Last modified: 16/11/08
If you like Steeleye Span then you'll also like Metallica, Crowded House, Eurythmics, The Wombles...
A strange assertion, and one that I'm not seriously advancing. You may very well like none, some or all of the above, but it doesn't immediately follow from liking Steeleye Span. Nevertheless, there is a connection to each of the above.
A common reason for looking through lists of albums is to find more of the music you've just discovered you like, both more albums by the group and also by the individual members.
With Steeleye Span, this can be a daunting task. In over 25 years and 16 albums there is a wide variation of style, and someone who likes "All Around My Hat" may not like "Please To See The King" at all.
Steeleye Span are a gestalt. They are not just a backing group to Maddy Prior. They are also unique. You won't find anything else quite like them. Nevertheless, the search is rewarding in its own right.
I first started with "Now We Are Six" and "Commoners Crown", worked my way backwards and forwards from there, then started exploring the related groups and people. Sometimes I discovered unexpected linkages with groups I already liked; sometimes the journey led to performers that just didn't appeal to me.
Here are some groups and performers with some similarity or connection to Steeleye Span, together with some personal recommendations.
Starting with Steeleye Span's immediate parentage, we have:
Fairport Convention (later, just Fairport) is the 'other' great English folk-rock band. Its history is complicated enough to have had books written about it! It was formed by Ashley Hutchings.
About the time of Steeleye's genesis Fairport were experimenting with folk music. The albums "Unhalfbricking" and "Liege and Leaf" produced around this time may well appeal.
Dave Swarbrick joined Fairport for "Liege and Lief", while after the latter Sandy Denny left to form "Fotheringay" (one eponymous album, also recommended) and Ashley Hutchings left to form Steeleye Span.
If you like Steeleye Span, look into Fairport; but over its long history and wide musical range don't be surprised to find a very different band.
A brilliant and prolific performer and songwriter. I recommend giving him a listen if you have not already done so. He records with a stable circle of backing musicians, including John Kirkpatrick, whence comes another Steeleye connection. His current producer, Mitchel Froome, also produced Crowded House, hence the tenuous link mentioned at the start.
After starting Fairport and Steeleye Span, Ashley Hutchings left to form a series of "Albion" bands, or possibly one band with many lineups and the commonality of Hutchings as a member (not always leader) and "Albion" in the name somewhere (The Albion Band, The Albion Country Band, The Albion Dance Band, etc.) Still going strong, Albion is in general quite different in feel from Steeleye Span. Despite having started all three of the top electric folk groups, Hutchings never managed to make any of them his band, except perhaps Albion, and even then "Rise Up Like The Sun" is mostly John Tams' album. Later incarnations are more firmly Hutchings' band.
I recommend starting with "Rise Up Like The Sun" and "No Roses".
Tim and Maddy's albums are all covered in these pages, though their individual solo efforts are generally quite different from the band. "Summer Solstice" by Tim & Maddy is the one most like a Steeleye Span album (it's also superb!). Also surprisingly good is Tim's "My Very Favourite Nursery Rhyme Record", despite being just what it says—an album of nursery rhymes!
Tim's solo album is very different, Maddy's individual outings are a little more folky. Spot which album has the Eurythmics appearing on it.
Maddy's collaborations with June Tabor, as the Silly Sisters, are quite wonderful, and should lead you to June's solo albums, which however are quite a way from Steeleye Span.
Gay and Terry's albums are quite unlike Steeleye Span's. They are also very difficult to get hold of these days. Terry went on to join the Pogues; Gay returned to the band for the latest albums, but has since left again.
Martin Carthy was Godfather to the band, and joined two of its lineups. He also has a long list of albums of his own (alone or with Dave Swarbrick) and with the Watersons. But beware! Martin's version of "Hard times of old England" is nothing like Steeleye's.
Martin's style is much more 'traditional'. Don't be surprised if you don't automatically like his solo work. However, if you do acquire the taste you're in for a treat. Martin Carthy is a superb musician. He has influenced numerous musicians, including Paul Simon and Bob Dylan (who mentions him in the notes to "The Freewheeling Bob Dylan") to name but two.
I recommend "Crown of Horn" as a good starting point. Martin also sings with The Watersons and with Brass Monkey. Having married into the Watersons, there is now a second generation in the form of Eliza Carthy, and her albums are also highly recommended.
Ian Anderson is credited as "production consultant" on Now We Are Six. He also produced (and Jethro Tull plays on) Maddy Prior's first solo album. Maddy returned the favour by singing backup on "Too old to rock and roll, too young to die".
The Chrysalis label on which Steeleye Span recorded most of the early (pre breakup and reunion) albums was initially created to record Jethro Tull.
Steeleye Span's first American tour was as support act to Jethro Tull.
About "Songs from the wood" Jethro Tull's musical direction took a folk bent, and they later added Dave Pegg from Fairport as drummer.
So, the band that won a Grammy for 1989 best heavy metal album (beating out Metallica) has close links to Steeleye Span and, for whatever reason, Steeleye Span fans are often also Jethro Tull fans.
These are a couple of 'various artists' albums featuring Kirkpatick, Carthy, Thompson, Hutchings and others (different lineups on the two albums) playing morris tunes in the electric folk idiom. Great albums, and you get to find out what the tune used as the instrumental break in the middle the live version of "False Knight on the Road" off "Live at Last!" is called.
Sort of an ancestor as well. Planxty came out of the same Irish tradition as the Woods (Terry was in Sweeney's Men, which was the precursor to Planxty) and, driven by similar forces to Steeleye, came up with a somewhat different response. Planxty's instruments are more 'traditional' (despite annexing the bouzouki to be a traditional Irish instrument). Compare Planxty's version of "The Blacksmith" with Steeleye Span's two versions. Start anywhere, and jump into the glorious sea of 'celtic rock'.
Nic Jones wrote the music to "Boys of Bedlam" and appears on the "Silly Sisters" album. Sadly, he was badly injured in a motor accident and no longer performs, but his albums are well worth listening to. I'd recommend working backwards from his last album, "Penguin Eggs". You can also get 'new' CDs of previously unreleased, mostly live, material from Fish Records.
Married to Ashely Hutchings about the time that he was with Steeleye Span, she appears on "Rave On", Morris On, with the Albion Band, with her sister Dolly, and on her own solo albums. She has a much more traditional singing style than most of the other people mentioned here. Start with the "No Roses" album by Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band, and "Folk Roots, New Routes" with Davey Graham if you can find it.
Until recently it was difficult hear any of Anne's music since her recorded output was small—she hated recording. Now her wonderful ANNE BRIGGS : A COLLECTION is available and you can hear the voice that influenced everyone about her, including Led Zeppelin!
Copyright ©1996, 2001, 2002 Michael Newbery