Hark the Village Wait

Steeleye Span | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 1, 1991)
• Original Release Date: 1991
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Shanachie
• ASIN: B000000E7H
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #180,902 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best British folk-rock album of all time?, May 12, 2001

By 

Kevin K. (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hark the Village Wait (Audio CD)

I would just like to gush over this album for a moment. This remains my favorite British folk-rock album of all time, and has held up through over twelve years of listening.

Steeleye Span released some tremendous albums over the years, especially in the 1972-1976 period. Time (1996) and Bedlam Born (2001) are also incredibly strong as new releases by older bands go...

However, this is the Steeleye Span album to start with. Heck, and end with it too - its that good.

This album is the most accessible one for those who come from rock roots and want to try some Steeleye. Although diehards will tell you Below The Salt and Please To See The King are the classics, they and the other two albums in the 1971-73 period are also the least accessible and most traditional albums, and have no drumming. (Drums reappear in 1974 for Now We Are Six)

Those albums also don't have Gay Woods, a woman who could easily be one of the top 5 or 6 vocalists in British Folk, and yet actually plays second "fiddle" here to Maddy Prior, while constructing some eerie and absolutely gorgeous melodies. And yes, Maddy is THAT good. An incredibly, rich, powerful voice with not only tremendous range, but tremendous tone and versatility, as she can sound anything from diva to chanteuse to little girl.

The most distinctive feature of Steeleye Span is that they were a group that took 400 year old British traditional songs and added crunchy guitar, punchy bass and contemporary arrangements. The Fairport Convention has a couple masterpieces themselves, and The Pentangle has quite a unique quality of their own, but no other group has quite duplicated this sound, nor did they manage to produce work at an extremely high level past the peak 1967-71 period for this genre.

This particular album goes a little bit lighter on the tradition, as well as on the hard rock edges, then do the later albums. For those who don't quite know how you might stomach a song from 1650 with a 90 second electric guitar workout, this album treads a little bit more quietly in both capacities. However, by no means is the album a compromise. The song selection and arrangements are amazing; the songs will simply lodge in your head. The multi-part harmonizing and haunting melodies are nothing short of scintillating. And in an ironic but positive way, the fusion presented by this album is actually a bit ahead of its time, and sounds barely dated in 2001.

This is also in my opinion Steeleye's best album. It is also the album that does not contain a single weak track. Many people will argue that this album is a great "starter" album, both for Steeleye Span themselves, and for the uninitiated British Folk listener. I would like to express my strong view that this is simply a great album, period, possibly the best British Folk-Rock album of all time. Even if not quite as varied as later albums, it stands on its own, strongly and proudly, as an artistic statement.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hark!......... I hear a new and beautiful sound!, June 7, 2005

By 

t'amant (WA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Hark the Village Wait (Audio CD)

Steeleye's first album truly is something special! Every song on here is great...too bad that this line-up didn't get a more thorough work-out since the magic is flying everywhere on this recording, and having BOTH female singers makes this one SOAR (though the male vocals are spot-on as well)! The Blacksmith version on here may be one of my favorite songs I've ever heard in this genre. Other beautiful songs like Fisherman's Wife, Dark-Eyed Sailor, Lowlands of Holland, All Things Are Quite Silent, and One Night as I Lay on my Bed have such great harmonies, melodies and energy (some rock! I'd love to see Tull record a couple of these) that they stick with you long after the cd shuts off. Black-leg Miner is such an energetic and trippy string-whacking and cool vision of a new musical style, I am amazed...even that heavy accent really adds to the song (Bluegrass musicians should check this out). I could go on and on with other songs on HARK! This album is just wonderful from beginning to end, do yourself a favor and let this soak into your soul, you won't regret it. Cross-over appeal is broad with this band. I should further explore Terry and Gay Wood's music to see if this magic was created on other recordings of theirs. I know it was on the (also great) later Steeleye albums (this album has drumming which gives it a familiar feel, although they tried it without drums after this album for awhile). Is there a better way to start a new band and album than the Calling On Song?

You might want to get "Lark in the Morning" if you don't have the 1st 3 Steeleye albums - all 3 remastered on 2 cd's for about $11.00 is a nicely packaged steal! I imagine this band sometimes as hairy-feet Hobbits smoking long-bottom leaf cranking their wired, crazy little electric instruments to the Shire's delight at the great harvest festival - Mordor quakes at the power of these Middle-Earth minstrels, Orcs and Goblins run for their lives...fun thought anyway! Thanks for the gift of your music Steeleye members past and present. The world would feel more empty without it. Enjoy!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fresh sound, amazing vocals, May 31, 2003

By 

Pauline J. Alama "Fantasy author" (Rutherford, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hark the Village Wait (Audio CD)

This first Steeleye Span album is folkier and less rock-influenced than their later work -- but, if you haven't heard them, don't get the false impression that "folky" means soft or wimpy -- or that "traditional" music has to be a dead museum piece. This album bursts with energy. The gutsy yet finely-honed voices of Maddy Pryor and Gay Woods never let you down, either separately or in rich harmony. The tunes are memorable and always make me want to sing along. The mood varies from the romantic "All things are quite silent," to the angry last verse of "Blacksmith" and the creepy, macabre "Twa Corbies." One of my favorite albums ever!