Please to See the King
Encyclopedia
Please To See The King is the second album by Steeleye Span
, released in 1971. A substantial personnel change following their previous effort, Hark! The Village Wait
, brought about a substantial change in their overall sound, including a lack of drums and the replacement of one female vocalist with a male vocalist. The band even reprised a song from their debut, "The Blacksmith", with a strikingly different arrangement making extensive use of syncopation. Re-recording songs would be a minor theme in Steeleye's output over the years, with the band eventually releasing an entire album of reprises, Present--The Very Best of Steeleye Span
.
The title of the album is derived from the "Cutty Wren" ceremony. A winter wren
in a cage is paraded as if it were a king. This rite was carried out on December 26, Saint Stephen
's Day, and is connected to early Christmas
celebrations. The song "The King", appearing on the album, addresses this, and is often performed as a Christmas carol
. Steeleye returned to this subject on Live at Last with "Hunting the Wren" and on Time
with the song "The Cutty Wren
". The custom of Wrenboys is mostly associated with Ireland, but it has been recently revived in England.
All songs appearing on the original album are traditional. "The False Knight on the Road" is one of the Child Ballads
(#3), and concerns a boy's battle of with the devil
in a game of riddles. Hart and Prior had already recorded a version of the song on their album 'Summer Solstice'. "The Lark in the Morning", one of their more popular songs, has the same title as a different song about a lusty ploughboy, though there are strong similarities. This version was collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams
. "Boys of Bedlam", a variant of Tom o' Bedlam
", is told from the perspective of a member of a lunatic asylum. Carthy and Prior open the song by singing into the back of banjos, producing a muffled effect. The band uses the earliest printed version of the song, from Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy
by Thomas d'Urfey.
Melody Maker made this their folk album of the year. Music journalist Colin Irwin in his book "In Search of Albion" describes it as one of his favourite folk-rock albums. It reached number 45 in the UK album charts, originally on B & C Records
but before the year was out the rights were acquired by Mooncrest Records
who re-released it the same year, with different cover art. It was issued in the US at the same time on Big Tree
, when the small label was distributed by Ampex. It sold poorly and was deleted quite soon after release. Remaining copies were bought up by a couple of the 'cut-out' distributors and by that time, the band had signed with Chrysalis and the cut out original sold very well. When stock ran out, poor quality bootleg copies started to turn up in huge quantities.
Musically, this was their most electric, dense recording, with loud guitars and strong looping bass lines and no drums. In 2006, Castle Music re-issued the album as a double-CD with numerous additional tracks taken from radio and TV appearances.
Produced by Sandy Roberton.
Additional track on Mooncrest re-issue CREST 005 (vinyl) and CRESTCD 005 (CD) in 1991:
Additional tracks on the Castle Music re-issue CMQDD 1253 in 2006:
BBC "Top Gear" session rec. June 23, 1970
BBC "Stuart Henry Show" session July 23, 1970
Additional tracks on the Castle Music re-issue CMQDD 1253 bonus CD in 2006:
BBC "Folk on 1" session October 17, 1970
BBC "Stuart Henry Show" session February 4, 1971
BBC "Top Gear" session March 27, 1971
BBC TV (date unknown)
/ Hardin) is an a cappella version of a Buddy Holly song. It was meant as a prank to mock Ashley's solemnity, but he ended up liking it. In 2006, Castle Music
re-issued the album with the 10 original tracks and 25 bonus tracks, on 2 CDs. The bonus tracks were all poorly-recorded tapes of live BBC radio broadcasts (3 from TV). Only six of these were tracks not already available in good studio versions although the arrangements are different on some. The song "I Was a Young Man" is very different from the version on "Battle of the Field" by The Albion Country Band. The song "Gallant Poacher" was also on that album. Steeleye Span's bonus track version is very similar. "College Grove/Silver Spear" is a pair of jigs by Peter Knight. "Lay Down Your Weary Tune" is a Dylan song, sung a cappella. "Farther Along" is a traditional gospel-blues song, also sung a cappella. "Let's Dance" is obviously a companion-piece to "Rave On". It is the well-known hit by Chris Montez
. "Bring 'Em Down/A Hundred Years Ago" is a pair of sea shanties. Incidentally, "Hitler's
Downfall" is actually the instrumental "Bryan O'Lynn", already available in a studio recording.
Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....
, released in 1971. A substantial personnel change following their previous effort, Hark! The Village Wait
Hark! The Village Wait
Hark! The Village Wait was the 1970 debut album by the electric folk band Steeleye Span. The album is the only one to feature the original lineup of the band, as they broke up and reformed with a slightly altered membership immediately after its release, without having ever performed live...
, brought about a substantial change in their overall sound, including a lack of drums and the replacement of one female vocalist with a male vocalist. The band even reprised a song from their debut, "The Blacksmith", with a strikingly different arrangement making extensive use of syncopation. Re-recording songs would be a minor theme in Steeleye's output over the years, with the band eventually releasing an entire album of reprises, Present--The Very Best of Steeleye Span
Present--The Very Best of Steeleye Span
Present – The Very Best of Steeleye Span is an album by Steeleye Span, which is frequently mistaken for one of the band's many compilation albums. Although all but one of the songs had been previously released, the album is actually a collection of new studio versions of the songs involved...
.
The title of the album is derived from the "Cutty Wren" ceremony. A winter wren
Winter Wren
The Winter Wren is a very small North American bird and a member of the mainly New World wren family Troglodytidae. It was once lumped with Troglodytes pacificus of western North America and Troglodytes troglodytes of Eurasia under the name Winter Wren.It breeds in coniferous forests from British...
in a cage is paraded as if it were a king. This rite was carried out on December 26, Saint Stephen
Saint Stephen
Saint Stephen The Protomartyr , the protomartyr of Christianity, is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Churches....
's Day, and is connected to early Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
celebrations. The song "The King", appearing on the album, addresses this, and is often performed as a Christmas carol
Christmas carol
A Christmas carol is a carol whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas or the winter season in general and which are traditionally sung in the period before Christmas.-History:...
. Steeleye returned to this subject on Live at Last with "Hunting the Wren" and on Time
Time (Steeleye Span album)
Time is an album by Steeleye Span. The album was released in 1996, after a seven year hiatus. The impetus for the album was a 25th anniversary reunion tour the year before, during which most of the former members of the band performed together...
with the song "The Cutty Wren
Cutty Wren
The Cutty Wren and its variants like The Hunting of the Wren are traditional English folk songs. The origins and meaning of the song are disputed...
". The custom of Wrenboys is mostly associated with Ireland, but it has been recently revived in England.
All songs appearing on the original album are traditional. "The False Knight on the Road" is one of the Child Ballads
Child Ballads
The Child Ballads are a collection of 305 ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, collected by Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century...
(#3), and concerns a boy's battle of with the devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
in a game of riddles. Hart and Prior had already recorded a version of the song on their album 'Summer Solstice'. "The Lark in the Morning", one of their more popular songs, has the same title as a different song about a lusty ploughboy, though there are strong similarities. This version was collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
. "Boys of Bedlam", a variant of Tom o' Bedlam
Tom o' Bedlam
"Tom O' Bedlam" is the name of a critically acclaimed anonymous poem written circa 1600 about a Bedlamite....
", is told from the perspective of a member of a lunatic asylum. Carthy and Prior open the song by singing into the back of banjos, producing a muffled effect. The band uses the earliest printed version of the song, from Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy
Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy
Wit and Mirth: Or Pills to Purge Melancholy is the title of a large collection of songs by Thomas d'Urfey, published between 1698 and 1720, which in its final, six-volume edition held over 1,000 songs and poems. The collection started as a single book compiled and published by Henry Playford who...
by Thomas d'Urfey.
Melody Maker made this their folk album of the year. Music journalist Colin Irwin in his book "In Search of Albion" describes it as one of his favourite folk-rock albums. It reached number 45 in the UK album charts, originally on B & C Records
B & C Records
B&C stood for Beat & Commercial and was a British record label run by Trojan Records' owner, Lee Gopthal. It existed primarily between May 1969 and September 1972....
but before the year was out the rights were acquired by Mooncrest Records
Mooncrest Records
Mooncrest Records is a British record label that was formed in 1973 as a subsidiary of Charisma Records.They issued albums by Shirley Collins , Iain Matthews , Shakin' Stevens and Alan Hull . More recently they have handled Fairport Convention and Michael Chapman...
who re-released it the same year, with different cover art. It was issued in the US at the same time on Big Tree
Big Tree Records
Big Tree Records was a record label founded by current Sony Music Entertainment chairman Doug Morris in 1970. They were best known for releases by Lobo, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Brownsville Station and British R&B group Hot Chocolate....
, when the small label was distributed by Ampex. It sold poorly and was deleted quite soon after release. Remaining copies were bought up by a couple of the 'cut-out' distributors and by that time, the band had signed with Chrysalis and the cut out original sold very well. When stock ran out, poor quality bootleg copies started to turn up in huge quantities.
Musically, this was their most electric, dense recording, with loud guitars and strong looping bass lines and no drums. In 2006, Castle Music re-issued the album as a double-CD with numerous additional tracks taken from radio and TV appearances.
Personnel
- Maddy PriorMaddy PriorMaddy Prior is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span.-Early life:...
- (vocals, spoons, taborTabor (instrument)Tabor, or tabret, refers to a portable snare drum played with one hand. The word "tabor" is simply an English variant of a Latin-derived word meaning "drum" - cf. tambour , tamburo...
, tambourineTambourineThe tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....
) - Tim HartTim HartTim Hart was an English folk singer and multi-instrumentalist, best known as a founding member of electric folk band, Steeleye Span.-Early years:...
- (vocals, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, dulcimerAppalachian dulcimerThe Appalachian dulcimer is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings. It is native to the Appalachian region of the United States...
) - Peter Knight - (violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, mandolinMandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, vocals, organOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
) - Ashley HutchingsAshley HutchingsAshley Stephen Hutchings is an English bassist, vocalist, songwriter, arranger, band leader, writer and record producer. He was a founder member of three of the most noteworthy English folk-rock bands in the history of the genre; Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span and The Albion Band...
(bass, vocals) - Martin CarthyMartin CarthyMartin Carthy MBE is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon and later artists such as Richard Thompson since he emerged as a young musician in the early days...
(vocals, guitar, banjoBanjoIn the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
, organ).
Produced by Sandy Roberton.
Track listing
Original album released by B&C Records CAS 1029 in 1971 and re-issued by Mooncrest Records CREST 8 in 1974:- "The BlacksmithBlacksmith (song)"Blacksmith" is a traditional English folk song, also known as "A Blacksmith Courted Me". The song was noted down by Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1909 from a Mrs Powell. On that occasion it was sung to the tune "Monk's Gate", better known as the tune of "To be a pilgrim", the hymn by John Bunyan....
" - "Cold Haily, Windy Night"
- "Jigs: Bryan O'Lynn / The Hag With The Money"
- "Prince Charlie StuartCharles Edward StuartPrince Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Sylvester Severino Maria Stuart commonly known as Bonnie Prince Charlie or The Young Pretender was the second Jacobite pretender to the thrones of Great Britain , and Ireland...
" - "Boys of BedlamBedlamBedlam may refer to:* Bethlem Royal Hospital, London hospital first to specialise in the mentally ill and origin of the word "bedlam" describing chaos or madness-Places:* Bedlam, North Yorkshire, a village in England...
" - "False Knight On The RoadThe Fause Knight Upon the RoadThe False Knight Upon the Road is a British ballad, collected and published as Child ballad 3, Roud 20. It features a riddling exchange between a schoolboy and a "false knight," the devil in disguise.-Synopsis:...
" - "The Lark In The Morning"
- "Female Drummer"
- "The King"
- "Lovely on the Water"
Additional track on Mooncrest re-issue CREST 005 (vinyl) and CRESTCD 005 (CD) in 1991:
- 11. Rave On!
Additional tracks on the Castle Music re-issue CMQDD 1253 in 2006:
BBC "Top Gear" session rec. June 23, 1970
- 11. The Blacksmith
- 12. Female Drummer
- 13. Rave On!
- 14. I Was a Young Man
- 15. The Lark in the Morning
BBC "Stuart Henry Show" session July 23, 1970
- 16. The King
- 17. Prince Charlie Stuart
- 18. The Bold Poachers
Additional tracks on the Castle Music re-issue CMQDD 1253 bonus CD in 2006:
BBC "Folk on 1" session October 17, 1970
- 01. College Grove / Silver Spear
- 02. Lay Down Your Weary Tune
- 03. False Knight on the Road
- 04. Jigs: Hitler's Downfall / The Hag with the Money
- 05. Female Drummer (Mk I)
- 06. Wee Weaver
- 07. Reel
BBC "Stuart Henry Show" session February 4, 1971
- 08. Female Drummer (Mk II)
- 09. General Taylor
- 10. Farther Along
- 11. Two Reels
BBC "Top Gear" session March 27, 1971
- 12. Let's Dance
- 13. Bring 'em Down / A Hundred Years Ago
- 14. The Lark in the Morning
BBC TV (date unknown)
- 15. The King
- 16. Jigs: Bryan O'Lynn / The Hag with the Money
- 17. The Blacksmith
Bonus tracks
Rave On! (Buddy HollyBuddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
/ Hardin) is an a cappella version of a Buddy Holly song. It was meant as a prank to mock Ashley's solemnity, but he ended up liking it. In 2006, Castle Music
Castle Communications
Castle Communications was a British independent record label founded in 1983 by Terry Shand, Cliff Dane and Jon Beecher. The company was acquired by the American music distributor Alliance Entertainment in 1994 and in 2000 it was absorbed into Sanctuary Records Group...
re-issued the album with the 10 original tracks and 25 bonus tracks, on 2 CDs. The bonus tracks were all poorly-recorded tapes of live BBC radio broadcasts (3 from TV). Only six of these were tracks not already available in good studio versions although the arrangements are different on some. The song "I Was a Young Man" is very different from the version on "Battle of the Field" by The Albion Country Band. The song "Gallant Poacher" was also on that album. Steeleye Span's bonus track version is very similar. "College Grove/Silver Spear" is a pair of jigs by Peter Knight. "Lay Down Your Weary Tune" is a Dylan song, sung a cappella. "Farther Along" is a traditional gospel-blues song, also sung a cappella. "Let's Dance" is obviously a companion-piece to "Rave On". It is the well-known hit by Chris Montez
Chris Montez
Chris Montez , is an American singer.-Early life:Montez grew up in Hawthorne, California, influenced by the Latino-flavored music of his community and the success of Ritchie Valens....
. "Bring 'Em Down/A Hundred Years Ago" is a pair of sea shanties. Incidentally, "Hitler's
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
Downfall" is actually the instrumental "Bryan O'Lynn", already available in a studio recording.