''Ravenchild'' is the first album recorded by

Maddy Prior Madelaine Edith Prior MBE (born 14 August 1947) is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span. She was born in Blackpool and moved to St Albans in her teens. Her father, Allan Prior, was co-creator of the police dr ...

after she stopped working with the Carnival Band. It has a distinctive flavour that we can now recognise as the influence of Troy Donockley. There are frequent sound effects such as wind, echo and washes of synthesiser chords. Alongside 5 traditional songs are ones written or very much adapted by Maddy. In general she is strong on words, but not so memorable with her self-composed tunes. The well-known song "Rigs of the Times" is here updated to offer social criticism of monopolies and faceless international industries. "Rich Pickings" contains the first example of Maddy singing in rap style. By far the best track is "Dance of the Wind". In an exultant extended guitar solo, Troy Donockley sounds like Mike Oldfield. It is surprising that he is not given co-authorship of this track. "Bold Poacher" is a song that Maddy had sung with

Steeleye Span Steeleye Span are a British folk rock band formed in 1969 in England by Fairport Convention bass player Ashley Hutchings and established London folk club duo Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. The band were part of the 1970s British folk revival, and we ...

on "Parcel of Rogues", but

Tim Hart Tim Hart (9 January 1948 – 24 December 2009) was an English folk singer and multi-instrumentalist, best known as a founding member of British folk rock band Steeleye Span. Early years Tim Hart was born in Lincoln, England, but moved to St ...

had sung the lead vocals in that version. Maddy admits that she had previously been embarrassed to sing "Twankydillo" because of the silly-sounding title, but once she discovered that "Twanky" means "gin" (as in "widow twanky") she liked it once again. Tracks 3,4 and 5 are continuous. Tracks 3 to 6 have the heading "With Napoleon in Russia". Tracks 7 to 12 have the heading "In the Company of Ravens".

Track listing

#"Twankydillo" (Trad) – 2:57 #"Bold Poachers" (Trad) – 4:12 #"Boney (Shanty: Boney was a Warrior)" (Trad) – 1:51 #"Scorched Earth (

The Bonny Bunch of Roses "The Bonny Bunch of Roses" (Roud 664, Laws J5) is a folk song written in the 1830s by an unknown balladeer from the British Isles, perhaps with Irish sympathies. The earliest known version of the tune is in William Christie's ''Tradition Ballad ...

)" (Trad) – 4:21 #"Loot" (Words: M Prior/ Tune: Trad) – 5:00 #" Rigs of the Times" (Words: M Prior/ Tune: Trad) – 4:06 #"In the Company of Ravens" (Maddy Prior) – 3:09 #"Young Bloods" (Maddy Prior) – 4:09 #"The Masts of Morrigan" (Maddy Prior) – 3:42 #"Rich Pickings" (Maddy Prior) – 4:32 #"Ravenchild" (Maddy Prior) – 3:00 #"Dance on the Wind" (Maddy Prior) – 3:56 #" Great Silkie of Sules Skerry" (Trad) – 6:56

Personnel

*Maddy Prior - vocals *Nick Holland - keyboards, backing vocals *

Troy Donockley Troy Donockley (born 30 May 1964) is an English composer and multi-instrumentalist most known for his playing of Uilleann pipes. Having performed with many artists as a session player, he is most notable as a member of Finnish symphonic metal ba ...

Uilleann pipes The uilleann pipes ( or , ) are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. Earlier known in English as "union pipes", their current name is a partial translation of the Irish language terms (literally, "pipes of the elbow"), from their ...

, electric and acoustic guitars,

low whistle The low whistle, or concert whistle, is a variation of the traditional tin whistle/pennywhistle, distinguished by its lower pitch and larger size. It is most closely associated with the performances of British and Irish artists such as Tommy Make ...

tin whistle The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. ...

cittern The cittern or cithren ( Fr. ''cistre'', It. ''cetra'', Ger. ''Cister,'' Sp. ''cistro, cedra, cítola'') is a stringed instrument dating from the Renaissance. Modern scholars debate its exact history, but it is generally accepted that it is d ...

, backing vocals *Terl Bryant - drums and percussion *Nick Beggs -

Chapman Stick The Chapman Stick is an electric musical instrument devised by Emmett Chapman in the early 1970s. A member of the guitar family, the Chapman Stick usually has ten or twelve individually tuned strings and is used to play bass lines, melody lines ...

{{Authority control 1999 albums Maddy Prior albums