Customer Reviews

King of Elfland's Daughter

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Yes, children, we had superstars in the Seventies.

And then we had quirky projects like this one.

Based on the novel of the same name by Lord Dunsany (q.v.), which also was a major inspiration for the fantasy of Michael Moorcock (note the lines here about Alvaric's sword :"Rune singer, doom bringer... Death dealer, soul stealer..."), this was a side project for Johnson & Knight then (and again recently) in Steeleye Span, and a whole lot of other oddly assorted Brit folkie, blues and theatrical types; part of the Seventies fad for elaborate concept albums.

It's a good one, nonetheless.

Narrated by Christopher Lee, the only living actor i know of who can speak in boldface (who also portrays the King of Elfland and sort-of sings one song), this is the story of the ill-advised decision by the people of the land of Erl to demand that their Lord's son, Alveric (Frankie Miller), go to Elfland and find and steal and marry the King of Elfland's daughter, Lirazel (Mary Hopkin), in order to bear a magic son to rule Erl. (Why is not specified here, but it sounds like a bad idea to me.)

Pausing only to get himself a sword forged from a thunderbolt by a blues-shouting witch (P.P.Arnold), Alveric sets out and does just that, and he and Lirazel are happily settled in the mortal world when the King sends a troll (Brit blues legend Alexis Korner) with a rune, and Lirazel is forced to return to Elfland, which means, of course, that Alveric has to go on another quest to find her (aptly summed up in the song "(Just) Another Day of Searching"), while various denizens of Elfland, having sneaked across the border, raise hob in Erl ("Too Much Magic", which features a school choir on backing vocals).

Finally, however, the King relents, and, in a compromise of sorts, annexes Erl into Elfland, which leads to the final song, "Beyond the Fields We Know", beautifully sung by Hopkin.

This outline sounds sillier than Dunsany's original story, or even the album, but the album *does* suffer a bit from the fact that they have compressed a pretty good-sized novel into one album -- but is pretty good for all that.

Several of the songs (particularly "Witch!", with its bluess anthem verse and chorus/forging spell ending in the ringing declaration "Thunderbolt iron will win the day!", "The Coming of the Troll", in Korner's whiskey-voiced bark "I'm so free nothing can catch me!", and the final song, summing up the lure and grandeur and wonder of all good fantasy. promising that "Someday we shall go where there is neither Right nor Wrong...") are likely to stay with you a while, and the portrayal of Dunsany's twilit, sepia-toned fantasy world is accurate enough that one can almost see the strange woods and twisted castles of Elfland.

I don't know if i'd recommend this for *everyone* -- but fans of Dunsany or of Michael Moorcock or of that sort of fantasy in general should certainly consider it, as should fans of Mary Hopkin or Christopher Lee.

I enjoyed the other two reviews and must agree with all they proffered concerning this record. My spouse who is not of the '70s generation of listeners thought it was Type O Nagative's Peter Steele singing when she heard the opening of Christopher Lee doing one of the songs.

I find little to say on the production. I enjoyed it, plus the artwork on the cover. If I have anything to say negative it is that it would have been better if this were a double LP. It would have given more space to develop the theme of the story taken from Lord Dunsany's book of the same name. A reading of the book might help listners to understand the theme of the record better.

Previous reviewer does a fine job - but does not note that there is a small but vocal cult following this (not that kind of cult)- the ones I am aware of being in SF/Fantasy Con circles (filking,etc. for those who know it). Thunderbolt Iron/in the Elf-King's castle (the battle for the Princess/ and the war-song Beyond the Fields We Know make the album - but it is all worth the effort to find.

So let me get the personal baggage out of the way ... I'm not a big fantasy/fairytale novel fan. I actually read Lord Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter while in high school, but as was the case with the Tolken trilogy, it just didn't make that much of an impression on me. I certainly enjoyed reading the book, but it didn't turn me into a lifelong fanatic.

Steeleye Span singer/guitarist Bob Johnson and multi-instrumentalist Pete Knight were obviously more taken with the book and in 1977 they pair turned their combined talents to adapting the book to LP format. Written and produced by the pair, "The King of Elfland's Daughter" featured a truly impressive list of participants, including P.P. Arnold (the Witch), Mary Hopkin (Lirazel), actor Christopher Lee in the role of the King of Elfland/narrator, and Frankie Miller (Alveric). So giving credit where due, Johnson and Knight actually did a pretty good job of turning the intricate novel/fairytale into an album. They obviously ran into some issues having to compress the story into the confines of a 40 minute LP. The basic plotline remained intact (mortal stalks and marries fairy, they parent a magic baby; mortal loses fairy, mortal spends large part of record looking for lost fairy, lovelorn mortal and fairy couple reunite and are happy forever ...), Okay, okay that was a gross simplification of the story, but if you're interested just buy the book. (It would be interesting to know what hardcore fans of the book thought about the LP ...) I'm guessing a double album set would have allowed Johnson and Knight to sketch in a bit more detail. 'Course you can imagine what Chrysalis Records management would have said to such a project. Anyhow, musically this sounded a bit like one of those mid-1970s Rick Wakeman concept albums, or perhaps something The Alan Parsons Project might have conjured up if they'd spent some time playing as an English folk-rock band. The plot was obviously rather intricate so at time you were left with the feeling Johnson and Knight spent more time on the lyrics than the music.

- 'The Request' opened the album opened up with Christopher Lee's instantly recognizable voice setting the stage for the forthcoming quest. The second part of the song featured Chris Farlowe as the ever-bitchin' crowd of villagers demanding that the Lord of Earl send his son Alveric off to Elfland to meet and marry Lirazel the Efl King's daughter. rating: ** stars
- Showcasing Mary Hopkin, 'Lirazel' had a suitable folk feel - very Steeleye Span-ish. Hearing Hopkin getting the intricate and extensive lyrics out has always made me smile. One of the prettier songs on the album with some nice instrumentation. rating: *** stars
- Of course every fairytale has to have a witch so enter P.P. Arnold. Besides Arnold's shrill vocal, my main problem with 'Witch' stemmed from the fact it had a very stage-show feel. Yeah, I guess it was a rock song, but it just felt very calculated, though that was obviously necessary since Alveric somehow had to lay his hands on a magic sword forged out of a thunderbolt. rating: ** stars
- Frankie Miller's always been one of my favorite singers and he sounded great on the pounding 'Alveric's Journey Through Elfland'. Yeah, the lyric (Alveric meets the Elf princess), was a little different than your standard Miller track, but this one surrounded him with a surprisingly rock-flavored arrangement. rating: *** stars
- An extended Christopher Lee spoken word segment (well, technically Lee actually tried to sing a little bit), you just knew happiness couldn't last in a fairytale and 'The Rune of the Elf King' served to underscore those sentiments ... Those damn humans; they destroy everything they touch (sadly a true statement). In case anyone cared, I believe a rune was something like a poem. rating: ** stars
- Alexis Korner as the Troll sent to retrieve the Elfland King's daughter ... not sure why that's always struck me as such a great choice. Musically this was the album's most interesting number. In spite of Korner's raw, gargled-with-sandpaper voice, this one was almost a pop song. rating: *** stars
- The first part of 'Just Another Day of Searching' surrounded Frankie Miller with a fragile string quartet. The result was a bit unsettling and seemed to go on about ten years (incidently the length of time Alveric spent searching for Lirahzel, but when the song actually got going and opened up into a slightly more pop structure, it turned into one of the album's prettiest performances. rating: *** stars
- Derek Brimstone (a total unknown to me) was featured on 'Too Much Magic'. A breezy, sing-along track complete with a children's chorus, this was probably the album's most outright commercial offering. rating: *** stars
- Okay, okay, there's a happy ending with The King of Elfland using the last of his powers to reunited Lirazel and Alveric, in the process apparently annexing the land of Erl in Elfland. Abandoning her pained-little-girl voice for a somewhat more muscular performance, Hopkin actually sounded pretty good on this one. rating: *** stars

The album was actually tapped for a couple of singles. Credited to The Elfland Ensemble, in the UK the choice was:
- 1977's 'Too Much Magic' b/w 'Lizarel' (Chrysalis catalog number CHS 2151)


Credited to Chris Farlowe and Mary Hopkin, in Holland the choice was:
- 1977's 'The Request' b/w 'Lizarel' (Chrysalis catalog number 11 346)

So try to remember that the mid-1970s were a time of punk aggression and quirky excess . This one definitely fits in the quirky category. Probably not something most folks would want to hear on a regular basis, but it's certainly as good as most of Rick Wakeman's catalog ...

"The King of Elfland's Daughter" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) The Request (Bob Johnson - Pete Knight) - 3:23
2.) Lirazel (Bob Johnson - Pete Knight) - 4:11
3.) Witch (Bob Johnson - Pete Knight) - 3:35
4.) Alveric's Journey Through Elfland (Bob Johnson - Pete Knight) - 4:57

(side 2)
1.) The Rune of the Elf King (Bob Johnson - Pete Knight) - 3:59
2.) The Coming of the Troll (Bob Johnson - Pete Knight) - 1:53
3.) Just Another Day of Searching (Bob Johnson - Pete Knight) - 5:09
4.) Too Much Magic (Bob Johnson - Pete Knight) - 3:58
5.) We Know (Bob Johnson - Pete Knight) - 4:29

When I was a child we had this album at home and we also had it on tape so we could listen to it in the car. Back then, I did'nt understand the lyrics but was fascinated by the voice of Christopher Lee, the running Troll, the scary Witch and thundering King. Since long, the album and tape have vanished and it is great to have it back, on CD. The music is as wonderful as ever and even now I do understand the lyrics, it has'nt lost any of the magic it had for me when I was little.

Maybe you can get an idea of how much I like this by knowing that I have spent over 20 years trying to find a CD of it. I first started when I began replacing some of my VAST LP collection with CDs. One store finally found a reference, ordered it, but it was out of stock and discontinued. I purchased the LP when it first came out because I have long been a fantasy fan and had read the original story by Lord Dunsany. There may be another clue in the fact that I plan to have "Beyond the Fields We Know" played at my funeral.The music is very memorable, I can still sing "Too Much Magic" for myself.Also happens its a good morality tale - be careful what you wish for..
I wished for this and found it at Amazon and don't think I'll regret it.

Man, oh man....yeah, the 1970's. Being a marginal Steeleye Span fan, I bought this on vinyl when it came out and I must have neglected to sell it ASAP to a used record store. Kinda glad I didn't, or I wouldn't have been able to play it tonight...

This was one of the more pretentious, bombastic experiments of that decade. It begins perfectly, with the useless Chris Farlowe (ex-Atomic Rooster, among others) bellowing out "The Request." Close your eyes and it actually sounds like Tom Jones shouting out the melody to the start of ye olde fairye tayle. Continuing on, the story unfolds (sort of) with erstwhile Hammer films Dracula Christopher Lee trying to piece it all together for us. Included are tunes of varying quality sung by Mary Hopkin (good), P.P. Arnold (bad), Frankie Miller, etc. Fortunately, this album is really short and seems to end before it begins, the "story" kinda sorta being resolved. Worth it for a laugh or two, especially considering how seriously everyone involved seemed to take this ridiculous project, but certainly not worth the high prices some sellers are asking.