Storm Force Ten

Last updated

Storm Force Ten
Steeleye Span Storm Force Ten.jpg
Studio album by
Steeleye Span
ReleasedNovember 1977
RecordedSeptember 1977
StudioPhonogram Studios, Hilversum, Netherlands
Genre British folk rock
Length41:55
Label Chrysalis
Producer Steeleye Span, Mike Thompson
Steeleye Span chronology
Rocket Cottage
(1976)		Storm Force Ten
(1977)		 Live at Last
(1978)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Q Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]

Storm Force Ten is the tenth studio album by British folk rock band Steeleye Span, released in 1977 by Chrysalis Records. Until their 2013 album Wintersmith, released 36 years after Storm Force Ten, this album was the band's last production to reach the charts, topping out at 191 on Billboard's Pop charts. After Rocket Cottage , Bob Johnson and Peter Knight left the band. As there was still a contractual obligation, they invited Martin Carthy back again. Back in 1971 when Martin Carthy had joined he had recommended John Kirkpatrick but they decided on fiddler Peter Knight instead. This time they accepted his recommendation and Kirkpatrick's fiery accordion playing replaced Knight's fiddle.

Contents

John Tobler writes on the 1996 reissue of Storm Force Ten:

Steeleye's ninth original LP, Rocket Cottage was released in late 1976, and appeared only weeks before 'Anarchy in the UK', the debut single by The Sex Pistols, which may have contributed to the less than spectacular chart showing of the Steeleye LP. It was again produced by Mike Batt, but when the follow up to a Top 10 album fails to reach the Top 40, something is amiss.

The title may refer to the fact that Storm Force Ten is their tenth album or it may be a reference to tensions the band was experiencing after producing 10 albums in just 7 years and performing almost continuously during that period. Mike Batt pressured the band to record Rocket Cottage in only one week. The band nominally broke up after the album was released. Shortly after the album was released vocalist Maddy Prior released her first solo album.

The band had occasionally sung quite long songs - "Long Lankin" on "Commoner's Crown", "The Victory" here, and "Montrose" (over 15 minutes) on their next (live) album. Arguably "The Victory" is the best [ citation needed ] of their long tracks because of the masterful variations in tempo, instrumentation and choice of voices. The biggest surprise [ citation needed ]was the inclusion of two Brecht songs. Martin Carthy had sung "Wife of the Soldier" on Byker Hill , using Brecht's words, but the music of Johnny Scott instead of the original music by Kurt Weill. The same arrangement is used here. PJ Harvey later recorded it, as did the Oysterband and Marianne Faithfull. "Pirate Jenny" (The Black Freighter) had been recorded by Judy Collins in the 1960s and it was later to be sung by Barbara Dickson. Maddy gives these two Brecht songs an appropriate flavour of cynicism. [ citation needed ] According to Hugh Fielder in the pop paper Sounds in 1977, there is an uncredited musician here - Mike Batt playing synthesizer.[ citation needed ]

The album is unusual in that it is the only Steeleye studio album that does not use a fiddle at all.[ citation needed ] Instead John Kirkpatrick plays accordion, giving the whole album a very distinct sound from the rest of the band's output. [ citation needed ] No other Steeleye studio album features an accordion, although Hark! The Village Wait features an English concertina on several songs.

The album cover is by the English commercial artist Adrian Chesterman, [3] who was also responsible for creating album art for, amongst others, Motörhead for their 1979 Bomber album and Chris Rea for his 1989 The Road to Hell album.

Reception

Q (May 2007, p. 135): "It was Steeleye Span who carried the British folk rock banner into the '70s, with Martin Carthy's guitar (plus honking accordions and the clear, high voice of Maddy Prior, the band's one constant through endless line-up changes) ringing out on this overlooked album. A shame they should make their most daring music just as punk torched the landscape."

Personnel

Steeleye Span

Track listing

  1. "Awake, Awake" (Traditional) – 5:07
    A love song derived from the Song of Solomon.
  2. "Sweep, Chimney Sweep" (Traditional) – 4:44
    This is from the Copper family, here sung a capella. (Roud 1217) [4]
  3. "The Wife of The Soldier" ( Bertolt Brecht, Scott) – 2:40
    An anti-war song, a sentiment also on "Fighting for Strangers" on the band's previous album, Rocket Cottage .
  4. "The Victory" (Traditional) – 8:37
    First published by John Ashton (in Modern Street Ballads) in 1888. According to Roy Palmer this is a re-writing of a ballad about General Wolfe.
  5. "The Black Freighter" (Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill ) – 5:59
    A barmaid in "The Threepenny Opera" has a fantasy about cutting rich men down to size. The song is also known as "Pirate Jenny".
  6. "Some Rival" (Traditional) – 3:23
    This love song is possibly as old as 1656. Maddy sings it with a gentle acoustic guitar accompaniment. It is also known as "Some Tyrant" and "A Rival Heart" (Roud 587).
  7. "Treadmill Song" (Traditional) – 6:11
    Treadmills were used in English prisons from 1779 to 1902. This was first written down in 1906 in Somerset. Also known at "The Gaol Song" or "Durham Gaol". (Roud 1077)
  8. "Seventeen Come Sunday" (Traditional) – 5:09
    An early version of this song is by Robert Burns (1792). A tale of very young love. (Roud 277)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steeleye Span</span> English folk rock band, formed 1969

Steeleye Span are a British folk rock band formed in 1969 in England by Fairport Convention bass player Ashley Hutchings and established London folk club duo Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. The band were part of the 1970s British folk revival, and were commercially successful in that period, with four Top 40 albums and two hit singles: "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Carthy</span> English singer and guitarist (born 1941)

Martin Dominic Forbes Carthy MBE is an English singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in English folk music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, and later artists such as Richard Thompson, since he emerged as a young musician in the early days of the folk revival in the UK during the 1960s and 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Kirkpatrick (musician)</span> English folk musician (born 1947

John Michael Kirkpatrick is an English musician, playing free reed instruments such as the accordion and concertina and performing English folk songs and tunes.

<i>Please to See the King</i> 1971 studio album by Steeleye Span

Please to See the King is the second album by Steeleye Span, released in 1971. A major personnel change following their previous effort, Hark! The Village Wait, brought about a substantial change in their overall sound, including a lack of drums and the replacement of one female vocalist with a male vocalist. The band even reprised a song from their debut, "The Blacksmith", with a strikingly different arrangement making extensive use of syncopation. Re-recording songs would be a minor theme in Steeleye's output over the years, with the band eventually releasing an entire album of reprises, Present – The Very Best of Steeleye Span.

<i>Ten Man Mop, or Mr. Reservoir Butler Rides Again</i> 1971 studio album by Steeleye Span

Ten Man Mop or Mr. Reservoir Butler Rides Again is the third album by Steeleye Span, recorded in September 1971. It was issued on the short-lived Pegasus label, and then the Mooncrest label, also in 1971. It was not initially issued in the US until Chrysalis acquired the group's first three albums in 1975, when it reissued all three in the UK and US. Tracks like "Four Nights Drunk", "Marrowbones", and "Wee Weaver" are essentially pure folk. It was the last album to feature founding member Ashley Hutchings; he left the band in November 1971, just after its completion, partly because he felt that the album had moved too far toward Irish music and away from English music. The band was also considering touring America, and Hutchings was reluctant to make the trip.

<i>All Around My Hat</i> (album) 1975 studio album by Steeleye Span

All Around My Hat is a 1975 album by Steeleye Span, their eighth and highest-charting; it reached number 7 on the UK Albums Chart, and stayed on the chart for six months. It was produced by Mike Batt, who also produced their follow-up album Rocket Cottage. It briefly made the band a household name in the UK. In the United States it became the band's first album to chart, reaching number 143.

Brass Monkey are an English folk band from the 1980s, who reunited in the late 1990s. They were innovative in their use of a brass section which was atypical for English folk music.

<i>Now We Are Six</i> (album) 1974 studio album by Steeleye Span

Now We Are Six is the sixth studio album by British folk rock band Steeleye Span. Its title refers to both its sequence among their albums, and the band's size, in light of the addition of drummer Nigel Pegrum. The album was released in 1974 through Chrysalis Records. It reached number 13 in the UK albums chart.

<i>Commoners Crown</i> 1975 studio album by Steeleye Span

Commoners Crown is the seventh studio album by British folk rock band Steeleye Span, released in 1975 by Chrysalis Records. It was their second album with the band's most commercially successful line-up. The album reached number 21 in the UK album charts.

<i>Rocket Cottage</i> 1976 studio album by Steeleye Span

Rocket Cottage is the ninth studio album by British folk rock band Steeleye Span. It was released in 1976 by Chrysalis Records. Produced by Mike Batt, it was hoped that the album would cement the band's popular and commercial success, building on their breakthrough into the UK Top 10 with their previous album All Around My Hat and its title track, which reached #5 on the UK singles chart. By the time it was released, the sudden explosion of the British Punk scene saw audience tastes in the UK rapidly shift away from formerly popular genres like folk rock and progressive rock, and groups that previously been critical favourites, like Steeleye Span and Yes, soon found themselves being derided as "dinosaurs". Rocket Cottage did not reach the Top 40, and it was the last album recorded by the "classic" mid-seventies lineup of the group, with Peter Knight and Bob Johnson both subsequently leaving the group.

<i>Live at Last</i> (Steeleye Span album) 1978 live album by Steeleye Span

Live at Last is a live album by the British folk rock band Steeleye Span. It is the first live album the band issued, after eight years of performing and releasing 10 studio albums. It was originally intended to be a farewell album. "This then is our eleventh and final album. Steeleye Span amicably disbanded five days after making this recording for reasons that are irrelevant here.”

<i>Sails of Silver</i> 1980 studio album by Steeleye Span

Sails of Silver is the eleventh studio album by British folk rock band Steeleye Span. It was released in 1980 by Chrysalis Records. The album was produced two years after the band's ostensible break-up. At the request of Chrysalis Records Peter Knight and Bob Johnson both returned, replacing their own replacements Martin Carthy and John Kirkpatrick, who departed after the release of Live at Last. Despite being produced by Elton John's producer Gus Dudgeon, Sails of Silver was a commercial failure, and this proved a final straw for Tim Hart, who departed the band, leaving Maddy Prior as the band's sole remaining founding member.

<i>Battle of the Field</i> 1976 studio album by The Albion Country Band

Battle of the Field is a folk rock album by the Albion Country Band, recorded in summer 1973 immediately prior to the band's breakup and only released in 1976 following public demand.

<i>Horkstow Grange</i> 1998 studio album by Steeleye Span

Horkstow Grange is an album by British folk rock band Steeleye Span.

<i>Bloody Men</i> 2006 studio album by Steeleye Span

Bloody Men is the 20th studio album by British folk rock band Steeleye Span.

<i>Tonights the Night...Live</i> 1992 live album by Steeleye Span

Tonight's the Night...Live is the second live album by British folk rock band Steeleye Span.

<i>Because Its There</i> 1979 studio album by Martin Carthy

Because It's There is an album by Martin Carthy, released in 1979. It was re-issued by Topic Records on CD in 1995.

<i>Out of the Cut</i> 1982 studio album by Martin Carthy

Out of the Cut is an album by Martin Carthy, released in 1982. It was re-issued by Topic Records on CD in 1994.

References

  1. ↑ Sleger, Dave. Storm Force Ten at AllMusic
  2. ↑ Q, May 2007, Issue 250.
  3. ↑ "Website of the artist, www.adrianchesterman.com".
  4. ↑ Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, Sweep Chimney Sweep Roud Folksong Index, (S162456)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.