An Evening of Carols and Capers is an album by Maddy Prior

Maddy Prior

Maddy Prior is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span.-Early life:...

 with The Carnival Band

The Carnival Band (folk group)

The Carnival Band is an English early music group. Their broad repertoire focuses on popular music fromthe 16th and 17th centuries, and traditional music from around the world. Presentation is informal and humorous, and in the spirit of medieval and renaissance Carnival...

.

This double album is effectively an audio version of the DVD of the same name, though the tracks vary slightly. It is a collection of live recordings from concerts in Oxford and Salisbury. The dates are not given. The songs originated from the studio albums Carols and Capers, Gold, Frankincense & Myrrh and A Tapestry of Carols. To break up the proceedings there are some instrumentals. The "Tinker Polka" derives from a vintage 1930 recording of a Texas Czech band. The song "Balthazar" has an African rhythm, and "Melima" sounds Arabic. "M Charpentier's Christmas Stomp" (CD1) is the same as "M Charpentier's Christmas Swing" (CD2) except that the latter is jazzy. Running time CD1: 37m 57s. CD2: 41m 14s. The package is dated 2005 but it wasn't released until December 2006. The liner notes contain the words to all the songs.

Track listing

CD 1

1. Masters in this Hall
   Masters in This Hall
   "Masters in This Hall" , , is a Christmas carol with words written around 1860 by William Morris to an old French dance tune...
   
    (Words: William Morris
   William Morris
   William Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement...
   
   ; Music: French Trad)
2. The Sans Day Carol (Cornish Trad)
3. God Rest You Merry Gentlemen (Trad)
4. This Endris Night (Anon 16th cent)
5. M Charpentier's Christmas Stomp (instr) (1. French Trad 2. M Charpentier)
6. Let an Anthem of Praise (Words: Caleb Ashworth; Music: Trad)
7. The Oxen (Prior/ Lewin/ Watts/ Mizraki/ Banks/ Davis/ Badley)
8. Balthazar (Prior/ Lewin/ Watts/ Mizraki/ Banks/ Davis/ Badley)
9. Round of the Animals (Prior/ Mizraki)
10. Melima (Prior/ Lewin/ Watts/ Mizraki/ Banks/ Davis/ Badley)

CD 2

1. It Came Upon the Midnight Clear (Tune: Trad. Words EH Sears (18th Cent))
2. On Christmas Night (Sussex Carol
   Sussex Carol
   The Sussex Carol is a Christmas carol popular in Britain, sometimes referred to by its first line On Christmas night all Christians sing. Its words were first published by Luke Wadding, a 17th-century Irish bishop, in a work called Small Garland of Pious and Godly Songs...
   
   ) (Trad)
3. Watt's Cradle Song (Words: Isaac Watts; tune: USA early 19th cent)
4. Vals Musette (instr) (Andre Verchuren Trad)
5. Entre Le Boeuf (sung in French) (Trad)
6. M Charpentier's Christmas Swing (instr) (1. French Trad 2. M Charpentier)
7. Dratenik (Tinker Polka) (instr) (Bacova's Ceska Kapela)
8. The Carnal and the Crane
   The Carnal and the Crane
   "The Carnal and the Crane" is Child ballad 55 and a Christmas carol. It depicts a conversation between two birds—apparently, although the species of the "carnal" has never been identified with any certainty, though crow is generally assumed.-Synopsis:...
   
    (Child 55)(Trad)
9. Ding Dong Merrily on High
   Ding Dong Merrily on High
   "Ding Dong Merrily on High" is a Christmas carol. The tune first appeared as a secular dance tune known as "le branle de l'Official" in Orchésographie, a dance book written by Jehan Tabourot...
   
    (Tune: French Trad; words GR Woodward)
10. Angels from the Realms of Glory (Words: Montgomery; Music: French Trad)
11. Hark, Hark (sung a cappella) (Words: J Stephenson; Tune: Trad)
12. While Shepherds Watched
    While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
    "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks" is a Christmas carol describing the Annunciation to the Shepherds, with words attributed to Irish hymnist, lyricist and England's Poet Laureate, Nahum Tate....
    
    (Words: Nahum Tate/ Nicholas Brady; Tune: Trad)

Personnel

• Maddy Prior - vocals
• Andrew Watts - Shawmes, curtal, clarinet, recorders, Brueghel bagpipes, vocals
• Giles Lewin - Shawm, fiddle, recdorders, medieval bagpipes, tin whistle, mandolin, vocals
• Andrew "Jub" Davis - Bass
• Steve Banks - Drums, percussion, bells, fiddle, vocals
• William "Steno" Badley - baroque guitar, lute, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, banjo mandolin, vocals
• Rafaello Mizraki - Acoustic and electric guitars, lute, mandolin, vocals