Maddy Prior - The Quest

Introduction

Maddy Prior is one of those performers who seems to have been around for ever, and even if you don`t know of her, you have almost certainly heard her voice, most likely on one or both of Steeleye Span`s versions of `Gaudete` or `All Round my Hat`. Not to everyone`s taste of course, but then the group has been around for almost 40 years, on and off, and has often changed its musical style, but basically sticking to the `electric folk` idiom for which they are best known. As Prior herself once, "Steeleye Span is like a bus. It goes along, and people get on and get off it. Sometimes the bus goes along the route you want to go, and sometimes it turns off, so you get off."

So, here she is again, singing her own songs, a fair amount of which are based around Arthurian legend, and structured as we have all generally imagined old-English folk songs to have been created (or perhaps that`s just me).

On this tour, she is very ably accompanied by Nick Holland (Keyboards) and Troy Donockley (Uilleann pipes, various guitars and whistles, bouzouki etc), and the concert itself was filmed at the Theatre Royal, Winchester in October 2006.

Video

Video quality is just about passable. As with the Gerard Kenny DVD (reviewed elswhere on this site) from Park Records , there is a lot of glare, and it seems someone `upped` the colour contrast somewhat as Ms Prior`s orange jacket is particularly orange at times (you`ll understand if you saw it) and her face appears to have been painted red at moments throughout the evening.

Projections of mysterious woodland and medieval battle recreations were shown on one of thelarge flags draped around the stage, and these were sometimes rather haphazardly superimposed over the film of the concert.

All this doesn`t make it particularly unwatchable though.

Audio

Sound is quite decent, and with some careful tweaking of my amp, I managed a modicum of spacial effects that created quite a pleasant noise. All the instruments have a clear and natural sound, but there are times when subtitles would have been of great help as a lot of the lyrics appear muffled (or indeed mumbled) at times.

Features

There is quite an entertaining 35 minute `on the road` documentary accompanying this set (apparently containing "fascinating and often hilarious behind the scenes footage" - well, they all seem to be having fun anyway) and a couple of very short and rather pointless extra `films`, but at least the MD of Park Records got himself on the DVD.

As I`ve mentioned, subtitles would have been helpful.

Conclusion

Maddy Prior has become some kind of folk herione in this country, her voice being perfectly suited to this style of singing, and her colleagues in this concert play magnificently (especially Troy Donockley, who certainly has his work cut out for him). The quality of the songs themselves is uneven however, but highlights include the opening `Sheath & Knife`, `Joseph was a Tin Man` (images of the Wizard of Oz running around my head during this didn`t help matters) and and final `Ravenchild` and `Dance on the Wind`. We are also treated to an arrangement of what I`ve always called the `middle eight` from Holst`s `Jupiter` (or `I Vow to The My Country` OR that damn tune used for the rugby world cup, depending on your experiences) while Prior has a well-deserved rest.

As the night goes on, it seemed to me that her voice was getting a little tired and intonation wavered quite spectacularly, but the whole thing is quite a marathon and some lapses can be understood.

Park Records are doing a great job in recording concerts for these dual DVD/CD sets, and proves that a live gig, even with a few glitches, is far better than a well-manicured studio recording. Everything electric folk fans like can be found here. Maddy sings, Maddy dances (well, improvises some sort of movement), and everybody has a great time. Ignoring the pretentions of `Questing`, the set can be recommended if you enjoy this style of music, and perhaps even if you fancy being a little inquisitive.

Ok then…a pint of foaming ale, my good yeoman of the bar! Fingers in ears and a lusty rendition of `Songs from the Wood` I think!.oh no, that`s Jethro Tull isn`t it.they all sound the same anyway.