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Present--The Very Best of Steeleye Span

Present--The Very Best of Steeleye Span
Present The Very Best of Steeleye Span.jpg
Studio album by Steeleye Span
Released 2002
Recorded 2002
Genre Electric folk
Length ??:??
Label Park
Producer Steeleye Span/Steve Watkins
Steeleye Span chronology
Bedlam Born
(2000)Bedlam Born2000
Present--The Very Best of Steeleye Span
(2002)
They Called Her Babylon
(2004)They Called Her Babylon2004

Present – The Very Best of Steeleye Span is the 17th studio album by Steeleye Span, released in 2002.

Because of its title, the album may be mistaken for one of the band's many compilation albums, but although recordings of all but one of the songs had been previously released, it is a set of new studio versions of the songs involved, some arranged markedly differently from the originals.

The project began with a poll on Peter Knight's website, asking fans about which of the band's songs they would most like to see new versions of. At the time the poll was taken, the band was a state of near collapse. Personal tensions during the recording of Bedlam Born had led to the departure of Gay Woods and Tim Harries, and health problems had forced Bob Johnson into retirement. When the poll was completed, Knight persuaded several past members of the band, Maddy Prior, Rick Kemp, and Liam Genockey to return to the studio, and he coaxed Johnson out of retirement as well. The newly reformed line-up, close to the band's famous mid-1970s membership, released the results as a two disc set in 2002.

The majority of the songs are modest variations on the original versions. For example, songs such as "Sir James the Rose", "Black Jack Davey", "All Around My Hat", and "King Henry" are not radically different from their original studio versions, although there are changes in orchestration, particularly the general addition of the octave violin to many of the songs. Maddy Prior often modifies her singing style or emphasizes different words from the original version. About the only substantial change in "Gaudete" is the pronunciation of some of the Latin. On "Cam Ye O'er Frae France", Prior enunciates more, making the lyrics much more intelligible than on the Parcel of Rogues version. "Rosebud in June" is slightly faster than the original and Prior sings the whole piece unaccompanied, while the original features the whole band singing on the chorus. The version of "One Misty Moisty Morning" is very similar to the studio version, but much slower than the way the band normally plays it live. A few songs are given brief instrumental endings.


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