After the Fairport Convention love-in, Steeleye glories recalled in a real find
March 14, 2024
No apologies for all the attention paid to Fairport Convention by Salut! Live these past few days, says Colin Randall.
The last but one gig in a 30-date tour, at the Union Chapel in north London, has rightly been acclaimed by fans, including me, for the special occasion it was. The piece recalling two interviews with Simon Nicol 14 years apart attracted many more hundreds of readers than we generally experience.
But browsing YouTube while catsitting in Lewes for absent daughter, swanning in the Canaries with my wife, her mum, I found my first folk-rock love, Steeleye Span, bursting back into the consciousness.
There was a time, early on in the careers of both bands, when some people tended to adopt polarised allegiance. I'll confess to mine: asked in 1970, I'd have declared much greater affection for Steeleye than Fairport.
I quickly came to appreciate both more or less equally. With Pentangle, Lindisfarne and the Doonans, they have given me more pleasure than any English band of any genre.
Watching some old Fairport clips, the YouTube auto-select took me to a couple of Steeleye videos from long ago. I think this happened soon after I'd located a film showing both bands at an open-air and frankly rather flat concert at Ainsdale Beach, near Southport. Poor sound reproduction may well account for the flatness.
But this is completely different, another live performance by Steeleye Span, this time from 1976. Cam Ye o'er Frae France, posted by "SpanFan".
He/she describes it as "very, very rare" and at the time of writing, it has troubled only 344 viewers (or maybe just one or two viewing it 172 or 344 times).
From Maddy Prior's amusing spoken introduction to the spot-on delivery, vocals and accompaniment, it's a treasure and can be seen here: https://youtu.be/ikvIk_6PtzI?si=LK3DSucapjEVoxUx
The late Ian Campbell said this: "It is one of many bitter satirical songs composed by the Jacobites about the court of George I or Geordie Whelps (Guelph). "The goose referred to is Madame Schulenburg, Duchess of Kendal, Geordie's mistress, and the linkin’ blade was the Count Königsmark.
"The only other identifiable name is Bobbin John presumed to be the Earl of Mar, Commander in Chief of the English army in Scotland."
As a bonus, we see an example of Maddy's dancing as the song leads into a protracted instrumental sequence. Not one of her celebrated romps around the aisles but some energetic steps across the width or the stage.
All of which gives me an excuse for this tribute to Maddy's dancing, Ralph McTell's When Maddy Dances, a live Old Grey Whistle Test recording of a song that appeared on a 1974 album. The youthful McTell is accompanied by Danny Thompson on double bass.
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But back to Steeleye and the estimable SpanFan, who has also posted this utterly perfect live performance of the murder ballad Long Lankin, also from the mid-1970s. Every member of the band contributes to a fabulous example of folk-rock or, as the band used to say, English electric folk at its finest.
Via Facebook
When I first saw the Long Larkin video I could NOT believe it - a treasure beyond measure! I’m an archivist and have had old Steeleye audience tapes since the ‘80s, but never imagined these kind of gems appearing decades later!
Posted by: Ken Genetti | March 15, 2024 at 12:27 AM
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I think I had (and still do) Liege and Lief, and the History for a few decades before I saw them in the flesh at Cropredy 25 years ago. But I heard Richard at a New Brighton hotel in the mid 80s, ten years after my first encounter with Steeleye Span. My Fairport album collection is gradually catching up with the Steeleye and Richard LPs/CDs.
I think I have seen the two groups and Richard 20 times each. Primarily because I have gone to Cropredy for the last 25 years, every other year which gave me two sightings of Steeleye Span as well.
A pity that Steeleye don't have a festival like Cropredy. I know Maddy does her thing but I haven't made it there yet.
I am already booked to see them all at least once this year!
They are the gold top of the folk rock milk bottle.
Posted by: Andrew Wilcox | March 15, 2024 at 12:29 AM
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I also forgot Fairport, for me, about 1973 when they were sounding soft to Steeleye's dynamic. Then Fairport rebounded with Nine. Steeleye was more consistent, even when they changed members over time.
Posted by: Evan Smith | March 15, 2024 at 12:31 AM