Steeleye Span
With the exception of Fairport
Convention, Steeleye Span were the most successful and
enduring British folk-rock band.
The parallels between the two bands are numerous: both updated
traditional British folk material with rock arrangements, both
featured an excellent female lead singer (Sandy Denny for
Fairport, Maddy Prior for Steeleye Span), both frequently employed
multi-part harmonies, and both mixed original and traditional
songs.
Although Fairport were more innovative in their early days,
Steeleye Span were arguably the more interesting band after 1970,
when personnel changes had gutted the original Fairport line-up.
Steeleye Span, too, would undergo numerous personnel changes even
at their peak. Prior was the constant factor that gave the group
something of a recognisable identity at all phases of their
journey.
One thing that differentiated Steeleye Span from their
counterparts was that Fairport came to traditional folk from
a rock background, whereas Steeleye Span travelled in the opposite
direction. The original line-up, formed around the beginning of
1970, included guitarist Terry Wood, who had been in a traditional
Irish folk group called Sweeney's Men (with Andy Irvine). The
supple-voiced Prior had been in a folk duo with guitarist Tim
Hart.
The impetus for Steeleye Span's formation, ironically, came
from ex-Fairport Convention bassist Ashley Hutchings. Hutchings
wanted to keep pursuing the traditional folk direction ploughed by
Fairport on the 1969 album Liege and Lief, and left
Fairport to joined forces with Prior, Hart, Terry Woods, and Gay
Woods (Terry's wife) to anchor the first incarnation of Steeleye
Span.
This line-up only lasted for one album (Hark The Village
Wait) with the Woods' leaving for Dr
Strangely Strange (Terry Woods would eventually resurface with
The Pogues in the 1980s). He was replaced
by Martin Carthy - one of the most respected guitarists on
the English folk circuit, and the person who had first
suggested the name "Steeleye Span".
While Steeleye Span played folk music, they had no aversion to
playing it loud, and this version of the band proved that it was
possible to create an energetic ruckus without a drummer - as
evidenced on their second album, Please To See The King.
The next LP, Ten Man Mop or Mr. Reservoir Butler
Rides Again was disappointing in comparison. It perfectly
demonstrated the theory that the more the attention you pay to the
packaging, the less stimulating the contents inside are likely to
be anyway, the strains of the line-up were beginning to tell.
Both Hutchings and Carthy - by far the most famous members of
the group - left around the end of 1971.This sort of defection
would have crippled most acts. Yet Steeleye Span not only
persevered, but entered their most commercially successful
phase.
Bob Johnson was induced to forsake a lucrative accountancy
career to join as lead guitarist. Johnson had worked years earlier
with people like P J Proby and Paul
Raven - later to become (in)famous as Gary
Glitter.
Tim Hart was once quoted as saying that the group wanted to
"put traditional music back into current musical language and
to make folk music less esoteric." They were aided in doing
so by new bassist Rick Kemp, who became Maddy Prior's husband.
These changes were significant - Johnson and Kemp became the
first members of the band to have had regular training as rock
musicians, and by the time they put together the fourth
album, Below The Salt (1972), it was already evident
that bigger things were beginning to happen. In 1973, they
finally added drums to the band, becoming a true folk-rock act
after years of ramping up. Now We Are Six, the title
of their next album, referred to the addition of drummer Nigel
Pegrum, and the fact that it was their sixth album.
One asset to Steeleye Span's unusual durability (in the face of
the revolving door of players) was their open-minded approach to
contemporary influences. They covered oldies by Buddy
Holly, The Four Seasons, and Phil
Spector - and they did it well.
David Bowie and Peter Sellers made
cameo appearances on their albums in the mid-70s. They
occasionally acted in plays (in which they also musically
performed as a group). They covered Brecht-Weill songs. Some of
their work was produced by Mike Batt, whose primary previous
credentials was as the mastermind of the Wombles . . .
Steeleye Span finally had a British chart hit in 1974 with the
Christmas song Gaudette. In 1975, they had a huge (by
folk-rock standards) smash with All Around My Hat, which
reached the UK Top Five. In the US they were consigned to cult
status - like Fairport Convention. They picked up some airplay on
open-minded FM stations, but got their widest Stateside exposure
as an opening act during a Jethro Tull
tour.
The onslaught of punk and new
wave weakened any prospects for continued chart success at
home. In 1977, they took on more traditional elements with the
return of Martin Carthy, and the addition of John Kirkpatrick on
accordion, but they finally split the following year. Not for
good, however.
In a final parallel with Fairport Convention, they decided to
periodically reunite while pursuing their own projects. Other
studio albums appeared, and the group sometimes performed at
festivals or even toured, though with enough irregularity to make
it confusing to determine whether they were "together"
again.
A devoted following makes it possible for them to be received
warmly by cult audiences whenever the mood suits them to play live
again. Carthy has enjoyed the most notable solo career of the
Steeleye Span alumni, continuing to command great respect among
British folk listeners. Maddy Prior's most notable outside endeavour
has been her duo recordings with fellow British folk singer June
Tabor.
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