Steeleye Span — Cassette

Intro

Steeleye Span sounds like a medieval pageant that wandered into a 1970s rock studio. Their music is defined by the crystalline, commanding soprano of Maddy Prior, often surrounded by intricate, multi-part vocal harmonies that feel like they were lifted directly from a 16th-century cathedral. Beneath these ethereal voices, however, lies a surprisingly muscular rhythm section that isn't afraid to use fuzz-drenched electric guitars and driving basslines to propel ancient stories of knights, ghosts, and star-crossed lovers into the modern era.

What truly distinguishes them is their commitment to the 'rock' in folk rock without losing the 'folk.' Unlike many of their contemporaries who used folk as a flavor, Steeleye Span often treated the traditional material as the absolute law, simply changing the tools used to express it. Their early work is notable for its lack of drums, relying on Ashley Hutchings' melodic bass to provide the pulse, while their mid-70s peak introduced a polished, almost glam-adjacent sheen that made traditional music feel like stadium pop.

Start with 'Below the Salt' to hear them at their most atmospheric and balanced. It features their iconic a cappella hit 'Gaudete,' which perfectly showcases their vocal prowess, alongside tracks that demonstrate their ability to weave electric violin and guitar into the fabric of traditional song structures.

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". Steeleye Span have seen many personnel changes, with Maddy Prior being the only remaining original member of the band. Their musical repertoire consists of mostly traditional songs with one or two instrumental tracks of jigs and/or reels added; the traditional songs often include some of the Child Ballads. In their later albums there has been an increased tendency to include music written by the band members, but they have never moved completely away from traditional music, which draws upon pan-British traditions.

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