magic of Steeleye's heyday, and it would fit perfectly on any of their seventies albums (imagine if it had been tacked onto the end of Below The Salt? That would have been great). It is easily the best song the band has recorded in many, many years, and is more than a worthy inclusion on this album. Stunning, absolutely stunning.



All that said, this is the best gift any band has given to their fans. Imagine if the members of Pink Floyd had continued to work together after Live 8, recording a new album and later releasing a stunning live album and DVD of the tour to support it. This is the Steeleye Span fan's equivalent of that. Spanners held out hope that Maddy Prior would someday return, and not only did that happen, but all of our wildest Steeleye Span dreams came true in the form of this record. Sadly, Bob Johnson's health forced him to retire after completing this record, but his replacement, Ken Nicol, is a fine singer and excellent guitarist, proof of which exists on the subsequent They Called Her Babylon (March 2004), the essential-for-Christmas album Winter (November 2004), and the newly released Folk Rock Pioneers In Concert (May 2006).



There are many Steeleye Span compilations out there; none completely do them justice, and only one or two come close. Were this a compilation of classic recordings, this would easily be the best Steeleye hits-collection ever. This collection is not for the Steeleye Span virgin, it is for longtime fans like myself (I have been a fan since infancy, and they remain my favorite to this day). If you are a Steeleye Span fan, you MUST own this CD. Do not worry about the price; it is expensive, yes, but the music contained within is worth its weight in gold. It is a fulfilling of the fantasy had by every Spanner at the turn of the 21st century, satisfying our hunger beyond our wildest dreams. This album marked a rebirth for Steeleye Span, and the same lineup (with Ken Nicol taking the place of Bob Johnson) is still out there now and thriving. May they continue to please us until the end of time"

Not Just A Greatest Hit's Collection!

Miko Davis | Seattle, WA United States | 05/13/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"
With all of the reviews for other studio cds they've released in the last 10-15 years, many of them bemoaning what Steeleye Span has become, how they've lost the spark, etc., I'm very surprised that there is but one 2-3 line customer review of this particular cd. I wonder, are some fans overlooking this because they assume it's yet another repackaging of previously released music? Well, just in case it wasn't clear, *all* of the songs on this 2-disc set are brand-new studio recordings.



Steeleye Span has gone back to all of their favorite songs, and produced new versions of them. Yes, they aren't quite the performers that they were in the early 1970's -- but how could any true Steeleye Span fan resist hearing new, different versions of some of the best songs they've ever done? Hearing a newer version of King Henry is worth the price of admission all on it's own in my book. This is one of my all-time favorite Steeleye songs, but let's face it, the (electric) music of their early releases such as Below the Salt tends to sound very, very dated.



It would be hard to say that very many (if any) of these versions are superior to the originals -- although in one or two cases I'm convinced that they are -- but who really cares? If you love the originals, then can you really resist two cds of newly recorded versions of these songs? You still get some of the best Steeleye Span songs performed by the same musicians that originally recorded them. That they sometimes show their age does not take away from the old Steeleye Span magic; after all they're intimately familiar with these tunes. In addition, as I mentioned earlier, modern recordings have a few inherent advantages in sound quality over their 1970's recordings.



In any case, those old-school Span fans who have not been happy with their modern recordings ought to pick this up. Even if the performances aren't quite what they might have once been, the material is certainly top-notch.

"

This is a very

Miko Davis | 02/15/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"good CD. These are new versions of old recordings, and, of course, have a different sound, but Steeleye Span fans will not be disappointed. Pricey, but good."