The first and, perhaps contrarily, the least of all
Steeleye Span's live albums,
Live at Last was released at an awkward stage of the band's existence, at a time when its earlier marriage of commercial success and creative brilliance was fast falling apart, and the recent loss of key members
Bob Johnson and
Peter Knight had forced the band to utterly re-evaluate its approach. Of course, the errant duo's replacements,
John Kirkpatrick and the returning
Martin Carthy, were at least as valuable as the members they succeeded, but their worth lay elsewhere, in a more avowedly traditional vein to that which
Steeleye had recently been pursuing. At the time of
Live at Last's release, this was most noticeable in the studied avoidance of any of the band's so-called "greatest hits"; the general absence of the ear-bleeding amplification that was once its in-concert calling card was also disconcerting, and anybody drawn to
Live at Last by memories of recent
Steeleye shows was left sorely underwhelmed. Time has improved matters somewhat, as further convolutions in the
Steeleye story reveal that the golden age of the mid-'70s was simply one facet of a far greater jewel. But still, the somewhat lifeless performances captured here paint a bleak picture of the band's capabilities, the grayness only deepened by a less than inspiring song selection.
Steeleye was, and is, a magnificent live band.
Live at Last, however, keeps that knowledge to itself.