Back in Line
| Back in Line | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Studio album by Steeleye Span | ||||
| Released | 1986 | |||
| Recorded | 1986 | |||
| Genre | Electric folk | |||
| Length | 44:00 | |||
| Label | Shanachie | |||
| Producer | John Acock | |||
| Steeleye Span chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    |
Back in Line is an album by the electric folk band Steeleye Span.
This album, the band's 12th, was released in 1986, after a hiatus of almost 6 years. It is their first album without founding member Tim Hart, who quit the music business entirely. It is also the last album they recorded with Maddy Prior's husband, Rick Kemp, until They Called Her Babylon; Kemp suffered a shoulder injury that forced him to stop playing for a long time.
Like the previous album, Sails of Silver, this album was not well received by fans, and reviews tend to see the album as being slickly packaged but erratic in quality.
A single was released from this album - "Somewhere in London/ Lanercost". This suggests that "Somewhere in London" was recorded on the same sessions as the album. When Park Records re-released the album in 1991, this lost track appeared at the end, together with two live tracks - "Spotted Cow" (the first track on '’Below the Salt'’) and "One Misty Moisty Morning" (the first track on Parcel of Rogues).
The album's highlights include the energetic funk version of "Blackleg Miner", a similarly funky "White Man", which features as complicated a vocal arrangement as Steeleye has ever offered, and "Isabel", a strong piece sung by Prior, about the Countess of Buchan who helped crown Robert the Bruce. In general, the pieces have a strong rock feel.
Like Sails of Silver, Back in Line contains many songs written by the band. All of the songs on the album are placed in an historical context. "Isabel", "Lanercost" and "Take My Heart" all deal with the Scottish Wars of Independence and Robert the Bruce. "White Man" is a critique of European colonialism, and "Peace on the Border" concern the 18th century rebellions and deportations. "Scarecrow" was about the Battle of Cropredy Bridge, a Royalist victory during the English Civil War.
The band claims "Isabel" is about Isabella MacDuff, Countess of Buchan, whom they allege was a paramour of Robert the Bruce. She did crown him King of Scotland in 1306. After he was defeated at the Battle of Methven in June 1306, she was captured by the English and imprisoned in an outdoor cage at Berwick-upon-Tweed for four years. The song is a fictionalized first person perspective of her time on public display.
...
Wikipedia