Steeleye Span (Recommendation)

At dinner tonight, SAM reminded me that I had promised him a little more information about the best bits of Steeleye Span after I played some of their stuff during his last visit. Steeleye Span is a British folk-rock group whose best incarnations were built around the talented voice of Maddy Prior, the better fated version of Sandy Denny.

My recommended discography subset, in descending order of importance:

• Please to See the King, for its glorious entirety, although the bonus tracks on the various CD versions are not that glorious.
• Hark! The Village Wait, mostly for" A Calling-on Song", "Blackleg Miner", "Dark-Eyed Sailor", and "Twa Corbies". Along with "Leatherwing Bat", "Twa Corbies" is a traditional song I obsessively collect versions of...
• Parcel of Rogues, for "One Misty Moisty Morning", "Alison Gross", "Robbery with Violins", "Rogues in a Nation", "Cam Ye O'er Frae France", and "Hares on The Mountain".
• All Around My Hat, perhaps their most successful release, for "Black Jack Davy", "Hard Times of Old England", "The Wife of Usher's Well", "All Around My Hat", and "Bachelors Hall".
  
• Commoner's Crown, for "Little Sir Hugh", "Long Lankin", "Demon Lover", and "Elf Call".
  
• Below the Salt, for "Gaudete", "John Barleycorn", and "Saucy Sailor".

This covers most of what I consider their must-have songs. Only a few really great numbers escape, like "Fighting for Strangers" (from Rocket Cottage) or "Seven Hundred Elves" (from Now We Are Six). A good compilation like Original Masters hits most of those.