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"All Around My Hat" is a 1975 album by Steeleye Span, their eighth and highest-charting; it reached number 7 on the UK Albums Chart, and stayed on the chart for six months.
It was produced by Mike Batt, who also produced their follow-up album Rocket Cottage. It briefly made the band a household name in the UK. In the United States it became the band’s first album to chart, reaching number 143.
They sound like would-be competitors to the Who on the opening bars of “The Wife of Usher’s Well,” with Bob Johnson‘s electric guitar grinding out power chords like nobody’s business.
The vocals have their usual elegance, the harmonies soaring exquisitely, but between the choruses the guitar puts out lots of wattage. The guitar competes with Maddy Prior‘s voice for dominance on tracks like “Hard Times of Old England,” “Bachelor’s Hall,” and “Dance with Me.”
There’s some more traditional-sounding material here, including the lovely “Cadgwith Anthem” and “Gamble Gold (Robin Hood),” where the group returns to acoustic instruments.
A single of the upbeat title track also made the charts in England, and the overall sound was the work of producer Mike Batt, who gave the band a raw, stripped-down style, with only the smallest touching up and the very lightest of overdubbed strings.
The title track was edited to just over three minutes long for single release and became their highest-charting single, reaching No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart, with “Black Jack Davy” as its B-side.
In 1976 an edited version of a second track from the album, “Hard Times of Old England“, was issued as a single, but did not chart.
The song “Dance with Me” is a version of a Scandinavian ballad, “Herr Olof och Älvorna“.
The album cover and back was designed by John O’Connor, a friend of the band’s guitarist Tim Hart, using an anamorphic projection that distorted the facial features of the band members but which looks correct when viewed from the side through special pinholes in the lyric sheet.
Side one
1. Black Jack Davy - 4:15
2. Hard Times of Old England - 5:10
3. Cadgwith Anthem - 2:45
4. Sum Waves (Tunes) - 4:00
5. The Wife of Usher’s Well - 4:32
Side two
1. Gamble Gold/Robin Hood - 3:40
2. All Around My Hat - 4:06
3. Dance With Me - 3:51
4. Bachelors Hall - 5:45
Companies, etc.
- Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Chrysalis Records Ltd.
- Copyright © – Chrysalis Records Ltd.
- Copyright © – Steeleye Span Music
- Printed By – Gothic Print Finishers Ltd.
- Published By – Steeleye Span Music Ltd.
- Published By – Chrysalis Music Ltd.
- Recorded At – Air Studios
- Mixed At – Wessex Sound Studios
Credits
- Arranged By – Johnson, Knight, Kemp, Hart
- Design, Sleeve, Painting – John O'Connor
- Engineer – Geoff Emerick, Mike Stavrou
- Engineer [Re-mix] – Mike Thompson
- Plated By – EG
- Producer – Mike Batt
- Written-By – Johnson, Prior, Knight, Kemp, Hart, Trad
Notes
Release: 1975
Format: Vinyl LP
Genre: Folk Rock
Label: Chrysalis Records
Catalog# 6307564
Vinyl: Goed (VG)
Cover: Goed (VG)
Prijs: €10,00
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