Now We Are Six:

Steeleye Span. Reviewed by Brian King.

Forty-odd minutes, ten tracks full of wonderful electric whimsy from English folk-lore bandits Steeleye Span. Gentle reader, be warned! Gone is the characteristic sea-side shanty, the emblematic wooden-legged sailor: Steeleye Span have taken to the woods. "Now We Are Six", the latest album, is populated with elves and sprites.

The track titles read like a kindergarten primer: 'Thomas The Rhymer', "Two Magicians', 'Seven Hundred Elves', "The Mooncoin Jig' .. and the lyrics are a kind of Little Red Schoolbook for under-fives. 'Seven Hundred Elves' for instance: a song straight from Brothers Grim, about militant elves:

'Seven hundred elves from out the Wood/ tired and grim (?) they were, down to the farmers house they went/his meat and drink to share....." and sounding like 'Volunteers' by Jefferson Airplane.

Steeleye Span are as authentic as old English leather: their music is for the most part traditional. Thus there is a note of real sadness in 'Long A-Growing', due mainly to Maddy Prior's sensitive vocal. The material on "Now We Are Six" reflects a livelier approach to the music. It may have something to do with the new line-up: only Tim Hart and Maddy Prior remain from the musicians who played on the earlier "Hark the Village Wait" album. The title track and 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' are both rendered in quavering falsetto by the Sr. Eleye Primary School Choir — how delightful can you get?

Ian Anderson adds a touch of mischief to 'Thomas', and David Bowie plays sax on To Know Him Is To Love Him' — which is about equivalent to Eric Clapton playing triangle with Alice Cooper on Zappas' 'Uncle Meat'. There's something deliciously sensual about the weird, soaring harmonies that leave shivers in their wake, especially on "Two Magicians'. On each track the separate instruments — the crisp snare, bass, lead guitar — and lead voice are clearly discernible, Ah....working man's magic.

"Now We Are Six" offers a solution to everything: it's the perfect opiate for the undergraduate Tolkien mind: it's the realised hope of the serious listener of folk music — a return to olde English lunacy, replete with Grace Slick vocals and Kanter guitar.

Steeleye Span are due to give a concert in the Town Hall in August. If you saw the incredible the Fairport and Pentangle shows were then you won't miss: "Don't you see on bonny, bonny, road/that lies across the burny brae/ that is the road to fair elf-land/where you and I this night must go......"