STORM FORCE TEN

Exit, for the moment, Bob Johnson and Peter Knight, and substitute returning earlier member Martin Carthy and newbie John Kirkpatrick. The net effect is twofold: Martin Carthy was present for 2 of Steeleye's least distinguished outings in the early 1970s and his stodginess is here manifest once again, unfortunately in the long song format that suggests Steeleye, while obviously aware of their waning popularity, and no idea why or how to recover.

Luckily Kirkpatrick plays accordion, which means that fiddle has seeded to squeezebox as ethnic instrument of note, albeit only for this release and the subsequent "Live at Last". That does help to invigorate the best material here. Even if "The Victory" is 40% "Demon Lover", 40% "All Around my Hat", and only 20% noteworthy and "Awake Awake" isn't convincing as ballad or rocker, reflecting the band's new found clunkiness, "The Black Freighter" suggests that SPAN can rock more than just trad arranged material and send JUDY COLLINS into the corner to cry herself to sleep, "Treadmill Song"'s accordion and guitar interplay hint what might have been given more time, which sadly was not afforded, as it were, and closer "Seventeen Come Sunday" is actually fun.

It's a shame the band did not include a studio version of the incredible "Montrose" epic at this time, though the live rendition that was issued the next year remains a career highlight, while this isn't. Now we are storm force six?