Best Albums by Maddy Prior
Ken Josenhans
mitc...@clark.net (Mitch Leventhal ) writes:
>I would like to hear people's opinions about the best albums of Maddy
>Prior. I am interested mainly in her solo work, but would also like to
>know about outstanding collaborations.
Well, er um... As a general rule with Maddy Prior, the collaborations
are better than the solo albums. Prior's solo albums from the late
1970's through the mid-1980's were filled with a lot of sappy pop songs.
(Please spare me the folk police rant... :-) )
Here's an off-the-cuff discography I slapped together a couple of years
ago. I should really put a little more effort into it...
Apologies to those who are tired of seeing it.
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Late 60's-early 70's:
1) FOLK SONGS OF OLD ENGLAND, VOLUME I
2) FOLK SONGS OF OLD ENGLAND, VOLUME II
3) SUMMER SOLSTICE
Before Steeleye Span, Maddy Prior and Tim Hart recorded two albums of
fairly traditional folk songs. These have recently come back into
print in the UK (on the Mooncrest label). The duo made an excellent
third album in the early Steeleye days, and this one's in print in the
US on the Shanachie label.
mid 70's:
4) SILLY SISTERS
Near the peak of Steeleye's career, Maddy Prior recorded a fabulous
duet album with June Tabor. This one's essential. In the US, it has
been kept in print through three different record companies, and
today it's on Shanachie.
Late 70's - mid 80's:
5) WOMAN IN THE WINGS
6) CHANGING WINDS
7) HOOKED ON WINNING by the Maddy Prior Band
8) GOING FOR GLORY by Maddy Prior & The Answers
Around the time Steeleye broke up, Maddy Prior started a solo career.
Most of these albums were not very good. WOMAN IN THE WINGS may be of
some interest because several members of Jethro Tull play backup on
it. These albums were unavailable for years, but at this time
(5) and (6) are available from the UK label BGO, and (7) is reported
to be available from the UK label Road Goes On Forever. (8), a theme
album about Prior's religious experiences, is the only album in this
list not in print, and it is a very scarce collectible.
late 80's:
9) NO MORE TO THE DANCE by Silly Sisters
Prior seemed to rejuvenate a fading career by re-teaming with June Tabor
to record her best album in a decade, maybe 70% as good as the
original Silly Sisters album. In print in the US on Shanachie.
late 80's-today:
10) A TAPESTRY OF CAROLS by Maddy Prior & The Carnival Band (Saydisc)
11) SING LUSTILY & WITH GOOD COURAGE by Prior & T.C.B. (Saydisc)
12) HAPPY FAMILIES by Maddy Prior and Rick Kemp (Park)
13) CAROLS AND CAPERS by Maddy Prior & The Carnival Band (Park)
14) YEAR by Maddy Prior (1993 release) (Park)
Steeleye Span seems to be an occasional project; but I get the impression
that Prior's true love these days is in working on religious songs with
an early music group called The Carnival Band. Items #10 and #13 are
recordings of Christmas songs. At a 1993 concert, Prior told me that
SING LUSTILY was her favorite of the Carnival Band discs.
Prior has also recorded an album with
Steeleye bassist Rick Kemp which strikes me as another generic pop album,
continuing the line of albums from #5-#8 above.
YEAR contains most of the material with which Prior toured the US
in early 1993. Possibly her best solo album.
One valuable item I've omitted from the lists above is LOVELY IN THE DANCES
-- THE SONGS OF SYDNEY CARTER, by various all-stars from the English
folk-rock scene and other places. Maddy Prior sings about five lead vocals
on this excellent album; other culprits include Rick Kemp, John Kirkpatrick,
Shusha. (Was Martin Carthy in on this one? I think so.)
-- Ken Josenhans
k...@netsun.cl.msu.edu
David Wald
Josenhans) writes:
>One valuable item I've omitted from the lists above is LOVELY IN THE DANCES
>-- THE SONGS OF SYDNEY CARTER, by various all-stars from the English
>folk-rock scene and other places. Maddy Prior sings about five lead vocals
>on this excellent album; other culprits include Rick Kemp, John Kirkpatrick,
>Shusha. (Was Martin Carthy in on this one? I think so.)
No, Carthy seems to have missed that one. The participants, barring
typos, were:
Maddy Prior (lead on "Carol of the Creatures", "Lord of the Dance",
"The First of My Lovers", "I Used to Dance")
Melanie Harrold (lead on "Holy Horses", "Come, Love, Carolling")
Shusha (lead on "Julian of Norwich", "Like the Snow", "The Cocks are
Crowing", "Come, Love, Carolling")
Sydney Carter (lead on "I Come Like a Beggar"; backing on "George
Fox", "John Ball"; percussion)
John Kirkpatrick (lead on "George Fox", "Carol of the Creatures",
"John Ball", "Bitter Was the Night"; melodeon; concertina)
Robert Johnson (lead on "Friday Morning", "Bitter Was the Night";
electric guitar)
Vince Cross (backing on "Carol of the Creatures", "Lord of the Dance";
piano; keyboards; arrangements)
John O'Connor (acoustic and electric guitar)
Peter Knight (violin)
John Shayler (violin)
Ian Smith (violin)
Chris Yates (viola)
Janet Wright ('cello)
Jack Hunt (flute; saxophone)
Gerald Claridge (acoustic bass guitar)
Rick Kemp (backing on "Carol of the Creatures"; bass guitar)
Phil Milner (bass guitar)
Nigel Pegrum (drums; percussion; flute)
Gary Mitchell (percussion)
-David
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David Wald http://theory.lcs.mit.edu/~wald/ wa...@theory.lcs.mit.edu
"Blessed are the peacocks, for they shall be called sonship of God"
-- Matt 5:9, from a faulty QuickVerse 2.0
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