Customer Reviews
Mixed Disaster - By: A.K.Farrar, 08 Mar 2008 
More a mix of tracks than a coherent album - two absolute duds at the end almost ruining the thing.
Maddy gives a great performance on one track; the drums work on some others - it was Americas introduction to the group - wonder what they made of it? For me, the two previous albums made a lot more sense & gave a satisfaction which is only partial here.
Disappointingin many ways - but experimentation is bound to fail much of the time.
A bit mixed - By: Mr. R. W. Woodward, 07 Jan 2006 
I say this album is mixed because when it's good, it's REALLY good, & when it's bad it's REALLY bad. The number of good tracks outweigh the bad so I can still give it 4 stars. I do really love this album as it was the first Steeley Span album I heard as a child.
First the good tracks. Seven Hundred Elves, Drink Down the Moon, Thomas the Rhymer, The Mooncoin Jig & Two Magicians. Seven Hundred Elves is a great opener, & as a child one of my favourite songs along with Two Magicians. My daughter is getting into Steeleye Span & Two Magicians is on constantlyin the car. I'm also an amateur mandolin player & if I could ever reach the standard of thatin The Mooncoin Jig then I think I'd die a happy man. Now, the bad tracks are obvious when you hear the album, & quite frankly, I'm amazed they even bothered putting them on. I mean Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - what were they thinking?
Now We Are Six - By: , 03 Oct 2003 What`s wrong with "Seven Hundred Elves"! Sure, it`s not the best track on the album, but it`s certainly not pedestrian! It fitsin very nicely with the rest of the (good)material on the album.
For the record, the three duff tracks on Now We Are Six are -1) The execrable "Now We Are Six", which is NOT, as you would expect, the "title track", but features Maddy Prior & other band members impersonating children(thus the "St. Eleye School Choir", a play on the word Steeleye) singing(badly) a childrens` song that contains three "riddles" -- 2) The equally execrable "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" - another childrens` song & again the singers pretend to be children singing. The "Miss Knight" on pianoforte accompaniment is none other than PETER Knight. Whatever possessed them to put this sort of rubbish on an album, especially when they were at the height of their creativity, is an unsolvable mystery. It seems almost nihilistic. -- 3)The infuriatingly incongruous "To Know Him Is To Love Him".
The rest of the album, though, is classic Steeleye Span, which makes it even harder to stomach the three clangers, but it`s still worthy of four stars.
Vintage Steeleye from their golden era - By: , 16 Sep 2003 Now We Are Six is classic Steeleye Span. Okay, there are the three mind-bogglingly extraneous & gratuitous nonsense tracks, but the rest of the album is must-have material for anyone interestedin Steeleye Span. Whilst the two preceding albums were arguably better, overall, this album has some nice touches, such as new drummer Nigel Pegrum`s oboe & flute playing, not to mention his drumming! I prefer Now We Are Six to the albums that followed it. I think that between Now We Are Six & Commoners Crown, there was ONE great album, i.e. the seven `proper` tracks from the former, combined with the first three tracks from the latter. Whilst Now We Are Six certainly contains some out & out drivel, it is more than compensated for by the high quality of the rest of the material. Commoners Crown, on the other hand, starts off on a real high, but after the excitement & drama of the first three tracks, the rest of the album simply fails to deliver & is a complete anticlimax(even though some of the tracks are fairly good).
By the way, get the BGO version of this CD, the one with the full-length version of Thomas the Rhymer. If it`s not available right now, I`m sure it will be again soon.
Steeleye begin to really rock. - By: The Librarian, 06 Feb 2003 I have given this 3 stars, but it was really hard to decide on a rating at all. This is because this album contains the best Steeleye track of ALL time, bar none - Thomas the Rhymer - which deserves 10 stars! There is also the delightful Two Magicians, with superb, dancing fiddle work by Peter Knight. His featured instrumental, the Mooncoin Jig is a goodie, too. The weird Drink Down The Moon is now featured on their latest collection as an all-time favourite. However, there is unfortunately some real dross as well! Twinkle twinkle Little Star is unforgiveable, & NOT amusing. Seven Hundred Elves is pedestrian, & To Know Him Is To Love Him, whilst a nice piece of pop kitsch, has no placein Steeleye Span's repertoire, unless it is the only tune David Bowie can play on the saxophone (yes, the Thin White Duke is guesting!). This kind of stuff is good for a laugh at a live show, but a self-indulgent waste of space on an album.
A mixture then, significant because it marks the introduction of Nigel Pegrum on drums & occasional flute. The line-up settled after this, & they really began to rock, ("See Thomas the Rhymer, above!) but my recommendation is to look for the good tracks on other compilations.
