Steeleye Span is for many people the ultimate folk rock band, and I won’t argue – even though it’s only their very first albums that have secured the band a permanent golden chair in the folk rock heaven. ‘Hark! The Village Wait’ was the band’s debut album, and what an album! This really is the stuff that legends are made of, as it’s all so damn… perfect! That is perhaps not so strange either – I mean, when you have TWO vocal goddesses (Maddy Prior and the much less known Gay Woods – the latter unfortunaltely left after this album) in a band, as well as folk legends like Terry Woods, Tim Hart and not least Ashley Hutchings, the album you’re making is almost bound to be something very special. The songwriting is of course flawless, and so is the playing and arrangements. The music is very traditional, and that is perfectly fine by me – as these guys and gals had and still have this kind of music in their veins. My absolute favourite song on the album is ‘Lowlands of Holland’ – originally a Scottish folk song. It never fails to give me goosebumps all over. In the lyrics, a woman tells about her husband who was “pressed” by the English into an Anglo-Dutch conflict in the West Indies. There he dies, and the widow in her total grief swears that she will never marry again. This is powerful stuff that needs to be haeard. If this masterpiece doesn’t move you, then you are surely dead. But this is just one masterpiece in an album that is full of them. It would be way too meandering to describe them all, but the uptempo and still melancholic ‘The Blacksmith’, the tale about the ‘Dark-eyed Sailor’ and ‘All Things Are Quite Silent’ are some of the other true gems you will hear. ‘Hark! The Village Wait’ is simply one of the best albums ever made. It will also be a perfect introduction for anyone who wants to dive into classic folk rock. And that is something you should really do, if you haven’t already done so!
Steeleye Span – Hark! The Village Wait (RCA Victor 1970)
