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2009 import-only three CD set from the British Folk Rock institution. Subtitled: A Parcel of Steeleye Span. Their First Five Chrysalis Albums - 1972-1975, this triple disc set contains the entirety of their first five albums for the Chrysalis Records label (from 1972's Below The Salt to 1975's All Around My Hat) with a few bonus tracks thrown in for good measure. Steeleye Span are so well entrenched in the annals of folk history that it is sometimes easy to forget that, for two or three years in the middle of the 1970s, they were likewise poised on the very brink of mainstream rock superstardom.
Two major U.K. hit singles, the unaccompanied Latin carol "Gaudete," and the bouncing "All Around My Hat" bookended no less than three albums that made serious inroads into the popular consciousness. Similarly, the involvement of such stars as David Bowie (sax on a weird reinvention of "To Know Him Is to Love Him"), Ian Anderson, and Mike Batt (producing an album apiece), Peter Sellers (special guest on "New York Girls"), and Tony Secunda (manager at the end of this period) added its own magical cachet. All three of those albums -- Now We Are Six, Commoners Crown, and All Around My Hat -- are included here, together with the two LPs that preceded them: 1972's Below the Salt (including the original version of "Gaudete") and Parcel of Rogues from the following year. And tracing the band's progression from one end of the span to the other, it is clear that Steeleye were never a simple folk band, even by the amplified parameters of the day. Performances like "Alison Gross" (heavy metal for the hard of hearing) and "Cam Ye O'er Frae France," from Parcel of Rogues, are all but a genre of their own, while the previous year's "King Henry" haunts the same gothic cathedrals as the first King Crimson album. Things do settle down a little on the later records, although Now We Are Six is almost avant-garde in its approach to vocal arrangements and audience expectations ("Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and the aforementioned collision of Bowie and Phil Spector); plus, it includes the pulsating "Thomas the Rhymer," the monster hit single that never was. Commoners Crown, too, has more peaks than troughs, with the lengthy murder ballad "Long Lankin" unquestionably a Steeleye standout. Which leaves All Around My Hat, an album whose memory may have been scarred by the ubiquity of its title track, but which packs its own fair share of jewels. Of course, it seems hard to believe that anybody who cares does not already own these five albums in one form or another. But if, by some twist of fate, you've managed to avoid them, a smart box, a good price, and a clutch of relevant bonus tracks are now yours for the taking.


Tracklisting CD 1:
BELOW THE SALT:
01. Spotted Cow
02. Rosebud In June
03. Jigs: The Bride's Favourite / Tansey's Fancy
04. Sheepcrook And Black Dog
05. Royal Forester
06. King Henry
07. Gaudete
08. John Barleycorn
09. Saucy Sailor
10. Gaudete (Single Version)
11. The Holly And The Ivy (Single В Side)
PARCEL OF ROGUES:
12. One Misty Moisty Morning
13. Alison Gross
14. The Bold Poachers
15. The Ups And Downs
16. Robbery With Violin

Tracklisting CD 2:
PARCEL OF ROGUES:
01. The Wee Wee Man
02. The Weaver And The Factory Maid
03. Rogues In A Nation
04. Cam Ye O'er Frae France
05. Hares On The Mountain
06. Bonny Moorhen (From the "Parcel Of Rogues" Sessions)
NOW WE ARE SIX:
07. Seven Hundred Elves
08. Drink Down The Moon
09. Now We Are Six
10. Thomas The Rhymer
11. The Mooncoin Jig
12. Edwin
13. Long-A-Growing
14. Two Magicians
15. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
16. To Know Him Is To Love Him
17. The Wife Of Ushers Well (Live - 1974)

Tracklisting CD 3:
COMMONERS CROWN:
01. Little Sir Hugh
02. Bach Goes To Limerick
03. Long Lankin
04. Dogs And Ferrets
05. Galtee Farmer
06. Demon Lover
07. Elf Call
08. Weary Cutters
09. New York Girls
ALL AROUND MY HAT:
10. Black Jack Davy
11. Hard Times Of Old England
12. Cadgwith Anthem
13. Sum Waves (Tunes)
14. The Wife Of Ushers Well
15. Gamble Gold (Robin Hood)
16. All Around My Hat
17. Dance With Me
18. Bachelors Hall

Extra Informatie:
Aantal Discs: 3xCD
Genre: Rock, Folk Rock
Format: MP3 @ 320kbit
Year of Release: 2009
Speelduur: 213 minuten
Cover: Front, Back en Insides zijn in de RARs verwerkt