Artist · EveryDisc catalogue

Steeleye Span

Steeleye Span is a British folk-rock band formed in 1970 in Winchester, Hampshire, by Fairport Convention member Ashley Hutchings, which continued the experiments (started by the latter) in the electric folk genre. Unlike Fairport Convention and other participants in the British folk revival movement, Steeleye Span had commercial success: three of their albums entered the Top 40, and the hit singles "Gaudete" (#11, 1974) and "All Around My Hat" (#5, 1975) became "gold." As noted by an Allmusic reviewer, several parallels can be drawn between Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span: "both recreated folk songs in rock arrangements, had excellent female vocalists (on one hand — Sandy Denny, on the other — Maddy Prior), and used multi-layered harmonic structures. If in their early years Fairport Convention had more innovative ideas, after 1970, Steeleye Span's work looks more interesting... What distinguished the two bands was that if Fairport came to folk from rock, then Steeleye made the reverse journey."