This was a match made in heaven:
Maddy Prior, the sweet-voiced singer for
Steeleye Span, and
June Tabor, a darker-toned solo performer who was already making a significant name for herself on the British folk scene. The collaboration was blessed by the presence of most of that scene's aristocracy, including guitarists
Nic Jones and
Martin Carthy, bassist
Danny Thompson, and mandolinist
Andy Irvine. But the album's most transcendent moments come when
Prior and
Tabor sing together a cappella, as they do at the beginning of the gentle "Seven Joys of Mary" and the more astringent "Burning of Auchindoon," not to mention the hair-raising "Four Loom Weaver." A few of these songs require a couple of listens before they reveal all of their charms, but all of them are worth the effort. [So artistically, if not commercially, successful was this album that
Prior and
Tabor reunited ten years later to record the equally fine
No More to the Dance under the group name
Silly Sisters.] ~ Rick Anderson