ALL AROUND MY HAT

All Around My Hat marks the point when Steeleye Span's increasing injection of rock music ideas into their electric folk (a process begun on Now We Are Six and which would hit its maximum on Rocket Cottage) briefly happened to coincide with popular tastes, resulting in an unexpected commercial hit (largely in the form of the single release of the title track). It remains a pleasant enough piece - though with some absolutely hideous cover art - though I would not quite put it on the level of the Commoners' Crown album that preceded it (we have nothing penetrating into the dark folk horror heart of traditional English music the way Long Lankin does) or Rocket Cottage which followed it (the rock influences here are rather tame and have dated a little poorly).