review by thomas

Another inch more pop/rock and another inch less folk-rock, and the pop/rock material is another inch weaker than on ”Parcel of Rogues” as well. It’s however still folk rock that’s played on the album, an album saved by two very good songs, “Black Jack Davy” and “Gamble Gold (Robin Hood)”. The line-up now features a fulltime drummer in Nigel Pegrum, the one and same Pegrum who used to drum in Gnidrolog. Pegrum also plays some flute; notably on “Gamble Gold”. Most songs are very tiresome and pushy in that way that the choruses are many and repeated to boredom in one and the same song, just listen to “Hard Times of Old England” or “Cadwith Anthem” and you will understand. And if they may have done songs like that before the difference is that the material on “All Around My Hat” is simply of low quality (the last song on the record even sounds like Country music to me). Some nice exceptions are however present: besides the abovementioned the heavy “Wife of Usher Wells” is decent enough and the warm and jovial “Dance With Me” is also quite good. This is still folk-rock and the mandolin and the violins are still here, but still it’s more pop/rock than before and a fulltime drummer may also add to this. The material is weak and I suggest that anyone interesting in exploring Steeleye Span or folk-rock should start with some earlier album, on recommendation “Below the Salt”.