All Around My Hat - STEELEYE SPAN****

Black Jack Davy/Hard Times Of Old England/Cadgwith Anthem/Sum Waves/The Wife Of Ushers Well/Gamble Gold-Robin Hood/All Around My Hat/Dance With Me/Batchelors Hall

All Around My Hat was the most commercially successful album from the folk group Steeleye Span featuring vocalist Maddy Prior. It is a crossover release incorporating a stronger electric element. The title track was a UK No. 5 hit. (US:143 UK:7)

“Maddy Prior's voice is probably the biggest factor but the tracks are well written and played. Just be prepared to sing along and enjoy yourself.”

“Purists carped on about the fact that All Around My Hat saw Steeleye Span abandoning their folk roots but, even though they have a point, this can never be a legitimate critique as bands have a right and a need to experiment and develop.”

“The single All Around My Hat was an amazingly big hit but it wasn't the song that attracted me, it was Maddy Prior's wonderful voice. An intriguing cross between medieval wench and operatic diva, without her Steeleye Span would be nothing more than another ceilidh band.”

“On All Around My Hat the band reached a perfect fusion. They still used all their trademark elements, such as strong harmony singing, cheerful fiddles, mythological subjects and Maddy Prior’s fantastic voice, but they electrified it just a bit more than before. All the constituents are employed in a reasonable amount, so that for once the label folk-rock is fully valid.”

“Steeleye Span had a strong following among the UK folk set in the early 1970s. Songs were mainly acoustic and concentrated on adaptations of traditional numbers. All Around My Hat crossed over into pop/rock by delivering some catchy numbers in an electric format. This blasphemy alienated some hard-core fans, but the result was an album of upbeat numbers which retain an authentic folk flavour.”

“All Around My Hat irritated a lot of people in the folk community when it came out for its rather blatant attempt at crossover at the expense of ground already gained. Maddy’s voice sounds great, the title cut was a hit, and the material does stand up reasonably. But the arrangements are less interesting and more pop-like than either the albums that preceded or followed it, giving one a greater feeling of sell-out than planned exploration.”