Original released on LP RCA SF 8113
(UK, June 1970)
Originally
released by British RCA, this debut album by Steeleye Span's original lineup --
Ashley Hutchings (bass), Tim Hart (electric guitar, electric dulcimer, banjo,
harmonium, vocals), Maddy Prior (vocals, banjo), Terry Woods (mandola,
mandolin, electric guitar, vocals), and Gay Woods (vocals, concertina, bodhran)
- barely made it out the door before Gay and Terry Woods exited. This was
probably the best singing edition of Steeleye Span, with Gay Woods and Maddy
Prior melding beautifully on tracks like "Dark-Eyed Sailor" and
"My Johnnie Was a Shoemaker", and Terry Woods adding some realistic
coarseness on "The Hills of Greenmore". The sound is fully electric
here (with superb playing on the epic "Lowlands of Holland"), if not
as aggressive or well crafted as later albums - Hart, Hutchings, and Woods
comprise a good core band, and Gerry Conway and Fairport Convention's Dave
Mattacks sit in on drums. (in All Music)