Steeleye Span started live in 1969- formed by bass player Ashley Hutchings, after he became disillusioned by the more formal rock-folk sound of his then-current band Fairport Convention- wanting to focus on more traditional songs, put across in the form jigs/reels with a folk-rock sound with a more lower case Rock focus. Joining the initial line-up was Tim Hart – guitars, vocals. Maddy Prior – vocals & banjo. Terry Woods – guitars, concertina, vocals, and Gay Woods – strings, vocal.  The bands early sound, as highlighted on these three albums, is an often urgent, decidedly earthy & at times quite bounding & vigorous take on folk, with subtle rock embellishments. Later on, in the late 70's/early 80’s the band switched to a decidedly more twee & at times commercial take on the English folk genre with the truly awful “All Around My Hat” single- which I hated as a child, and for many years made me extremely wary of the English folk genre.

All of the albums here are presented in mini Lp slip sleeve- taking in the albums original artwork. The first album we have here is the band's debut Hark! The Village Wait- this appeared in June 1970- offering up twelve tracks & thirty-eight minutes of music. From the outset, it's clear the band are trying, and mostly succeed in bringing the traditional English song- out of its often archaic & stuffy origins-to vibrate, punchy, and energetic folk-rock/ electric folk format. The album kicks off in fine earthy ‘n’ honest fashion with “A Calling-On Song” this features no instruments just joint male & female sign-song folk vocalising. As we make our way through the album we go from the forlorn & slowly stumbling waltz of the “Fishman Wife’s” with its hazy plucked banjo, churning acoustic strum, and wavering female vocals. Onto the simmering folk-meets-light rock/ blues of “All Things Are Quite Silent” with it’s blend of clear acoustic strum, and light thrummed & purring electric guitar- all topped off with a gentle rousing layered female chorus. Through to tolling & bleakly rising dirge of "Twa Corbies"- with it's powerful simmering wall of male & female vocals, & crashing-to-churning lightly electric guitar & percussion. Though-out much of  Hark! The Village Wait- it’s clear each band member is highly respectful & honest in their love for the history of British folk music, sure at times we do start to drift towards folk- rock auto-pilot, but it never really lulls into bland or hollow authenticity - instead they give much of the material the grit & spit it dissevers.

Disc number two takes in 1971’s Please to See the King- this features another twelve tracks and a play time of around thirty-nine minutes. The album begins a little indifferently & slightly disappointing with a replay of “The Blacksmith”- which was the second track from their first album, aside from the paring back of the guitars, more complex harmonies & later swirling fiddle work there’s really no point in this redo. As we move through the album thankfully things pick-up, we go from raw & fairly raucous jigging wonder of Jigs: Bray O’lynn/ The Hag With The Money”- with it’s skittering & churning percussion, and seesawing blend of fiddle & lightly blues-tinged rock guitar. Onto the wonderful jaunty & at times dizzying joy “False Knight On The Road”- with rapid folky chanted & layered male vocals, clip-clop to marching drums, and blend of fiddle & guitars. Finishing off with the sombre- yet spiralling rousing emotion of the final track “Lovely On The water”- with it’s bringing together of twanging-yet- mournful guitar, and Prior’s felt-to- powerful vocalising. As an album Please To See The King feels less balanced & consistent than their debut- with moments where they seem to be (literally) re-treading what they’ve done before- but equally there are some very effective moments here too.

Finishing off the collection on disc three we have the bands third album Ten Man Mop Or Mr. Reservoir Butler Rides Again- appearing in 1971. This I think stands as the pinnacle of the bands even blending between folk & electric folk- the original LP comes in at short & sharpe  just over thirty minutes. The albums wonderful varied in both mood & type of song- been decidedly earthy & rewarding through-out. We go from the sternly jaunting & distinctly urgent feel "Gower Wassail", with its mix of taut tolling electric guitar riffling, and folk strings. Though to the rapidly joyful fiddle led jig & rapid male vocal delivery of "Four Nights Drunk". Onto the mournful-yet-lovely "When I Was On Horseback", with its wavering-yet-sombre female vocals from Maddy Prior, and slowly tolling guitar blended with some great mandolin, fiddle, and string soloing. Though the galloping paced -to- almost roaring and rapidly tolling electric guitar riff of "Skewball". It really is a masterpiece, perfectly balancing- mood, authenticity & true sonic passion. Of the three discs this is the only one that features bonus material- and these come in the form of four bonus- three are basically just  instrumental variations of album tracks, and the forth track "General Taylor" is a blended male & female vocal track with a short of hearty seasaw quilty to it- it’s ok, but nothing special.

The  booklet that comes with the set comes in at thirty-one pages- this takes in a new sixteen page write up about the band's formation, the first three albums & it’s players, as well as these three albums wider impact on the folk-rock scene- this penned by David Wells, and is most worthy. We also get a great selection of early band pictures, viny labels, etc- as well as short write-up about the origin/ story behind each of the album's tracks. there also full credits & line-up for each track too. On the whole it’s a nice looking set/ box- though I guess it’s a  little disappointing that there is really  nothing on the CD’s, that haven’t been released in past CD releases of these albums- so if you already have all of these albums on CD, you’ll have weigh up if it’s worth purchasing for a booklet & box packaging.

If your curious about where folk, rock & electric folk met in a very British way in the early 1970’s you'll have to pick up this boxset- as all of these albums are hugely important & still powerful today.