Rocket Cottage
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| Rocket Cottage | |||||
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| Studio album by Steeleye Span | |||||
| Released | 1976 | ||||
| Recorded | ?? | ||||
| Genre | Electric folk | ||||
| Length | 43:07 | ||||
| Label | Chrysalis | ||||
| Producer | Mike Batt | ||||
| Professional reviews | |||||
| Steeleye Span chronology | |||||
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Rocket Cottage is an album by the electric folk band Steeleye Span.
This was the band's 9th album, and the 2nd produced by Mike Batt. The album was poised to cement the band's success, building off their breakthrough into the UK Top 10 with their previous album, All Around My Hat (album). Unfortunately, the album was a victim of bad timing. 1976 and 1977 saw the sudden explosion of the British Punk scene, and popular music tastes rapidly shifted away from the sound and style that the band was known for. It failed to break into the Top 40.
The album is perhaps the band's most rock-influenced album, with very prominent guitars and a strong rhythm section. Some fans consider this one of the band's best efforts, pointing to strong tracks like "London", "Fighting for Strangers", "Sir James the Rose", and "Orfeo/Nathan's Reel", the first three of which became classics of the band and fan favorites. Others, however, find the album erratic, complaining that the band's rhythm section tends to overwhelm the vocals, particularly on "Orfeo", "The Twelve Witches", and (to a lesser extent) "The Brown Girl". Oddly for an instrumental piece, "Nathan's Reel" simply fades out. The most peculiar decision was the choice to include an unrehearsed version of "Camptown Racetrack"; Years later Maddy Prior remarked about this decision, "I can't think what we were thinking of with that." This was the band's 9th album in 5 years, and many feel that their band's exhaustion is evident.
Peter Knight has said that the band was being pressured to write and adapt music for the commercial market, which led to considerable dissatisfaction among the band members. Both he and Bob Johnson were seriously considering leaving the band, particularly because they wanted to work on a musical version of "The King of Elfland's Daughter". Chrysalis Records agreed to allow them to record the album if they agreed to record 'Rocket'. Lacking any interest in the album that Knight and Johnson produced, Chrysalis made little effort to promote the album, and Knight and Johnson chose to depart the band after 'Rocket' was released.
[edit] Personnel
- Maddy Prior (vocals)
- Tim Hart (vocals, guitar)
- Bob Johnson (vocals, guitar)
- Rick Kemp (bass guitar, vocals)
- Peter Knight (violin, mandolin)
- Nigel Pegrum (drums)
[edit] Track listing
- London (Hart, Johnson, Kemp, Knight, Pegrum, Prior) – 4:14
- The Bosnian Hornpipes (Traditional) – 0:57
- Orfeo/Nathan's Reel (Hart, Johnson, Kemp, Knight], Pegrum, Prior) – 6:00
- The Twelve Witches (Traditional) – 4:32
- The Brown Girl (Hart, Johnson, Kemp, Knight, Pegrum, Prior) – 5:05
- Fighting for Strangers (Traditional) – 4:25
- Sligo Maid (Traditional) – 3:44
- Sir James the Rose (Traditional) – 6:15
- The Drunkard (Traditional, prefaced by Camptown Racetrack) – 7:55
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