The biggest selling of all Steeleye Span albums is also their hardest rocking record.
They sound like would-be competitors to the Who on the opening bars of "The Wife of Usher's Well," with Bob Johnson's electric guitar grinding out power chords like nobody's business.
The vocals have their usual elegance, the harmonies soaring exquisitely, but between the choruses the guitar puts out lots of wattage.
The guitar competes with Maddy Prior's voice for dominance on tracks like "Hard Times of Old England," "Bachelor's Hall," and "Dance with Me." There's some more traditional-sounding material here, including the lovely "Cadgwith Anthem" and "Gamble Gold (Robin Hood)," where the group returns to acoustic instruments.
A single of the upbeat title track also made the charts in England, and the overall sound was the work of producer Mike Batt, who gave the band a raw, stripped-down style, with only the smallest touching up and the very lightest of overdubbed strings.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Black Jack DaveyTraditional | Steeleye Span | Play | 04:19 | 9 MB | 24 MB |
| 2 | Hard Times of Old EnglandTraditional | Steeleye Span | Play | 05:14 | 12 MB | 31 MB |
| 3 | Cadgwith AnthemTraditional | Steeleye Span | Play | 02:47 | 6 MB | 14 MB |
| 4 | All Around My HatTim Hart, Rick Kemp, Peter Knight, Maddy Prior | Steeleye Span | Play | 04:10 | 9 MB | 25 MB |
| 5 | Gamble Gold (Robin Hood)Traditional | Steeleye Span | Play | 03:42 | 8 MB | 22 MB |
| 6 | The Wife of Usher's WellTraditional | Steeleye Span | Play | 04:34 | 10 MB | 27 MB |
| 7 | Sum WavesTraditional | Steeleye Span | Play | 03:59 | 9 MB | 25 MB |
| 8 | Dance with MeTraditional | Steeleye Span | Play | 03:54 | 8 MB | 24 MB |
| 9 | Batchelors Hall | Steeleye Span | Play | 05:46 | 13 MB | 32 MB |
| 38 mins | 88 MB | |||||
| 38 mins | 229 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mike Batt | Producer |
| 2 | Geoff Emerick | Engineer |
| 3 | Tim Hart | Composer, Dulcimer, Guitar, Vocals |
| 4 | Bob Johnson | Arranger, Guitar, Vocals |
| 5 | Rick Kemp | Bass, Composer, Vocals |
| 6 | Peter Knight | Composer |
| 7 | Peter Knight | Arranger, Keyboards, Violin, Vocals |
| 8 | Nigel Pegrum | Drums, Flute |
| 9 | Prior | Arranger |
| 10 | Maddy Prior | Composer, Vocals |
| 11 | Mike Stavrou | Engineer |
| 12 | Steeleye Span | Primary Artist |
| 13 | John Tobler | Liner Notes |
| 14 | Traditional | Composer |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |