> Steeleye Span > Records > Below the Salt
Steeleye Span: Below the Salt
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Below the Salt Chrysalis CHR 1008 (LP, g/f sleeve, UK, September 1972) |
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Chrysalis Promo Box Set October 1972, 8 page booklet, leatherette box set containing: |
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Produced by Steeleye Span and Jerry Boyd.
Engineered and Jerry Boyd.
Art Direction and Design by Grahame Berney.
Notes by Tim Hart.
Sound monitor: Gordon Graham.
Equipment monitor: Dennis Jordan.
Recorded at Sound Techniques, Chelsea, London.
Thanks to The English Folk Dance and Song Society, Charlie (WEM) Watkins, Sound City, Dave Bland, Rev. and Mrs. Hart, not forgetting, of course, John Bowlin, and Oliver Wade.
Musicians
Maddy Prior, vocals, morrisette, tambourine;
Tim Hart, vocals, guitar, dulcimer, tabor, spoons;
Bob Johnson, vocals, guitar;
Peter Knight, violin, viola, mandolin, tenor banjo, piano, vocals;
Rick Kemp, bass, drum, vocals
Tracks
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Comment
Recorded at Sound Techniques, Chelsea, London May and June '72. Production by Steeleye Span “because after the split with Sandy Roberton we didn't know anyone else up to it.” The songs were largely chosen by Maddy and Tim, with Pete adding the jigs. Bob Johnson provided the tune for King Henry, and suggested the band should include Gaudete, later a massive Christmas hit. On the album it was faded in and out almost apologetically. The original idea, says Tim, was to “give the impression of a group of monks walking through cloisters, singing.” The album also included the haunting Sheep-Crook and Black Dog, the stage favourite Spotted Cow (later to be dressed up in a reggae version), and Saucy Sailor, still included in the band's set.
Tim Hart, Robin Denselow: The Complete Steeleye Span, 1978
Sleeve Notes
Below the salt - this, as its most vivid, can be found in the use of salt at the medieval food table. Here salt (an expensive and rare commodity of the time) was placed at the centre of the table. Above the salt sat the family and intimates of the household, below the salt sat the servants and dependants. Usually this.
Spotted Cow
Collected from the singing of Harry Cox of Norfolk.
Maddy: vocals, morrisette. Tim: vocals, tabor. Bob: guitar. Pete: mandolin. Rick: bass.
I first saw her through the swirling mists that rose from the Thames, her
body illuminated by the gas-lamp beneath which she stood. Her imitation
jewellery reflected the hissing flame and I could just discern the long
slit in her skirt and the badly applied rouge on her cheeks. As I neared
her she turned towards me in a practised manner.
“I've lost my spotted cow,” she said in a voice coarsened by the inclement
weather but still retaining the charm of a country accent.
I looked at her, suddenly moved, “What brought you to this sorry state?”
I asked. -
Rosebud in June
From the Journal of the Folk Song Society. Collected from William King by Cecil Sharp in Somerset, 1904.
“Reality is a complex of related hypotheses,” he said pulling up the horses.
“Take they hypotheses yonder.” He pointed to a flock of sheep with the
wet end of his sucking straw. “Now theyse all related in a complex sort of
way so theyse got ter be real ain't they.”
Ned looked at him very hard. “Ev you been drinkin' with parson again?”
Jigs: The Bride's Favourite / Tansey's Fancy
Pete: fiddles, mandolins, tenor banjo. Rick: bass. Bob: guitar. Tim: spoons.
So there we was sitting in this dressing room when in comes this guy with
glasses and he says, “Oim afraid youse got de wrong toitles for de toons,”
and the he goes and rattles off a whole load of Garlic what we couldn't
make out, so we gets the roadies to see him off.
Handy things roadies.
Sheep-Crook and Black Dog
Collected by Ewan MacColl from Queen Caroline Hughes, a gipsy living, at the time, in Dorset.
Maddy: vocals. Tim: guitar. Pete: fiddle. Bob: guitar. Rick: bass, drum.
With you I would share my position as clerk in the accounts department;
with you I would share my desk, pens and ledgers;
with you I would share my luncheon vouchers and season ticket -
But since you became an 'exotic dancer' in that Soho club we seem to have
grown apart.
Royal Forester
From the singing of John Strachan.
Maddy: vocals. Pete: fiddle, viola, vocals. Tim: dulcimer, vocals. Bob: guitar. Rick: bass.
Subtitled 'The Aboriculturist Meets Superwoman'.
The first English text appeared in Anchovy Ram's elementary drum tutor 'Half way to Para-diddle', published in 1293.
Although a faithful translation of the original Latin there is still scholarly dispute as to the spelling of the name 'Erwilian' and over the use of the word 'leylan'.
King Henry
(Child 32) From 'The English and Scottish Popular ballads' edited by Francis James Child.
Bob: vocals, guitar. Maddy: vocals, tambourine. Pete: violin, viola, vocals. Rick: bass, vocals. Tim: guitar.
The shrill cry of an owl echoed to a woodland hut telling 'The Daughter of
King Under-waves' of the approaching knight. She moved her misshapen form
(cursed on her by a wicked step-mother) through the doorway.
At every step the ground was shaken, at every turn there blew a storm,
the very sky darkened as she passed. But would tonight be the knight.
Gaudete
From Piae Cantiones (Finland, 1582)
Mist takes the morning path to wreath the willows - Rejoice, rejoice - small birds sing as the early rising monk takes to his sandals - Christ is born of the Virgin Mary - cloistered, the Benedictine dawn threads timelessly the needles eye - rejoice.
John Barleycorn
Collected by Fred Hamer from Billy Bartle in Bedfordshire. Dedicated to Margaret Hamer.
Tim: vocals. Bob: acousitc guitar. Rick: bass. Pete: violin, vocals. Maddy: vocals.
Adam, Cain and Abel staggered manfully across the field carrying a plough, a harrow and a grain of wheat ... John Barleycorn - mysterious intimations from above told them to dig three deep furrows and bury him - this done they returned home and started to draw up plans for the first ale house.
Saucy Sailor
From the Journal of the Folk Song Society. Collected by George Butterworth in Sussex, 1907.
Maddy: vocals. Tim: acoustic guitar, vocals. Rick: bass. Bob: guitar. Pete: piano.
Seven long years he strode the seven seas,
Seven league boots, salt-caked above the knees,
Seven bright stars, the road across the foam,
Seven light verses tell his coming home.
Review
Aus dem großen Plattenangebot der britischen Folk- und Folk-Rock-Szene zum Ende des letzten Jahres sei hier - last but not least - die vierte LP von Steeleye Span besprochen. Die Gruppe hatte zuletzt Anfang '72 von sich reden gemacht, als sie - nach einem kometenhaften Aufstieg zu einer der populärsten Folk-Formationen in England - auf einem Höhepunkt ihrer Karriere mit Ashley “Tyger” Hutchings und Martin Carthy (heute heißen beide Albion Country Band) gleich zwei bedeutende Musikerpersönlichkeiten verlor. Nach der Neubesetzung durch Rick Kemp (Bass) und Bob Johnson (Gitarre) wurde allgemein eine Wandlung des electric folk-Konzepts und eine stärkere Hinwendung zum Rock hin erwartet - doch plötzlich ließ die Gruppe nichts mehr von sich hören und trat erst wieder auf dem großen Festival im Spätsommer mit einem neuen Repertoire und dann im November mit ihrem neuen Album an die Öffentlichkeit.
Below the Salt zu loben, scheint mit überflüssig - auch in deutschen Folkkreisen hat es sich inzwischen längst herumgesprochen, dass es kaum eine Gruppe gibt, die in ihren Bearbeitungen traditioneller Musik Authentizität, Kreativität und Sinn für zeitgemäße Darbietungsformen in einem solchen Maße verbindet wie Steeleye Span.
Ich möchte hier vielmehr anhand der LP auf einige Tendenzen aufmerksam machen, die mir für die Entwicklung der Gruppe charakteristisch erscheinen. Zunächst: Der vielleicht erwartete stilistische Wandel ist ausgeblieben. Zwar bringen die beiden neuen Gruppenmitglieder, besonders Rick Kemp durch sein gewaltig marschierendes Bassspiel (z.B. in King Henry), neue Anregungen in die Gruppe - im Ganzen aber führt Below the Salt die Tradition der früheren Veröffentlichungen fort (vgl. Spotted Cow, Jigs etc.) Dabei ist jedoch zu beachten, dass Tim Hart und Maddy Prior, nach dem Weggang von Hutchings und Carthy zweifellos der Kern der Gruppe, mehr und mehr in den Vordergrund rücken. Am deutlichsten greifbar ist diese Tenzdenz in der Version des John Barleycorn, die (mit einer Begleitung, die Peter Knight, Rick Kemp und Bob Johnson fast ganz in den Hintergrund rückt) fast von einem der Soloalben von Tim Hart und Maddy Prior stammen könnte. Als Gegenpol zu der etwas freieren Spielweise der Band in King Henry) und einigen anderen Stücken lässt sich eine Wendung von der romantisch eingefärbten Spielart des Folk zur strengeren Form des mittelalterlichen Gesangs verfolgen.
Diese Tendenz kommt klar zum Ausdruck in Gaudete, einem religiösen Lied aus der Sammlung der Piae Cantiones von 1582, und der Strenge der Kirchentonarten von Rosebud in June und Sheep-Crook and Black Dog. Dass diese Rückwendung zu den frühen Formen des Folk nichts Beiläufiges ist, sondern die Entwicklung der Gruppe ganz entscheidend betrifft, verbürgen Titel und Cover dieser LP, die sich ebenfalls auf einen mittelalterlichen Brauch beziehen: Die Sitzordnung am Esstisch wurde nach dem Salz (damals ein sehr kostbares Gewürz) ausgerichtet, das seinen Platz in der Mitte der Tafel fand; "Below the Salt" saßen gewöhnlich nur die Diener und Knechte.
Rolf, Sounds, 1973