Year

Maddy Prior

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 7, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 1993
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Park Records
• ASIN: B0000021NQ
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #214,921 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Maddy Prior is best known as the lead singer of the British folk-rock band Steeleye Span, but on Year she substitutes cello, acoustic piano, and recorder for Steeleye's amplified guitars and fiddle. In fact, the instrumental interludes from the cello and piano provide the glue that holds together the album's two ambitious song suites. The first suite bundles up seven shorter tunes about the four seasons, while the second binds six short songs about the Fabled Hare. This sounds ominously artsy, but Prior's lovely, understated singing, combined with Nick Holland's subdued chamber-folk arrangements, turns the suites into elegantly harmonized triumphs. --Geoffrey Himes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A cogent,intelligent,beautful and exhilerating disc, July 15, 1999

By	Rob Pulleyn (marshall, nc USA) - See all my reviews

I've been a fan of Maddy through her many incarnations, and this is unquestionably her best. It's a concept ablum without pretense: gentle, varied, intense and intelligent. Her own writing has never been better. She obviously took great care in selecting the material so that it flows and surprises concurrently. Hell, it's a great album, one of the best in the last decade. Yup, that good.

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful recording, December 22, 2008

By	Victor Mark (Birmingham, AL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I became interested in finding this album after I heard one track, "Red & Green," by chance on the internet in 1999. It blew me away, the most powerful Christmas song I had ever heard. Finally I got around to ordering the album now. Worth it alone for "Red & Green." Certainly, Maddy Prior is one of the most commanding singers of our time, and the rest of the album is fulfilling as well.

4.0 out of 5 stars Seasonal cycles, in more than one way, February 12, 2000

By	"robfox" (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews

I had the pleasure of seeing Maddy in concert in San Francisco supporting this album. I have been a long-time Steeleye fan and this was a real treat for me. Maddy was spectacular, not merely for her excellent vocals, but for her raport with the audience. She gave us breaks so she could come off the stage and talk to us. How many artists would do that? Delightful in conversation. I embarassed her by telling her she was my favorite vocalist. I have since washed my hand which she shook, but I had to debate it. The album itself is a worthy collection of new and old material. Many of the songs are new renditions of old Steeleye songs, which are good in their own right, but I would really have preferred more new material. The suite 'Year' is mostly her own original material, and her voice and song writing shine forth from the very beginning. The gentle vibrato, the slight twang, and the awesome control are what get me. The way she moves up to high notes still gives me a thrill after listening to her for 25 years. The Fabled Hare, the other long suite, is a classic, mixing mythology, folklore, and even science together. Even sung in several dialects. This album remains a jewel in my collection, partially for the signature I got, but also for the excellence of the music.