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Elly Roberts reviews
Steeleye Spanat the Philharmonic Hall, LiverpoolSunday 9th May 2004
The worlds most renowned folk rock band, Steeleye Span,are wizzing around the globe to promote their fabulous new CD They Called Her Babylon. It coincides with their 35th anniversary as the leading exponents of the genre, and displays allthe qualities which elevated them to cult status. Formed in 1969, they have experienced several personnel changes, and lived to tell the tale.
With their penchant for updating trad British folk with rocky arrangements, and multi – part harmonies, their musicis a relevant today as it ever was. Famed for their two Christmas hits, Gaudete(No.14, 1973) and All Around My Hat (No.5, 1975) they have remained the most enduring of their contemporaries.However, on this night there was one key element missing, as I will reveal later.
Stopping off at the Phil in Liverpool, six hundred folkies gave them a heroes welcome. With only one original member in their fold, vocalistMaddy Prior, she played alongside Peter Knight on keys and fiddle, ex husband and bassist Rick Kemp,drummer Liam Genockey and recent recruit Ken Nicol on guitar. Never afraid to challenge thefolk boundaries, they immersed themselves into an eclectic two hour set of past and present material.
The set list.
Part one started off as a relatively mellow affair, with songs like Bonnie Prince Charlie, and Butcher, but the pace increased with Drink.
Instrumentally they are masters of their craft; with some spellbinding fiddle work by Peter Knight particularly on Babylon as passionately caressed every note.His vocals sounded uncertain and shaky on many occasions. Kemp was rock solid on bass,with a rich timbre on vocals which expanded the range greatly. Nicols guitar added therock element and he was confident but not great in the singing department. Biggest disappointment of the night was thelack of lyrical clarity on Priors singing. Supple-voiced she may well be, but she,or the sound engineer need to check it out quickly as it proved very frustrating to lose the wonderful tales.
Listening to the album shes as clear as a bell, and the historical stories ofdespair, bravery, greed turn out to be top drawer quality. Best songs were,Lankin, the romantic She Begged Some More, Samain, first sentcloser Hat, the lengthy second set opener Tamlin (which mayappear on their next album), the CD title track and stunning closer Gaudete.
Collectively they are one of the best groups on the live circuit. They allseemed to be enjoying every moment, with Prior indulging in regular bouts offolk dancing.
Review & pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004.
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.