| Commoners Crown | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | January 1975 | |||
| Recorded | September and October 1974 | |||
| Studio | Morgan Studios, London | |||
| Genre | British folk rock | |||
| Length | 38:39 | |||
| Label | Chrysalis | |||
| Producer | Steeleye Span, Robin Black | |||
| Steeleye Span chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   link |
Commoners Crown is the seventhstudio album byBritish folk rock bandSteeleye Span, released in 1975 byChrysalis Records. It was their second album with the band's most commercially successful line-up. The album reached number 21 in the UK album charts.
The album's title refers to a sculpture produced by Shirtsleeves Studio, which appears on the cover of the album. The sculpture is composed of hundreds of tiny human figures assembled to form a crown. The tiny figures also decorate the liner notes.
By this point, the band had evolved into a full-fledged rock sound, comparable toJethro Tull during its folk rock phase.Ian Anderson had produced their previous albumNow We Are Six, and working with Steeleye Span had a major impact on Anderson's songwriting.[1] Several of the tracks feature strong rock drumming and heavy guitar riffs, but the material remains almost entirely traditional folk music, with the exception of 'Bach Goes to Limerick', an attempt to interweave a classical Bach violin piece with a traditional Irish fiddle piece. Some fans were alienated by the band's new direction.[2]
The lead track, "Little Sir Hugh" is based on amedieval song aboutLittle Saint Hugh of Lincoln, a 13th-century boy supposedly murdered by Jews. The original song's lyrics are sharply and purposelyanti-Semitic, but the band elided that content in their version.[3][4]
The album is seen by fans as a highlight of the era for the band.[5]
The band continued the whimsical streak demonstrated onNow We Are Six by inviting comedian and actorPeter Sellers to play theukulele on the closing track, 'New York Girls'. The band decided that it wanted a ukulele on the song, but no one in the band knew anyone who played the instrument. Finally someone remarked that Sellers was known to play it competently, and they decided to approach him to appear on the song, even though none of them knew him at all.[6] To their surprise, he agreed, and the song became one of only two recordings he made with a rock band. The other was 'After the Fox', recorded withThe Hollies in 1966 forthe film of the same title.[7][8]
There was some difficulty tuning Sellers'Martin ukulele. So the engineers slowed the tape until he fit in properly. Eventually, Sellers started amusing himself by doing some voices fromThe Goon Show. The band had been sheepish about asking the comedian to do his famous voices and were delighted when he started improvising with them. The October 24, 1974 issue ofMelody Maker features the band with Sellers striking a guitar god pose with his ukulele.[9] On the original vinyl release, the song ended with Sellers saying "I say, are you amatelot? Careful what you say, sir – we're on board ship here." Subsequent CD releases omitted the quip, until 2009 when the 3-disc EMI box setA Parcel of Steeleye Span reinstated it.[citation needed]
The song is also unusual in that all the male band members (except Nigel Pegrum) take lead vocals on two verses each (Rick Kemp singing verses 1 and 5, Tim Hart 2 and 6, Peter Knight 3 and 7 and Bob Johnson 4 and 8). Maddy Prior sings the chorus. "New York Girls" was included in a 1993box set of Peter Sellers' recordings.[10]
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom (BPI)[11] | Silver | 60,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
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