TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

Please use this thread for your chatter

any news of a replacement for Ken yet Barry

Should the replacement be from a predominately ‘folk’ or ‘rock’ background??
Should they be a ‘singer songwriter’ ala Ken?
Or given the last album should they be mainly supporting the Peter/Maddy trad-arr approach? Or will the band change direction again?

Questions Questions!


Love it though. 2 new tours and hopefully a new album next Autumn.


Also is Rick going to quit as he (more than) hinted at last year??

So, who should replace Rick as well?!!  

As you may have seen elsewhere I have been going through a pile of old ITs, Frendz etc...all great fun.  Amongst the collection I came across a mag called FAPTO which appears to be from the hippie metropolis of Margate.  Issue 4 includes an interview (of sorts) with Steeleye around the release of Ten Man Mop, or Mr. Reservoir Butler Rides Again .  Its a complete joke the interview..lots of swearing and nothing attributed to anybody in particular and the interviewers admit their tape recorder didn't work properly so they 'remembered' most of it.

If you want a flavour of it, here's the introduction (try not to wince):

Steeleye Span - four really happy guys and one happy chick who sits and embroiders or darns socks or something.  Even though Steeleye have taken to electrifying their equipment and moving from the smaller folk clubs to appear before a wider audience, we still found them to be completely down to earth folkies.

 ;D ;D

I know that it is okay for me to say that a replacement hasn't been found as yet, because Peter mentioned it recently on his Facebook page :)

As soon as there is any news of any description that is ready to be made public, it will certainly appear on Peter's website without delay. I'll make sure of that, as I upload the news and info  :D

Peter says 'Patience, Grasshoppers' ;)

I know I repeat myself but once again here I go ------- for one night only anywhere in North West England bring back Bob Johnson & Tim Harries please so that I can wallow in nostalgia ::)!!!

and play 'Staring Robin'  :D

If anyone has not heard it, its 'Heavy Metal Folk'  ;D

and play Lady Diamond,Edward & Sir James the Rose :) :) :)

I read a rather more realistic interview with Peter once in Beat Instrumental. I can't remember much of it, but two things I do remember. Peter lost his fiddle off the back of his motorbike on the way to the interview, and they once dressed as rockers for a Steeleye encore, and the bouncers wouldn't let Peter on the stage, because they thought he was a real rocker trying to storm the stage.

Paul

Following an unexpected house move, I've been clearing out some of the stuff hoarded at my Mum's house to make room for mine. I've just discovered the poster and programme from the very first time I saw Steeleye. Fairfield Halls 1974; support Richard Digance. I remember being very excited .... the band opening with 'The Ups and Downs' and the performance of the mummer's play. Happy days!

 :) :) [;-)

Here's hoping for a rock based guitarist who can sing and write.  Much as I admire Maddy, on the last album, "Cogs", Steeleye Span was just a very good backing band to her.  Less variety than any previous one and more folk-pop than folk-rock.  A good album, but wouldn't Messrs Johnson and Harries be useful about now?!

Sorry - maybe I'm living in the past - but I was listening to some of the old stuff this week.

Very much agree, bring back Bob Johnson & Tim Harries !! :) Its quite nice living in the past you know !! ::)

Thanks for that Kate!  Glad someone agreed.  Now I know why it's called "talkawhile" - it's a while until anyone talks!
Bought a copy of the five CDs in one "A Parcel of Steeleye Span" - the first 5 Chrysalis Albums the other day.  Very good it is too.  Older, flkier and rockier.  All the qualities that have been missing for a spell.
A great shame that thee are no videos available from that time.  I would dearly love a video of "The Journey" - there must be one!  Maybe now is the time for another concert like that one, before they all get too old.  Maybe in memory of Tim Hart?  They would have to video that one!

I'd be surprised. We were practically strip-searched by security for illegal sandwiches going in to that, let alone cameras.

I had sort of assumed that there was an official filming of the evening.  Wasn't the recently released video of Tim HArt singing John Barleycorn from that evening?

Blimey!  We weren't subjected to any security checks at that event!  
Perhaps it's just that I just look so angelic........   ;)

It was filmed but apparantly the quality not good enough for a release.

I can't believe I just found this - a video of the title track of the second Tim Hart children's album "Drunken Sailor" - now part of the 2 CD set, of course:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzFwZQth4Z0

With its very 80s electro / disco / funky beat as opposed to the folk rock of the other tracks...

Wonderful.  Thanks Michael.

Three from Ainsdale Beach (at least one has been posted here before, I think)

The Lark In The Morning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLdVzL6_Vzc&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Dowd's Favourite
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oJkpBI7Vco&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Female Drummer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz93oGirS4k&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

As a man of leisure I get to watch some daytime TV and on "Homes Under The Hammer" on BBC1 today they played a bit of "Happy Families" by Maddy and Rick as one of their usual pieces of rather 'literal' background music

My review of the Tim Hart & Friends nursery rhyme CD is now up at http://thurly.net/0k74

Cracking review Michael. I gave a copy of this CD to my great nephew for Christmas, in hopes that he and his older sister will appreciate good music from their earliest years.  ;D  I also have a copy of my own - in anticipation of grandchildren one day.  ::)

For any of you in the area. From Peter Knight's facebook page.

"Peter will be busking in Plymouth City Centre with Richard Digance as part of Richard's 24 Hour Fundraising event 'Folk Relief', to be broadcast on BBC Radio Devon. The event commences at 2.00pm on Friday the 18th of February. Exact time and location will be posted in due course. Peter will also be spending an hour in the studio along... with lots of other folk faves."

http://www.folkrelief.co.uk/

I just found this on you tube while looking at old celtic photos on another site
checkout the theme tune , who wrote it,who sang it and her dad wrote the show
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dncuAchKAp4&feature=player_embedded

and for those desperate to buy it  :-X then its on 'Steeleye - a rare collection'

Is there any word on a new album to promote on the forthcoming tour?

As I understand it there will not be a new album this time around.

From the horse's mouth (sorry, Peter!):

My main objectives are (hopefully) a new solo album for release next year, new material for Steeleye as we have plans to record a new studio album, again next year, and of course some new material to take into Gigspanner.
(Peter Knight's August 2011 newsletter)

Good to see Gay treading the boards again (in the company of Dr Strangely Strange et al...Tim from DSS suggests they may do something as she was (briefly) in the band prior to Steeleye)

Looks like a lovely little festy...

http://spiritoffolk.com/

Here's a video from the rare Steeleye "25 Live" VHS, filmed in 1994:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiZJ4_2YTbg

Gentleman Soldier leading into Fighting For Strangers.

I lost track of Steeleye Span around the time of Rocket Cottage and finally caught up again when Time came out in 1996. Saw them that same year here at the Carnegie Lecture Hall in Pittsburgh for a wonderful show with Gay & Maddy in top form but haven't heard anything since. Any suggestions for what post-'96 albums or concert releases are worth checking out? I did grab the Chrysalis reissues: a Parcel of & Another Parcel of... love them!

Of the recent albums, my favourite is "Bloody Men". The opening track is probably the best version of "Bonny Black Hare" ever.

Thanks for that Andy! I'll have to give it a listen. I've also heard mixed reviews of They Called Her Babylon. I've been wanting to give it a listen, along with the recent live discs. I saw that they re-recorded a bunch of the tracks as selected by the fans. I probably should check that out as well..

I'm rather partial to Cogs, Wheels & Lovers.  Back to Trad. arr roots for the 40th anniversary album.

Ordered it today on Amazon. Any suggestions for the live stuff?

Of the later live albums, I'd definitely recommend "Folk Rock Pioneers In Concert" (2006) over "Live From A Distance" (2009).  The performances on the latter generally lacked something to my ears, sounded a bit tired too often.  Not so "Folk Rock Pioneers..."

Thanks mate! I have Live At Last and Tonight's the Night...Live, both of which I enjoy but I have really wanted to hear some good, recent live recordings. I appreciate your recommendation and must score a copy. I was hoping there was some live material from the Time tour released as they sounded great... Oh well. Hope all is well down under.

I must say that 'They Call Her Babylon' is a favourite of mine.

Useless fact of the day:

Been messing around with my ipod and set up a playlist with every 'distinct' Steeleye recorded song. (no live tracks unless they don't appear on an album, excludes bootleg recordings unless a BBC session). Also, using some software, had to split 'bonus' tracks from their attached track as that really annoys me.  Only has tracks widely available (apart from one track ;) ) and the total number is....

247 tracks.

A guess: is the track 'not widely available' Golden Vanity?

Golden Vanity is on there. There are of course the ones that appear on the 'Parcel' collections as well.
I then just took the ones from live albums that don't appear anywhere - there are quite a few!. But as well as that I also got an audio version of the 25th Anniv. concert which meant I could put on the band doing Peters tracks - Picnic and E Flat English.
All the other 'rare' ones are from various BBC sessions (the ones that are of good quality) that have appeared here and there (and top quality bootlegs). My personal favourite is a perfect copy of the band doing 'Hello Mary Lou' as well as 'The three drunken maidens' - although the latter also appeared on another folk collection.


Unfortunately we are of course still waiting for the real 'gems' to appear that are probably hidden away in the collections of Peter/Maddy etc! Park records must have more up their sleeves! Staring Robin and Stuttering Lovers (both during 'Bedlam Born' sessions) spring to mind as studio outtakes that I'm sure we all love to hear someday!!

One day, one day!

I hope!  :P

Just caught old clip of Steeleye signing Gaudete as part of Britain's Favourite Christmas Songs on Channel 5, Christmas Day, 22:00, position 41 in the countdown, included short comments from Rick, Maddy and Peter and fairly recent clip of concert with Julian and Pete Zorn. Doesn't appear to be on Demand 5 though.

Christmas Countdown seems to be scheduled to be repeated on Channel 5, today Mon 26th Dec at 19:05

Thanks peascod, will record it so that I can skip through the dross ;)

Christmas Countdown scheduled to be repeated on 5* channel, Thursday 29th Dec at 21:00. it appears around about 1 hour in and position 41. The clip may well be from Electric Folk, Thoresby Hall, Nottingham, 1974

It is the opening scenes of the Electric Folk Thoresby Hall episode - miming obviously.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-Aidktqlc8

newly uploaded.

Nice find, but not, sadly, their finest, er, 6:34....

Somewhere in London had me cowering behind the sofa.

it was particulary horrible wasnt it

Fairly typical of the programme and the era generally in music sadly.

Just gone up: a rare video of Steeleye on Australian TV in 2004.  It starts with a basic interview with "Mandy" and Peter, followed by The King (a capella).  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtvMiRw3IAo

Ah, so that is what went on behind the closed door  :)

I was sat in an ante room whilst that was being recorded, so it is interesting to see that after all these years.

I enjoyed the visit to the ABC studio in Sydney though, and the State Theatre was stunning.

Ralph McTell was on that tour too. Some great memories have come flooding back!

There was another Australian tour for their 40th anniversary too, so I have my fingers crossed for one on their 45th!

Thanks for that  :)

thanks indeed but whatever you do dont click on the link for Renaissance doing widdecombe fair, ill advised is me being polite ,its horrible

???
I've always liked their take on the song. Yeah, the video is unwatchable but the song's good!

Great questions from the host!! Really insightful and hard hitting...... ;)   I thought Mandy held it all together well, though.

Only an excerpt, but rare!  :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDRTdX1hwUc

My review of "Now We Are Six Again" has finally gone up online: http://sleepinghedgehog.com/music/steeleye-span-now-we-are-six-again/

I was just looking for something totally unrelated on Spotify, and came across the expanded editions of Pleased to See the King and Ten Man Mop, complete with a load of radio sessions from that era. I don't remember their release being announced, but there's some excellent stuff on them, including things that were never otherwise recorded by the band (shanties and tunes, mainly). The quality is pretty poor, but excellent to hear nonetheless. When were they released?

According to Amazon, that edition of Please to See was released by Sanctuary in 2008, and of TMM by Castle in 2006.  Neither is still in print, it seems.  People are advertising copies of the latter from about £15, but of the former the only listing is for £244 (+ p&p) from Japan!

Blimey!  :o Downloadable from iTunes at £11.99 each, or 99p per track.

Are you telling me you wouldn't pay £230 to have the CD insert, with all the no doubt invaluable information it contains?  :o You cheapskate ;D

Anyone coming to their gig at Newark Palace theatre tonight . ? Come say hello if you are . Delfini ,Cp'tn Pugwash ,Amethyst ,Mave the Rave ,Pastiegirl and Pastieboy are going (to name a few).

See you there!!

Or in other words my two adopted sisters ,brother in law ,Mother ,bit on the side and myself . Tee hee .

Don't forget the flapjacks bruv!

anyone know the playlist from yesterday?
cheers

Started off with -- 700 Elves , Thomas the Rhymer , Drink down the Moon ,then ?(in no particular order ) Creeping Jane ,Two Magicians,Betsy Bell ,Bonny black hare ,Mooncoin jig ,To know him is to love him ,cold haily windy night , two constant lovers ,Gaudete ,All around my Hat .
I think I missed one or two here.  Heeeelp someone . ?

Can't remember.. But a great night...  (apart from the first bit...)

700 Elves
Drink Down the Moon/Cuckoo's Nest
Thomas the Rhymer
Mooncoin Jig
Two Magicians
Betsy Bell and Mary Grey
To Know Him is to Love Him
Two Constant Lovers
Edward
Creeping Jane
Cold Haily Windy Night
Bonny Black Hare

ENCORES
All Around My Hat
Gaudete

I think that's everything - and they were absolutely marvellous, both at Newark on Saturday, and Moseley on Sunday - Totally worth 500 miles of driving (about 8 hours and I'm refusing to work out how much petrol!!! ;))

Good to meet you there Vikki!

Yes --Nice to have met you Vikki .

:)
It was good to meet all of you too :) Nice to put faces to names so to speak ;)

People who have chosen Steeleye Span songs on Desert Island Discs!

Rick Stein

Broadcast | 01 Aug 1999

TV chef, Restaurateur, Cookery writer

Music | Steeleye Span - 'Padstow’ May Day Song

Iain Banks


Broadcast | 24 Aug 1997

Novelist

Music | Steeleye Span - Hares on the Mountain

Terry Pratchett

Broadcast | 09 Feb 1997

Fantasy fiction writer

Music | Steeleye Span - Thomas The Rhymer


Thomas Keneally

Broadcast | 26 Nov 1983

Novelist, Booker Prize winner

Music | Steeleye Span - The Boar's Head Carol

Brian Glover

Broadcast | 18 Oct 1980

Actor, Playwright, Wrestler

Music | Maddy Prior & Steeleye Span - The Lark In The Morning

David Edgar

Broadcast | 30 Jul 2006

Playwright

Music | Steeleye Span - The Gower Wassail

PLUS - Look who picked 2 Maddy Prior tracks!

Allan Prior

Broadcast | 13 Jan 1979

Novelist, Scriptwriter

Music | Maddy Prior - Canals (Just The Two Of Us)

Music | Maddy Prior - Never Been Kissed In The Same Place Twice (I don't remember seeing this one before - I must listen to the brioadcast!)

I seem to remember someone (I think it was Andy Hamilton) choosing the Padstow May Song some years ago.

I wonder which books Maddy would choose!

No that wasn't one of his choices! Only Rick Stein has chosen Padstow (of course)  :)

Hiya,

I really want to read The Interrogators. Sounds just like my sort of thing. It might go on my Xmas list.

Can anyone recommend any Pratchett?? I remember reading one & loving it but can't remember which series it was, but I do remember there was somebody in it called Foul Ole Ron.



Fantasy, maybe ??

I got a dichroic glass necklace a couple of weeks ago, my neighbour couldn't work out why I was so pleased when she said it came from Padstow :lol:

Ah Claire - you missed the fact that her Dad (Allan Prior) chose some of her songs, so I wondered if she would choose one of his books.

Chas - Rick Stein seemed too obvious for choosing Padstow, but it did cross my mind!

Whilst rummaging through some boxes in the barn, I came across this piece of Steeleye history.

You will need to be old enough to remember it, or a good student of Steeleye history to know what it is  :)

Fingers crossed that I have re-sized the image correctly...

[Photo over 400 days old. Removed by Admin.]

perhaps you should have changed the file name ;)

 :D It wasn't meant to be a quiz. I just wondered who remembered it.

I am posting quite a few golden-oldie pics on Facebook, but you probably have seen them all, being an expert and all that :)

I remember the mummers plays - the first time I saw Steeleye they did it.  Happy days! [;-)

Hi Mick,

Lucky  :)

I have a vague memory of seeing it on TV.

I love old photo's, keep 'em coming!!

I'm not an expert of anything :(

Well, based on some of your comments here and there, I wouldn't want to go head to head with you in a quiz  :)

Looks like you went head to head with somebody, and they lost theirs.  ;D

Paul

Touché, Paul! ;D

Its a thin line between being an expert or a geek, and I know which side my wife thinks I fall on  ;D

Deborah the Mummers Play was part of the BBC Electric Folk Rivington Hall episode  

And this is the mask that Peter wore as Saint George - who fought with Rick as Bold Slasher. Great Photo. Thanks

I'm reading some older threads at random and this post caught my eye. Absolutely wonderfull, I did not wince but could not help laughing out loud. Four really happy guys and one happy chick  ;D I wonder if the band read that article as well. I would love to read the whole article.

Does anyone know what that foot pedal is that Peter uses for his solo on Bonny Black Hare?
Can it be used to any degree with a guitar ?
 What a fab sound . I want one .

I know, I know!!  :D

It is a RAT pedal.

I have asked, and Peter says that it can be used with an electric guitar, in fact he says it can be used with anything but it works particularly well with his Octave fiddle.

I have noticed at gigs that when he is playing his solos on Bonny Black Hare, some people are looking at Julian thinking that the sound is coming from the guitar  :)

He also uses it on one of the Wintersmith tracks, but I can't think which one.

My Pastiegirl said after it was played at Skeggy  "Wow !!! How I loved that "Grungy" guitar sound " .  When I said it was Peters fiddle replied --"Genius---the mans a genius "

Oh and now I'm revising my Crimbo wish list . I want one .  [;-)

Just out of interest, I looked up the Wiki entry for The RAT pedal, and found a very extensive list of musicians who have used one over the years :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro_Co_RAT

I am sure that all interested parties will have seen this already, but here is the RAT pedal in action.
And look...no ponytail.
Should I play Delilah (not the song!) when we get home?  :P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xZPGS4h_QI

Quote:    Should I play Delilah (not the song!) when we get home?

 Debs---Wait till Peter's hair is a little longer then cut it . Then make some strange sounding strings for his bow .  :P

Not heard this before. Live from 1981. Its audio only but excellent quality and a quite brilliant performance of a song that has never done a lot for me but on this listening I love it!! The guitar work is amazing and might even be Tim because I'm sure there are two lead guitars going on and the main one has the distortion high which is not like Bob. Having said that listening to it now it might be Peter up to old tricks and getting the violin sounding like an electric guitar again! (I am rambling about the instrumental solos in the middle by the way)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEyzhL_ii-c

Thanks for posting that, I'd not heard it before.

I think that there's a combination of Bob Johnson, Tim Hart and Peter all vying together over each other and taking it in turns at the fore, sometimes almost within phrases.  Superb arrangement, however they did it!

Fantastic find - it really rocks along.  Thanks for this.

excellent find.
But I smell a rat (pedal ). I reckon it's Bob and Peter taking it in turns to solo, although the violin sounds a lot like guitar, as we know it can.

Great little section on gaudete just now on channel fives run down of top selling Xmas songs. Talk from Peter, Maddy and Rick. Plus even a clip of the current line up.
On channel 5 plus one in about 50 minutes :)

I have just ordered one of these- from ---  http://www.gak.co.uk/en/proco-rat-2/5435 with my saved Crimbo dosh . Lets see if I can get "That" sound I crave when it comes . .

How sad am I ?
 I have 219 Steeleye Span tracks on my I-Pod . The I=Pod is plugged into my car stereo with "Play All Continually "  function set . I have just passed the 150 tracks mark and still not got even slightly fed up .
In fact I have very much enjoyed my driving recently.
Am I becoming OSSD ?   =(Obsessive Steeleye Span Disorder).

Hi Trev
you're not alone in enjoying the OSSD compulsion, and you're not fed up with it yet, because there's such a wealth and variety in SS music to enjoy. Enjoy !

Still no proper Park Records website, just a holding page for Maddy's tour. (which has now finished)

What in God's name are they doing (Park Records that is). You can't even buy a Steeleye cd from their record company at the moment...!!!!!!   :o

Same as it ever was....

Hiya! You never get tired of a decent band, Trev.

I had the chance to interview Ken Nicol last night as he is partway through his Australian tour.  The conversation covered matters such as Steeleye Span, the rigours of touring, his continual learning curve with the guitar, the questions of technicality vs melody and making music that’s distinctively personal – and more.

The audio is now up on the show blog: : http://rootsandbranchesaustralia.wordpress.com/interviews/ken-nicol-2014/

BGO records are releasing remastered CDs for Live at Last and Sails of Silver, Catalog No. BGOCD1147, 2 on 1 CD for £9.99, listed as a new release for May.

I will definitely get Live at Last, as it was the line-up I saw live in my youth. Not so sure about Sails of Silver.

About time they remastered Storm Force Ten. My wife bought it for me for Christmas. She must have paid a fortune for a second hand copy.

Paul

Surely, Storm Force Ten, Live at Last and Sails of Silver were all released, remastered, on the second Parcel of Steeleye set? Unless you're that bothered about having individual CDs, this is by far the best way to buy old Steeleye albums on CD.

It's certainly the cheapest, but is the mastering the same as on the  forthcoming BGos??

Hiya !! I too love that sound, Trev, hope you get it.
My cds are OK, only problem was/is that I always drop 1 cd from those sets, which is usually the 1 I want to play the most. Love L@L, not too sure re SoS, said song real fav., great memories of Xmas choir singing it, w/o verses so they had to la-la them.  Depends how often you’ll play your cds. Can cds wear out? I keep dreaming of upcoming SS gigs (does anyone else??) they’re so good, hope there’s one soon. 1 of the many things I continue to be surprised by is how good bands I’ve discovered since becoming re-acquainted w/ SS are.

Wow, Steeleye have finally got a website!

I was about to post that too: http://steeleyespan.org.uk/

Hiya,

Think that should have its own topic. I love b & w & the bg design looks like the wallpaper in my flat – nice font too. Now for tour dates near Cambs/MK…….

At last!  I love the cover photo.

looking good, but is it any thing to do with Park ? Why , I wonder, when you click for details of albums, you get sent straight to Amazon ? Aren't Park selling direct any more ? You can buy from other suppliers, not just Amazon. Surely no-one has a monopoly on selling SS albums.
What about some choice of retailer ??

hmm. When you go to the Park Records Website (now much paired back) they also point you towards Amazon to buy Wintersmith and no longer list any other albums, at all, by any artist.

Definitely changes going on but sadly the rest of the band are not that active on Social Media (unlike Peter of course :) ) so probably not find out for a while. I wonder if they 'sold' the record company part of the business (or just disbanded it) and are just a 'promotions' company. Maybe they (Park Records) are winding down completely...

Interesting...

Ner date!

Warm-up show for the New Forest FF - 30th August @ Revelation St Mary's in Ashford Kent.

See you there?

The email I had from St Mary's said Friday 29th August.

I'm hoping to attend.

Yup, I made a transcription error.

Date now on the SS website, and tickets (unreserved, doors open @ 7) already on sale

Well, we cannot make it for the warm-up show,
but we'll be at New Forest FF  :)

I've often wondered...........the strings on the Hat album.
There aren't any credits for a small orchestra, who arranged the strings, etc. Does anyone know why this is ? was it because, in those days you didn't have to give such credits ?
Not sure if it's a good sound for the band. After all, Peter Knight and Nigel Pegrum could play oboe, flute, violin and viola, so with multi-tracking you could get a similar sound.
Any thoughts ?
Geoff

Geoff -- I can find citations suggesting Mike Batt arranged the strings on the album, but not a word about who the players might be (save that some are explicitly stating that Peter Knight is not part of said string section).

thanks for that.
Maybe we should start something online.
"anyone who admits to playing strings on AAMH for Steeleye Span, please come forward ". Only joking.
Odd that it should be so anonymous, though.

I know Mike had his own orchestra of session players and as such they would have been paid per session and not specifically named. They would have been professional classical string players, and that's how they made their living..That's why they rarely got credited in those days, as session players thaye wouldn't have been.

Interesting! Thanks for the information, Jude!  :)

thanks Jude. Yes that probably wraps it up. I thought someone might know !
cheers.
Geoff

In the "Complete Steeleye Span" book by Tim Hart and Robin Denselow, there are a couple of pictures of Tim Hart, Maddy Prior, Nigel Pegrum, and Rick Kemp with Matt Batt. I wonder if for a brief moment he was considering joining the band after Peter Knight and Bob Johnson left?

were they "All Around Mike Batt"

The new Steeleye website has dates for a UK tour in October.

Booked for New Forest Festival - four of us

Tickets booked for glamorous Croydon. Excited!

And once again, nothing in South Wales....mutter mutter, I think I'll go away and sulk!!

The Saucy Sailor has now been an earworm for the last four days. Not complaining.

Evidence of a youth well spent...

[Photo over 400 days old. Removed by Admin.]

wow,
Steeleye, MMEB and BJH.......... my 3 favourite acts by a long way.
A man after my own heart, sir.
Also, I was the only member of my family not to have been born in Ipswich, strangely enough ,
Geoff

Not sure if these have been posted before, but here's a few Steeleye videos I'd not come across before:

The making of Time Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k_4gRmpx5E and Part 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-zA2l75QRg

25th Anniversary concert part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRbmFlVrSX4, part 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vybqCbXNq38 and part 3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c7o9Farh1M

A nice little interview with some of the band at the recent HRH Prog  festival.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5_S0jIvTRs

your comments please

Love Liam, what  a star  ;D ;D   :-X :-X

Jessie mentioned US and Canada, not seen any US dates yet but that sounds promising for the old colony.
Confirming again new album and UK Winter Tour. Oh, and Holland at some point.

I've seen Canada dates, not USA ones so far

Lots of US dates up on the Steeleye website now for July

Maddy's out with BBC Music Day singing on Hadrian's Wall.....

More here (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-32974175) (you may need to page down, it's a timeline of the day)

Susan Lambert looks very nice, but who she?

More links
Maddy - http://bbc.in/1Qzr4xA

The whole Hadrian's Wall thing - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-32974175

Noticed on Amazon that Steeleye Span's 20th Anniversary concert is being released again under the Access All Areas label, to be released on 14th August, £9.99, for DVD and CD package.

That's good news. I have the DVD from an earlier release. It's a good performance from the days when Messrs Genocky and Harries were new to the band. A lively and  energetic performance, with a good choice of older material, plus songs from Tempted and Tried. I'll probably get it for the CD.

What a pain, the release date has slipped from August to October, and now January 2016.
Wonder what's going on here !?

Possibly re-recording the bits that Pete Z played on? But I don't know....

I think you may have read the earlier posts wrong, Chris. Pete Z wasn't in the band on the 20th Anniversary.  It was the "Tempted And Tried" tour.  Quite a good DVD as I recall.  Certainly better than the 25th Anniversary one.

I don't know either, but I'd hazard a guess that if they missed a deadline in August or September (artwork, signing off proofs of the inlay, organizing a barcode...) then manufacturing capacity for the back end of the year was booked up with producing releases for the Christmas market?  

From Dylan Carlson's FB feed:

When worlds collide - looking forward to hearing this air on BBC Radio 4: DRC & Maddy Prior (of Steeleye Span)
here's the synopsis. . .
“Maddy Prior of electric folk pioneers Steeleye Span has thrown down the gauntlet: namely for her daughter, doom metal cult heroine Rose Kemp, to compose a new work with a collaborator outside of her chosen genre – Jon Boden of folk revivalists Bellowhead. Returning the challenge, Rose has arranged for her mother to meet and write with Dylan Carlson of influential drone-metal progenitors Earth. BBC Radio 4 joins them in this experiment, as they discuss their lives in music, family and the songwriter’s process. As well as the resulting songs, the two programmes will also feature interviews with their collaborators and contributions from those attached to their musical legacies, including John Kirkpatrick (Steeleye Span), Hamish Glencross (Vallenfyre, My Dying Bride) and Mike Vennart (Vennart, Oceansize).”
Part 1: airs 11:30am (GMT) Nov 3rd // Part 2: Nov 10th. (the programme will be available to stream online after broadcasting at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06mfqc8)

Back in February, Julian said in an interview that Steeleye had started work on a new album.

http://www.grapevinelive.co.uk/interview-julian-littman/  

I've not heard anything since then. I would assume that if a new album was due it would be out in time for their upcoming tour. Does anyone have any info about it please?

Sadly it looks like an album must have been delayed.
Pete Zorn leaving probably had an impact on the timing of a new album but since nothing official has been said then who knows.

There's a nice radio interview with Rick at

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p037jvyl.

Less than two weeks left to listen.

Just seen the announcement on Fairport's website. Steeleye will be at Cropredy in 2016. Great news, now I must try to make sure I can get there this year!

Fab at Skeggy...  My first time with the new lineup, loved the new fiddle player, and Maddy in Uke.

So pleased they will be at Crop... It's about time they came back.

and here's a video of Maddy playing the Uke.
Thank you Frits on Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv1h5ITPLag

Thank you for posting that Geoffrey. Loved it! The voices blend so well with the current line up.

good to see the website has been updated with some festivals for the coming season.

Amusing Gaudete parody
Fairport Convention - . A tribute to Steeleye Span - Cropredy & Crudites
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYCswKefchY

Steeleye recorded The Handweaver & The Factory Maid, of course.  But not when Martin Carthy was in the band.

He has however recorded the song with Brass Monkey and The Imagined Village, but has never released a solo version.

Therefore, here is a rare live recording of Martin performing the song in Australia in 1989.  Just the audio, although the accompanying pic was taken after the same gig.

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

The Steeleye web site seems to have gone off the air.  

Since at least 2 days I see only a "Default Paralells Plesk Panel".

That's probably more up to date and useful information than it normally carries?

It is one of those deleted by the hosting service, 123. "The hosting firm ran a script containing a catastrophic error as part of its clean-up process." A Scottish football club was also affected.  www.theregister.co.uk/2016/04/18/123_reg_mass_deletion_woes_continue/

I assume it was effected by the 123.reg domain issues, along with Park Promotions. Some websites will be lost forever as a result. It was on BBC news online the other day.

a yes, referenced in the post above, sorry.

The Steeleye site is back again.

Hello Peeps, I`m new to forum love Steeleye Span with more folky bands like Fairport/McTell/Jansch/Renboure just dropping a line to say hello

sorry to ask this but is anyone out there... ???

Ssssshhhhhhh.

Hello joker 1961, welcome to the forum. I think we're all on tenterhooks at the moment, waiting for snippets of information about the new album  :)

Especially a track listing :)

I've put on youtube a poor quality version of Staring Robin. There is no other version available at all and I've had it years (since my Brother recorded it  :o )  but never bothered to put it up due to the quality. However, since it keeps being mentioned and not many people will have heard it at all, I have put it up for 'historical interest'.

It is a shame the recording is so 'bassy' as it doesn't really bring out Gay's fantastic Bodhran playing on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZQ7GP_RQlI

I've got more rare recordings that I might put up at some point if I don't get told off in the meantime.

Unfortunately it's not on my Ludlow Castle recording from 02/07/2000 :'(

Thank you for posting. LOVE Staring Robin. I had given up all hope of ever hearing the song. Tim rox.

Many thanks for posting Staring Robin, Greg. The sound quality is better than I was expecting (I've certainly heard much worse on YouTube!).

Thanks also for putting up the lyrics. It's much appreciated.

Looks like www.Jessiemaysmart.com has been given a facelift. Looks good with a News/Blog page and a Steeleye page, both of which look like will be a good source of Steeleye info :)

The new album is mentioned on the site....

The news items are both dated September 24, giving an idea of how recently this happened.

There appears to be a misprint (or worse) on the Steeleye page of Jessie's website. The tour details say the band are playing at Porthcawl Grand Theatre on 28th October. Strange, since I've got a ticket for Maesteg Town Hall on the very same night.  :o - Right country, wrong town!

Bizarrely both venues are listed here http://steeleye.freeservers.com/gigs.htm

The ticket link is correct - I'll give Richard a shout.

Foster and Allen are at Porthcawl on the same night.

I wonder which one I would watch  :o

Foster. Allen's a hack.  ;D

quality

As well as running his recording studio in Queensland for many years now, Nigel Pegrum also plays in a band called Kamerunga.  I just stumbled upon this video of theirs a couple of days ago:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhHGOIjRF60

Hello,Michael!
This is the answer to what I ask myself sometimes: What about Nigel Pegrum in Australia, is he still doing some music and what kind of? Thanks a lot for this! It's great to hear about him and it is very interesting music he does. I think I will order a CD or two.

He also played in the very fine and esoteric prog act Gnidrolog, back in the day. But you probably know that.  ::)

I had the great misfortune to see the terrible gnidrolog including Mr P for acouple of bob, but luckily they were only supporting  the SAHB who were, as always, amazing, so the night was not wasted.

Each to his own of course. I always like, and have liked,  Gnidrolog, while the SAHB I find unlistenable.

There is a wide field between 'fine esoteric prog' and 'terrible' and this catches my interest! Yes, I know them but only from reading about, but never had a listen to their music. In my mind they had two studio and one live album in the early '70's before Nigel joined Steeleye. Now I read they had a reunion in the year 2000 and made a new album not only with drummer Nigel Pegrum but with a bass player called Rick Kemp! I think there are some cd's more on my 'wanted list' ;-). But there is a miracle for me: Who are SAHB??? Sensational Alex Harvey Band?

Aye  :)

The 2 Gnidrolog studio albums are still available, and there's a small but loyal bunch of fans, like myself. If you want  good affordable editions which sound okay, the BGO 2on 1 of In Spite of Harry's Toenail/ Lady Lake is good. Otherwise the Esoteric label individual reissues are fine. If you like Gentle Giant you might like them. And the singer can sound a bit like Pete Hammill, which could put some people off.

The comeback album Prospice: Respice is rather different, and a curate's egg as to quality.

I imagine there's plenty of Gnidrolog on Youtube etc. to dip your toes in.

I'd forgotten about Rick Kemps' appearance on the 2000 album.  8)

Strangely enough, whilst i don't like the original Gnidrolog albums, I love the 2000 comeback, with the superb SS rhythm section. Talking of which ... I assume the reason that SS are absent at the moment is that they still are busy auditioning for a bassist ?

On FB somone mentioned the Band are taking 2017 off. Does anyone know if this is the case?

If true that's a shame as it would be good to promote the new album which I think is their strongest for ages. I wonder if Rick's leaving has somehow altered the momentum?

Seems to have gone a bit quiet here (no post for over a year) :-X

TBH for my wife & myself Steeleye "died" when Ken departed followed by Peter...

They're gigging this summer including Shrewsbury FF so it seems life goes on, along I do agree it cannot be underestimated the influence Peter had on/in the band.

From the long-deleted "25 Live" VHS release of 1995, Steeleye with Eb English and Tam Lin...

https://youtu.be/wmcT2EQZifk

Can I be the first one to mention that it's Steeleye's 50th anniversary next year. I had the original idea that it could be marked by a reunion at Cropredy (say on the Thursday or Friday) ! Obvious invitees would be Ashley Hutchings, Martin Carthy, Peter Knight, Rick Kemp, John Kirkpatrick & Ken Nicol. The campaign starts here …  8)

Watch this space, but possibly elsewhere

Reunion for 50th? Give a petition to sign!!!

I suspect they'd rather do their own thing?  (Although, festival wise, they don't have a brilliant track record, do they...)

The brilliant appearance at the SHewsbury Folk Festival is now available in full on Youtube (posted by the festival so bone fide and wont get pulled down!) .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9eDa1dQ2mQ&list=PLn09QzYUbGaJqNH6KePMU3m2lHTDvfNxc&t=7s&index=16

I've listened to it quite a lot since it was streamed (I recorded it while it was streamed in case it didn't get published! lol) and think it is great. Alison Gross and Marrowbones are a joy to listen to.

I saw the seven piece Steeleye in Long Melford last night. Only two of them were in the band that performed at Spanfest, which was held a few hundred yards away in 2007. That was a really great, never to be repeated, festival. Surprisingly no mention was made of it last night. Is this something that Maddy doesn't want to remember?

Repeated the following year at Stanford Hall... :)

Neither Stanford nor Long Melford seem (for a variety of reasons) to have been commercially successful...although the line-ups at both were great.

Must dig out the t-shirts.....

For your viewing pleasure....


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJl2wJKYxm4


(I managed to get the original London promo video)  

'Archaeologically' great find.  Musically...dear oh dear...

Another new video I've uploaded for your viewing pleasure (maybe).
But be warned, this is 1986. Dark times for music and fashion, especially on tv. Anyway, I have always quite liked the song (lady diamond) and it looks like its being played live and with a bit energy.

https://youtu.be/0O2-Nl6i3vM

That's considerably better  :)

I had that Lady Diamond video on an old VHS which I foolishly lent out before I started digitising the collection - and of course never got the tape back, so I despaired of ever seeing it again. And here it is!  :)

The same week on the same network, Steeleye appeared on the show Sunday, performing Take My Heart and some song about a hat...  It'd be nice if they were somehow unearthed too - but this is good to see all by itself.

Here is another one I have managed to find and it's quite special. The band playing 'Cam Ye' live in 1976, thought to be from a Finnish TV appearance.
Very rare to see the band at their Peak live in the 70's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikvIk_6PtzI&feature=youtu.be


Full concert does not sadly exist.

and the next. Black Jack Davy this time. And a brilliant version of the song with great vocals, great fiddle from Peter and none of Mike Batt's 70's over production from the album version!!

The is the last one though :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW5ENEnV6n8&feature=youtu.be

Wonderful stuff. I shall merely add the video of that hat song, from 'Sunday' Australian TV 1986.  :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz2hBXGeDmY

Nice one :)
That was next on my list to upload but you beat me to it lol!

I also have Take my Heart but sadly only about a minute of it which is a real shame  :(

I just saw this....not sure if it's a new announcement or not.  Apologies if already known... https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2019/event/steeleye-span-50th-anniversary?fbclid=IwAR3g5RviEtx902HlaIsXTcgGRijiWSD7dO5blg1XRlRqEZP0pHTdMnsmkKU

Went on sale on Friday. Bought my ticket this morning

booked as well :)

This is the last date on the Nov/Dec tour, all dates are on the official website. And on mine of of course! lol  www.steeleyespanfan.co.uk

I was browsing at bookshop recently and came across The Book of Ballads and Sagas by Charles Vess, it is dedicated to Jacqui, Sandy and Maddy. It includes graphic novel style illustrated ballads and sagas, 9 of them will be familiar from Steeleye Span recordings (False Knight, King Henry, Thomas the Rhymer, Tam Lin, Demon Lover, Twa Corbies, Galtee Farmer, Alison Gross, The Great Selchie). Bought it for £21.99 and I am really enjoying it alongside re-listening to the songs.

That sounds very interesting.  Will keep my eyes out for that.

This originally came out in comic form (4 issues?), and has obviously been reissued now as a book.

I have now seen that Martin Carthy is booked to play this and I have heard Peter Knight will be there as well. It follows in a recent tradition of anniversary/special concerts in London featuring past members. Let's hope there are few more that will come along.

thankfully already booked! This will be the gig that ought to end up on DVD

I agree, but sadly they also have a history of not publishing these anniversary gigs :(   The closest we have is one video :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrQL315w0_c

Steeleye played in Russia for the first time  ever last week..!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ADSx2sPJMs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8e7k2k2ugQ



and  the 50th anniversary documentary coming out later this year has interviews with Bob Johnson, his first public 'appearance' for nearly 20 years :)

Looks like there will be some article about Steeleye Span in the next issue of Record Collector, out 7th November. Noted on page 7 of current issue (Next Month : CSNY plus Marillion, Jeff Lynne, Steeleye Span, Kid Creole, Elbow)

Doesn't appear to be any Steeleye Span article in the current Record Collector, maybe will be in a future issue.

Don't know about RC, but there's an article in the new Shindig, out today

Today's Guardian cryptic crossword is "Marking a 50th anniversary"... Certain clues and indeed solutions have Steeleye Span references...

Excellent!

It's online here (https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27985)

The entire concert appears to be here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzGoxGfCgOw

This is confirmed on Peter's web site:
https://www.peterknight.net/news/article/playing-with-steeleye-span

My wife & I (& sometimes our son) attended several Steeleye concerts during the Ken Nicol era & often used to chat with Ken & Peter after the concerts (my having previously attended several concerts in Manchester area in my student days during the 1970s).  

Question for those who know more about the band than I do (virtually everyone then...how can someone who knows so much about Fairport know so little about Steeleye?!): Has Ashley appeared with Steeleye at all since he was in them?

He certainly played at the War Child concert that was eventually released as “The Journey”.

Despite claims to the contrary, Terry Woods did NOT appear, meaning the the very first line up has not played live to this day.

Thanks, Barry.

Yes, 1995 is the one and only time Ashley appeared with Steeleye since he left. Which is a shame because if he could have gone to the Barbican concert next month you could have reunited the 'please to see the King' line up - as the other 3 will be be there. (Knight, Carthy, Prior). Sadly of course no Tim Hart.

And of course if anyone wamts to get up to speed with their Steeleye knowledge and has a spare few hours they can make there way through my history of the band on my website  ;D  8)

Come on then...don't be coy.  Care to share?

Not that I was there & stand to be corrected, but didn't the first line-up play a couple of gigs in the National Theatre foyer before "Hark The Village Wake" was recorded?

Of course , but I fear people may be bored of me posting links to it, it's not the first time  ;D

https://steeleyespanfan.co.uk

I've added lots of new info/pictures/links to videos etc in the last few months. Its a bit of monster to read through the whole timeline!

I've not seen any reference to that before, do you know where you read that?
They recorded one session but nothing in front of an audience.

Nope sadly not. It's been a long held belief as I recall thinking when Pete Frame's family tree was first issued that the statement regarding them not playing any gigs was incorrect. However, my memory is at best unreliable.  :)

seeing as I mentioned it on the other thread


Dates so far for a SPring 2020 tour....


 1st May - The Sage, Gateshead.
 4th May- Lowther Pavilion, Lytham.
 6th May - Buxton Opera House
 14th May- Palace Theatre, Newark
 16th May - The Lighthouse, Poole
 19th May - St George's, Bristol

This is obviously not part of the tour, but Sidmouth recently confirmed Steeleye as one of their pre-festival gigs (i.e. late July).  Fortunately, the dates for Sidmouth and Cropredy don’t clash in 2020.

Thur 30th July https://sidmouthfolkfestival.co.uk/pre-festival-specials/

Available on BBC iplayer is The Story of A Fairytale of New York, shown Thurs 19th BBC at 10pm. a few clips of Terry Woods, formerly of Steeleye Span.

Record Collector (Jan 2020, No.501) has a 4 page article (pages 72 to 75) on Steeleye Span.

And it's fairly decent, I think, although I'm no expert....

The BBC news website has a few pictures of Steeleye Span today, under Politics, Features & Analysis section, "How the UK celebrated joining Europe",  ( www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-51212714 ), one picture is on the main page, the other in the article.

Was just browsing TV channels and was watching Virgin channel 348, Now 70s, Great Song - Stupid Title! 1970 - 1979, and who should be on but Steeleye Span with All Around My Hat.

i was watching that I either turned over too soon or not depending on you point of views!

It's on again tonight at 22:00

as far as I can tell with these channels its on every night at the same time, I think the novelty wears off eventually

Now we are Eight?

https://steeleyespan.org.uk/band/

Cripes...that's a big beast to make pay for itself...

Don't the two violinists take turns?  I know Violeta came in when Jessie May had maternity leave, so maybe they don't both play on the same dates?

That's Violetta Vicci who has been Jessie May's stand in while on maternity leave through most of 2019.
Feels a bit late to now recognise her on the website unless they share the role going forward, or she is now replacing Jessie May permanently.
One thing for sure. Park records will say nothing !!

(Sorry, missed Will s reply)

It's Steeleye, Jim.......but not as we know it!   :(

Is this confirmed? I know Violeta was standing in for Jessie May Smart when she had her baby. I can't seem to see anywhere that she's now a permanent member.

Off to see Steeleye tonight - review tomorrow.

Enjoy! They were great on Monday evening!

I just found this very cheaply  :)

According to this site there seems to be a concert in November (9th) 2023 in Great Yarmouth.
http://https://www.songkick.com/artists/429616-steeleye-span/calendar

I last saw them in 2011 & would like to see them again if Violeta is part of the line-up.
Would be rather an expensive outing (travel etc from Hamburg area).

It's part of the HRH Prog series, I had original tickets for last October (?) but they re-scheduled to the weekend of my wife's birthday next November - and I'm not that stupid that I'm going then!

Please proceed with caution, I had an hotel booked and so lost out and the company has a long history of finding "difficulties" and events not going ahead when planned.

They keep delaying that festival, proceed with caution for sure.
But, I believe Steeleye will be touring a new album around nov/Dec '23 so keep an eye out. (No dates yet)

A Steeleye sighting on this side of the pond is rare. Setlist.fm says they came to Austin in 1973 to play at the legendary Armadillo World Headquarters, and again in 1997 to the Cactus Cafe (I must have been napping to miss that one).

Maybe they'll pop over to Boston or New York next year, pretty please?

Tim Harries has (perhaps bizarrely?) joined The Enid.  I wish him well, but they're an absolute car crash of an organisation so who knows how it will pan out but he obviously likes his prog as he's played with Bill Bruford et al....

Watching BBC 4 the other night some sort of BBC celebrates St Davids Day archive footage of welsh acts and was surprised to see Liam drumming on Total Eclipse of the Heart with Bonnie Tyler, anyone know the background to this - did he play on the recording, was he part of her touring band or just in for a TV session?

DW

I believe Max Weinberg (of the E Street Band) played drums on the album.  I don't know if Liam toured with her.  Before Steeleye I only knew him from his time with Gillan.

... and the first band I ever saw Zzebra.

Are you working your way backwards through the alphabet?  Planning to finish your gig-going with Abba?  ;D

Liam can also be seen on various Gerry Rafferty videos, including Baker Street, as he was his touring drummer (he used session drummers on albums mainly)

Another date for 2023
New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth
Folk Rock Pioneers Steeleye Span In Concert
Saturday 18th November 2023 at 7:30pm

Tickets purchased!

When Steeleye went punk...(well, sort of).  

I had absolutely no idea about this lot.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork_Dukes

Hmmm.  Anybody want to hum along to "Telephone Masturbator" or "Tight Pussy" with me? :)

Apparently, members of Gryphon did a similar thing as well... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Banned

New violinist announced Athena Octavia.

"Athena loves incorporating her passion for many different genres of music into her performances, and with her highly trained ear is able to improvise in many styles from RnB, pop and jazz to EDM and even dubstep. "  This could be interesting!  She'll also lower the average age by about 10 years just by turning up...  and possibly cause a heart attack or two amongst some of the audience.

What happened to the last new violinist?

Well, there have been two (Jessie Mae Smart and Violeta Vicci) doing a 'job-share' the last few years, both with young families, I think.  So maybe neither could make this tour?

The cynic in me says that she's probably cheaper.

New Steeleye song released:

The Green Man

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdQ1B64sCX0

Written by Bob Johnson back in 1985 and dusted down & recorded by the current line-up for a forthcoming compilation of the same name. Other new songs for the compilation include a version of Elvis Costello's Shipbuilding and something called Hey Nonny Violence.

Didn't think I needed another Steeleye comp but I think they've hooked me for this one.

I see the band are playing in Lancaster on May 4th next year - I noticed it in the Grand Theatre programme which came through the door yesterday. I can't see any mention of a tour on the official website but there are some more dates listed here...

https://steeleyespanfan.co.uk/latest-news

I clicked on the suggested link, but was actually more interested to read that there is to be a forthcoming CD release "Live at the Bottom Line 1974", which will hopefully be a worthy tribute to the great Bob Johnson. I've never heard of Omnivore Recordings, so I hope they are reputable.

It is reputable. They contacted me beforehand to help with the set list. They have the rights to years worth of Bottom Line club recordings from 70s and 80s.
Really lookin0g forward to it. Its great audio quality and a fun chaotic show typical of their US tour shows of the time.

Thanks Greg, in that case I shall definitely purchase. I refused to get the "Good Times of Old England" box, because I hate getting a load of stuff that I already have (on both vinyl and CD in some cases !), but this is definitely another kettle of fish entirely  :D

That's a reasonable position to take, but I hope you have had chance to listen to the two live concerts from the good times box set, the Rainbow 1974 concert and 1976 US one. They were new releases and the Rainbow concert in particular is a near perfect classic era concert.

The Enid as posted on their FB group.  Tim Harries at the back on the Right

It's now exactly one month until their gig at the Lancaster Grand and I'm slightly alarmed to see that they've only sold about half the seats in the theatre. I've checked a few ticketing websites. See Tickets only lists their Falmouth date and Ents24 lists it and three other dates, including Carlisle which is sold out, but not Lancaster. One or two other sites don't list any Steeleye Span gigs at all.

I didn't manage to get a ticket the last time they were here as it sold out well in advance. I hope sales pick up over the next few weeks. Tickets are £30 including fees.

https://lancastergrand.co.uk/shows/steeleye-span/

Hope
Hope you enjoyed it. It was 70% sold last night  just for the record.
Cost of living and am ageing audience wil take its toll on audiences.
The last tour in Dec 23 was pretty well supported though.

Yes, very much enjoyed it. I've written a review for anyone interested -

https://colinbertram.blogspot.com/2024/05/steeleye-span-gig-review-lancaster.html

Great. A good read, thanks. They certainly are more of a 'Rock' band than Fairport. in fact they are also more of a 'folk' band as well, but I am showing my prejudices there..  ;D

What did you think of them doing the 'Status Quo' version of their own song (so to speak). I am intrigued by it and it is dividing opinion. I am watching them o Sunday.

I can understand why Quo would have wanted to do a version of it - it lends itself perfectly to the Quo boogie. I thought it was a great way to end the show and the Lancaster crowd certainly enjoyed it.

I suppose it can be difficult when there is one particular song (or two) which a band is known for. With Fairport they don't tend to mess about with MOTL but have come up with different arrangements of Matty. If it keeps Maddy happy doing an alternative version of Hat then fair enough. I wonder how many times she's sung it?

Not sure I fully agree with that - the '87 (and after) version is pretty different from what came before...

Glad it went down well, as you say anything that keeps it fresh for them is good!

Ok, I like a challenge, I think she has sung it 1,575 times. Give or take. And its not give or taking many, I do actually have most of the data ;) ..  :o

The set list on the current tour for those interested:


The Green Man' (Re working of 'lost' Bob Johnson song from the 80s)
'New York Girls'
' The Sound of the Drum' (New song)
'Demon of the Well'
'When all the World was Young Lad' (Based on the poem)
'January Man'
'Hey Nonny Violence' (written by Maddy)
'Jack Hall'
'Thomas The Rhymer'
[Interval]
'Hard Times of old England '
'King Henry'
Shipbuilding' (Cover of Elvis Costello song)
'Long Lankin'
'Dogs and Ferrets'
'My Giddy Aunt (instrumental written by Julian)'
'Low Flying' (Rick Kemp song)
'Genocide' (Rick Kemp song)
Sir James the Rose'
'Bonny Black Hare'
Encore: 'All Around My Hat'; 'Dodgy Bastards'.

No Guadete?? Usually first song before Hat in the encore?

No, not on the last tour either. It was sung in 2022 and in 2019 when Violeta was on violin as she helped with the high parts with Maddy singing harmony with her. Not sure if Athena is a singer. Maddy has not sung the verses on her own for a few years now.

They didn't play 'Gaudete' on the last two gigs I saw them do. That sounds like a great set. Their version of 'Shipbuilding' is really good. It's included on The Green Man Collection. The only one I'm not keen on is 'Bonny Black Hare', but I'm not that fussed with Fairport's version either.

A number of comments on that video indicate the Bob Johnson has passed away (December 2023).

See also:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Johnson_(musician)

I'm not quite sure what you're suggesting....yes he died on 15 Dec 2023.  His obituaries are all over the place... https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/dec/20/bob-johnson-obituary

The latest tour, finished last night, was brilliant. I went twice and both were great sounding gigs, I think they have toned down the drums and especially the bass compared to recent tours, and has allowed for more harmony singing, especially on the new songs that are sounding good. A slight change of direction. Plus lots of electric guitar and fiddle solos of course! They certainly never stand still do Steeleye.

New album out in the Spring plus tours next year in April/May and again in Nov/Dec.