Product Code: L 35406
Artist: Steeleye Span
Origin: New Zealand
Label: Chrysalis (1975)
Format: LP
Availability: Enquire Now
Condition:
Cover: VG
Record: NM (M-)
Genre: Country , Folk , Pop U

Commoner's Crown

Pristine vinyl, nice gloss clean cover.

Commoners Crown is an album by British folk rock band Steeleye Span, their seventh release overall and the second album with the band's most commercially successful line-up. It reached number 21 in the UK album charts.

The album's title refers to a sculpture produced by Shirtsleeves Studio.  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 to Jethro Tull during its folk rock phase[citation needed].  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', a surprising[citation needed] attempt to interweave a classical Bach violin piece with a traditional Irish fiddle piece.

The lead track, 'Little Sir Hugh' is based on a medieval song about Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln, a 13th-century boy supposedly murdered by Jews.  The original song's lyrics are sharply anti-Semitic,[citation needed] but the band deleted the anti-Semitic elements.

In addition to 'Little Sir Hugh', the album's highlights[citation needed] include 'Long Lankin', the band's longest song to date and something of a fan favourite,[citation needed] and 'Demon Lover'.