Electric Folk

The Second Generation

By Karl Dallas

On the music of Mr Fox and Steeleye Span

© Melody Maker
9 Jan 1971

Now we've had a chance to hear Mr Fox and Steeleye Span properly, it is clear that we are already into the second generation of electric folk. The new paths that each of these exciting new groups is charting are already beginning to make some of the once revolutionary innovations of better established electric folk bands sound rather tame.

What is also certain is that the future of electric folk is going to be marked by more and more diversity. For there is much more of a difference between Steeleye and Mr Fox than even the extremities of earlier electric folk. In some ways, I suppose there is more rock in Steeleye, despite the fact that in dispensing with a drummer they break more sharply with rock traditions than Fox. And although I have very fond memories of Ashley Hutchings rocking bass guitar in the early days of Fairport he exercises incredible restraint in keeping is role so subsidiary in Steeleye's total sound, often restricting himself to a simple tonic and dominant alternating bass which prevents him from dominating the melody instruments and voices. But the way in which they will put together a unison electric guitar and dulcimer riff across the melody of a song has roots in recent rock. And when, as on 'Lovely on the Water' they take time off for a change of tempo and an instrumental interlude, the excitement is the same as I recall the first time I heard Fairport do something similar on 'Matty Groves.'

Much has been made of the classical base for a lot of Mr Fox's arrangements, which often sound as if they had been penned by Bartok. Even a Dave Mason song like their currant single 'Little Woman' comes out with something of an East European flavour. Personally I would hope that as they begin to find the places in their songs, they will also begin to use the arrangements as points of departure rather than rigid rules that must be followed - which means improvisation. Although their cellist and woodwinds player are both classically trained, readers improvisation is part of most self-respecting classical musicians, too. Though it isn't made into the same sort of fetish it has become in jazz and pop. It isn't as unknown to them as might be thought.

The carefully structured nature of their arrangements is one of the things which is tending to hold most electric folk bands back, I feel. The lack of room to manoeuvre has been very noticeable on recent appearances by Fotheringay and is possibly one cause of their lack of fire. The arrangement used by Steeleye and Fox are both pretty complicated so I think it will be a long time before they have finished exploring the potentials of them. In fact - and if this sounds contradictory, I'm sorry - Steeleye's arrangements tend to be so complex that the essential words of the songs are sometimes swamped by so much music. This may be a balance problem added to the fact that Martin Carthy and Maddy Prior still basically sing in an 'acoustic' style and have not adapted themselves to the different techniques needed in a rock band.

Like the difference between the acoustic and electric guitars, the close miked voice of the rock singer is really a completely different instrument from the 'acoustic' voice which is merely amplified to carry it's true tones into the far corners of a big hall. This problem does not arise with Mr Fox, where the backing is closer to an English country band and in fact the performance of 'Jenny Lind Polka' they swing into at the close of 'Mr Trill' reminds me forcibly of the fine rendering given by the pick-up band of Walter and Daisy Bulwer, Billy Cooper, Reg Hall, Marvyn Pluckett and Russell Wortley on Bob Davenport's privately-issued record of English Country Music a few years ago.

I don't know if I should want Martin and Maddy to change their vocal styles for like Bob and Carole Pegg they are really fine exponents of the folk revivalist technique, which has evolved in the past years as a style quite distinct from any others - including traditional styles though many revivalists try to sing in what they regard as a 'traditional' style. In particular, the girls in both bands have a fine cutting edge to their voices which makes them really distinctive. Maddy seems to have been subject to more Irish influences in her singing particularly the superlative Brigid Tunney, not so well known in England as her song Paddy, but a really superb stylist in her own right. This Irish tinge seems to run pretty strongly through a lot of electric folk, extending to the choice of instrumentals and even to the vocal attack.

Though Martin Carthy got his 'False Knight on the Road' from a Scottish source, his singing seems to owe more to the Irish Gaelic singers like Seamus Ennis. One thing in which Steeleye really outshine all other electric folk bands I have heard so far is the sheer power of their massed vocal sound unaccompanied, which is surprising when one considers how many fine instrumentalists the band has. For me, the highlight of their appearances so far have been these vocals, going right back to their sneak preview at the Cambridge Festival this summer.

Their performance of Dylan's 'Lay Down Your Weary Tune' in particular brings out the excellence of the words in a way that the more well-known old Byrd's version fails to do, and I like the pleasant clashes of harmony caused by overlapping the end of the chorus with the beginning of the next verse. Even when applied to what is basically a joke like their Buddy Holly numbers, the technique. It would be interesting to hear Mr Fox giving more scope to the vocal talents, breaking up the band into smaller units as Steeleye does and perhaps bringing in the other musicians in a vocal role as well. That might be a valuable asset if they ever move into a freer interpretation of their arrangements and need to improvise.