Personnel: Maddy Prior (vocals); Troy Donockley (acoustic & electric guitars, cittern, Uillean pipes, whistles, background vocals); Nick Holland (keyboards, background vocals); Nick Beggs (Chapman stick); Terl Bryant (drums, percussion).
Having welcomed Gay Woods back into Steeleye Span some 25 years after her departure, Maddy Prior presumably thought the time was right to bow out and concentrate on her solo career. With several solo albums and two splendid collaborations with June Tabor under her belt, there has always been more to Prior than just Steeleye Span. RAVENCHILD is a bold new beginning. Here Prior's main accomplices are Nick Holland on keyboards and Troy Donockley on guitars, pipes and whistles. Clearly the product of careful consideration, RAVENCHILD warms up with two traditional numbers before serving up the first of two conceptual suites. "With Napoleon In Russia" marries Prior's lyrics, concerned with the 1812 campaign, to traditional tunes.
"Rigs Of The Time" is a traditional song rewritten to encompass contemporary social ills. The second suite, "In The Company Of Ravens," is an ambitious affair comprising six segued original songs inspired by a bird that features heavily in European and North American folklore. After this fare, the album concludes with seven minutes of the famous traditional ballad "Great Silkie Of Sules Skerry."
