- Commoners Crown
-
Commoners Crown 
Studio album by Steeleye Span Released January 1975 Recorded September and October, 1974 at Morgan Studios Genre Electric folk Length 38:39 Label Chrysalis Producer Steeleye Span and Robin Black Professional reviews Steeleye Span chronology Now We Are Six
(1974)Commoners Crown
(1975)All Around My Hat
(1975)Commoners Crown is an album by the electric folk band Steeleye Span, its seventh release overall and the second album with the band's most commercially successful line-up. It reached number 21 in the UK album charts.
The album's title refers to a sculpture produced by Shirtsleeves Studio. The sculpture is composed of hundreds of tiny human figures assembled to form a crown. The tiny figures also decorate the liner notes.
Contents
Description
By this point, the band had evolved into a full-fledged rock sound, comparable to Jethro Tull during its folk rock phase. Several of the tracks feature strong rock drumming and heavy guitar riffs, but the material remains almost entirely traditional folk music, with the exception of 'Bach Goes to Limerick', a surprising attempt to interweave a classical Bach violin piece with a traditional Irish fiddle piece.
The lead track, 'Little Sir Hugh' is based on a medieval song about the English saint Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln, a 13th century boy supposedly murdered by Jews. The original song's lyrics are sharply anti-Semitic, but the band deleted the anti-Semitic elements.
In addition to 'Little Sir Hugh', the album's highlights include 'Long Lankin', the band's longest song to date and something of a fan favourite, and 'Demon Lover'.
New York Girls
The band continued the whimsical streak demonstrated on Now We Are Six by inviting comedian and actor Peter Sellers to play the ukulele on the closing track, 'New York Girls'. The band decided that it wanted a ukulele on the song, but no one in the band knew anyone who played the instrument. Finally someone remarked that Sellers was known to play it, and they decided to ask him, even though none of them knew him at all. To their surprise, he agreed, and the song became one of only two recordings he made with a rock band. The other was "After the Fox", recorded with The Hollies in 1966. He also contributes some vocals spoken in character as Henry Crun and Minnie Bannister (originally portrayed by Sellers and Spike Milligan in the BBC radio comedy programme, The Goon Show), which many fans of the band found distracting. On the original vinyl release, the song ended with Sellers saying "I say, are you a matelot? Careful what you say, sir - we're on board ship here". The subsequent CD releases omitted the quip. [The current 2009 3 disc EMI box set A PARCEL OF STEELEYE SPAN reinstates the quip] The song is also unusual in the sense that all the male band members (except Nigel Pegrum) take lead vocals on two verses each (Rick Kemp singing verses 1 and 5, Tim Hart 2 and 6, Peter Knight 3 and 7 and Bob Johnson 4 and 8), with Maddy Prior singing the chorus. Despite this odd note, 'Commoner's Crown' is often cited as one of the band's best efforts.
Personnel
- Maddy Prior (vocals)
- Tim Hart (vocals, guitar, appalachian dulcimer)
- Bob Johnson (vocals, guitar)
- Rick Kemp (bass guitar, drums)
- Peter Knight (violin)
- Nigel Pegrum (drums, flute)
Guest:
- Peter Sellers (ukelele) on New York Girls
Track listing
- "Little Sir Hugh" (Traditional) – 4:44
- "Bach Goes To Limerick" (Hart, Johnson, Kemp, Knight, Pegrum, Prior) – 3:41
- "Long Lankin" (Traditional) – 8:40
- "Dogs and Ferrets" (Traditional) – 2:43
- "Galtee Farmer" (Traditional) – 3:47
- "Demon Lover" (Traditional) – 5:54
- "Elf Call" (Traditional) – 3:54
- "Weary Cutters" (Traditional) – 2:04
- "New York Girls" (Traditional) – 3:12
Steeleye Span Maddy Prior • Peter Knight • Rick Kemp • Liam Genockey • Pete Zorn
Ken Nicol • Tim Hart • Bob Johnson • Nigel Pegrum • Ashley Hutchings • Martin Carthy • Tim Harries • Terry Woods • Gay Woods • John Kirkpatrick • Chris Staines • Terl Bryant • Michael Gregory • Mark WilliamsonStudio albums Hark! The Village Wait (1970) • Please to See the King (1971) • Ten Man Mop, or Mr. Reservoir Butler Rides Again (1971) • Below the Salt (1972) • Parcel of Rogues (1973) • Now We Are Six (1974) • Commoner's Crown (1975) • All Around My Hat (1975) • Rocket Cottage (1976) • Storm Force Ten (1977) • Sails of Silver (1980) • Back in Line (1986) • Tempted and Tried (1989) • Time (1996) • Horkstow Grange (1998) • Bedlam Born (2000) • Present--The Very Best of Steeleye Span (2002) • They Called Her Babylon (2004) • Winter (2004) • Bloody Men (2006) • Cogs, Wheels & Lovers (2009)Live albums Live at Last (1978) • Tonight's the Night...Live (1992) • The Collection: Steeleye Span in Concert (1994) • The Journey (1999) • Folk Rock Pioneers in Concert (2006) • Live at a Distance (2009)Singles "Rave On/ Reels/ Female Drummer" (1971) • "Jigs and Reels" (1972) • "John Barleycorn / Bride's Favourite/Tansey's Fancy" (1972) • "Gaudete / The Holly and The Ivy" (1972) • "The Mooncoin Jig" (1974) • "New York Girls/ Two Magicians" (1975) • "All Around My Hat/ Black Jack Davy" (1975) • "Rave On/ False Knight On The Road" (1976) • "Hard Times of England/ Cadgwith Anthem" (1976) • "London/ Sligo Maid" (1976) • "Fighting For Strangers/ The Mooncoin Jig" (1976) • "The Boar's Head Carol/ Gaudete / Some Rival" (1977) • "Rag Doll/ Saucy Sailor" (1978) • "Sails of Silver/ Senior Service" (1980) • "Gone To America/ Let Her Go Down" (1981) • "Somewhere In London/ Lanercost" (1985) • "Padstow / First House in Connaught/ Sailor's Bonnet" (1989) • "Following Me/ Two Butchers" (1989) • "The Fox/ Jack Hall" (1990) • "Lord Elgin/Lord Elgin (live)" (2006)DVDs Classic Rock Legends (2002) • A Twentieth Anniversary Celebration (2003) • The 35th Anniversary World Tour 2004 (2005)Related articles The King of Elfland's Daughter (1977)
Book:Steeleye Span · 
Category:Steeleye Span · 
Portal:MusicCategories:- 1975 albums
- Chrysalis Records albums
- Steeleye Span albums
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
