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Winter
Park Records PRK CD74
'Tis the season when bedraggled consumers shuffle cheerlessly around the nation's department stores to that perennially prescriptive soundtrack of Slade, Cliff Richard and that Paul McCartney one where he goads us into having a "Wonderful Christmas Time" in the manner of a rictus-grinned hectoring holiday camp redcoat. Bah humbug! Can't we have something fresh, festive and less intimidating to listen to?
Why yes. Last year Jethro Tull did the honours with their Christmas Album (no need for fancy titular wrapping when the content does what it says on the tin) and this year Steeleye Span step into the breach with Winter, a collection of seasonal folk spice that could bring spiritual joy even unto the hearts of every Herod-esque cynic under the sun (there's plenty too for the mistletoe-hunting solstice reveller).
Even time-honoured carols like The First Nowell and a particularly spectral In The Bleak Midwinter seem spruced up to the point where Steeleye's ingenuity offsets the listener's perfunctory sensations of over-familiarity. Conversely, Steeleye Span's prestigiously evergreen standing in the folk firmament - is there no stone they've left unturned over the years? - means they can become a little self-referential at times. Although Down In Yon Forest and Blow Your Trumpet Gabriel bear Steeleye's hallmark of quality they do recall the older pastures of Alison Gross and Fighting For Strangers.
But these are minor quibbles in a sea of cranberry sauce. As varied as a hamper - the beautiful bell-like clarity of Chanticleer, the gospel of Bright Morning Star, Peter Knight's Dire Straits-flavoured violin interlude - Steeleye even don the self-deprecatingly stupid party hat for an irreverential, punkabilly-paced jounce through Good King Wenceslas. If nothing else, this shining moment of daftness ought to put an accelerative spring in the step of the stoop-shouldered Chrismas shoppers pitied in the very first paragraph of this review. Merry Christmas!
Kevin Maidment - December 2005
See also:
Steeleye Span | They Called Her Babylon
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 Steeleye are the masters of the folk craft, Maddy Prior has a voice unmatched, and this album, as any other by them, sums up just how I feel on any particular day. Get this album.
TaffetaPunk, Portsmouth
I couldn't agree more. Maddy Priors voice is as perfect as ever and new member Nicol fits in well. A Steeleye fan from 1970 to 1975.I considered their "Commoners Crown" album the last decent effort until the release of "Bedlam Born". Now with "They Called Her Babylon" I am well and truly hooked again. This is almost as good as my favourite, "Parcel of Rogues".
Julian Foulger, Micklethwaite, Cumbria
Magic Maddie, "The Voice", I hope she never stops singing
Ray, Cape Town
Havnt heard it,but if Maddy still has the voice then i bet its great!She bought me a pint on my 18th at Bham town hall.And she signed my bus ticket!Bloody Brilliant!
Matty Cochrane, Birmingham
As a fan of some 30 years, I was bound to be subjective about this album, so I won't say how distinctive Maddy's vocals are, nor how excellent the playing of all the musicians. But I would recommend this album to anyone with a liking for traditional Christmas/winter music played with energy and conviction in an original and modern style. I love the Trad. carols, "Hark the Herald Angels", "The first Nowell" in particular. You suddenly hear those "old familiar carols" in a fresh and interesting way, that is also catchy. I love Peter Knight's composition and title track "Winter", an instrumental which like all the best music, grows on you. The sheer Joy of the Christmas season springs out of "Today in Bethlehem", which really gets your feet tapping.
My only reservation is a rather reserved version of "See Amid the Winter's Snow". Peter Knight's Mandolin doesn't quite ignite this track, as I would have expected. He seems content to strum along in the background. Ken Nicol's new compositions give the album a particular original edge, and offer a look at the winter celebrations from a "pagan " point of view, and why not...we Christians do well to remember that Winter Solstice came before the birth of Jesus.
I could go on, but I must mention the "outrageous" and great fun version of Good King Wenceslas". As an earlier reviewer said, the band have donned party hats for this one. I wasn't sure at first, but I now feel this track could almost have been a single!!
I e-mailed Jonnie Walker and asked him to play it on his show, to no avail. Maybe next year!
Geoff, Basingstoke
Winter is a superb album, following on the return to form that was They Called her Babylon, whether it's the injection of new blood in the form of Ken Nicol, the return of Rick Kemp and Maddy to the band, i don't know, but something has really set the creative juices flowing, and two Span albums in the space of one year, and two bloody good ones at that, is good news for fans of classic folk rock, and proof that you can teach 'old dogs (no offence)' new tricks!
James Turner, Sheffield | | | | | | |  |
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Folk & Acoustic
