Winter is the 19th studio album by the electric folk

Electric folk

Electric folk is the name given to the form of folk rock pioneered in England from the late 1960s, and most significant in the 1970s, which then was taken up and developed in the surrounding Celtic cultures of Brittany, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Man, to produce Celtic rock and its...

 band Steeleye Span

Steeleye Span

Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....

. So far it is the second of three studio albums made by a line-up consisting of Maddy Prior

Maddy Prior

Maddy Prior is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span.-Early life:...

, Peter Knight, Rick Kemp

Rick Kemp

Rick Kemp is an English bass player, songwriter, vocalist and record producer, best known for his work with the pioneering electric folk band, Steeleye Span.-Projects:...

, Liam Genockey

Liam Genockey

Liam Genockey is an Irish drummer.Liam Genockey was born in Dublin, Ireland. During the 1960s he lived in Plymouth, Devon, U.K, playing in local semi-pro groups, then in the early 70's playing with Torbay based rock band Adolphus Rebirth...

 and Ken Nicol. This is their first Christmas album. Most of the songs on the album are traditional folk songs, but it also includes three new pieces expressing neo-pagan views on the Winter season. It also includes a negro spiritual, "Blow Your Trumpet Gabriel", the first time the band had drawn from that particular musical genre.

Credits

• Maddy Prior
  Maddy Prior
  Maddy Prior is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span.-Early life:...
  
   (vocals)
• Peter Knight (backing vocals, violin
  Violin
  The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
  
  , viola
  Viola
  The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
  
  , electric piano
  Electric piano
  An electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...
  
  )
• Rick Kemp
  Rick Kemp
  Rick Kemp is an English bass player, songwriter, vocalist and record producer, best known for his work with the pioneering electric folk band, Steeleye Span.-Projects:...
  
   (bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  )
• Liam Genockey
  Liam Genockey
  Liam Genockey is an Irish drummer.Liam Genockey was born in Dublin, Ireland. During the 1960s he lived in Plymouth, Devon, U.K, playing in local semi-pro groups, then in the early 70's playing with Torbay based rock band Adolphus Rebirth...
  
   (drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  )
• Ken Nicol (guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  )

Track listing

1. "The First Nowell"
2. "Down in Yon Forest
   Down In Yon Forest
   "Down in Yon Forest" is a traditional English Christmas carol dating to the Renaissance era.The carol has been arranged in modern English by Ralph Vaughan Williams, John Jacob Niles and John Rutter, among others...
   
   "
3. "Unconquered Sun"
4. "Chanticleer" (William Austin)
5. "Bright Morning Star"
6. "Winter" (Peter Knight)
7. "See, Amid The Winter's Snow
   See, Amid The Winter's Snow
   "See, Amid The Winter's Snow", also known as "Hymn For Christmas Day", is a Christmas carol. It was written by Edward Caswall , with music composed by Sir John Goss ....
   
   " (words - Edward Caswall
   Edward Caswall
   Edward Caswall was an Anglican clergyman and hymn writer who converted to Roman Catholicism.He was born at Yateley, Hampshire, July 15, 1814 son of Rev. R. C. Caswall, sometime Vicar of Yateley, Hampshire...
   
   , music - Sir John Goss)
8. "Mistletoe Bough"
9. "Sing We the Virgin Mary"
10. "Today in Bethlehem"
11. "Blow Your Trumpet Gabriel"
12. "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" (words - Charles Wesley
    Charles Wesley
    Charles Wesley was an English leader of the Methodist movement, son of Anglican clergyman and poet Samuel Wesley, the younger brother of Anglican clergyman John Wesley and Anglican clergyman Samuel Wesley , and father of musician Samuel Wesley, and grandfather of musician Samuel Sebastian Wesley...
    
    )
13. "Good King Wenceslas
    Good King Wenceslas
    "Good King Wenceslas" is a popular Christmas carol about a king who goes out to give alms to a poor peasant on the Feast of Stephen . During the journey, his page is about to give up the struggle against the cold weather, but is enabled to continue by following the king's footprints, step for step,...
    
    " (words - John Mason Neale
    John Mason Neale
    John Mason Neale was an Anglican priest, scholar and hymn-writer.-Life:Neale was born in London, his parents being the Revd Cornelius Neale and Susanna Neale, daughter of John Mason Good...
    
    )
14. "In The Bleak Midwinter
    In the Bleak Midwinter
    "In the Bleak Midwinter" is a Christmas carol based on a poem by the English poet Christina Rossetti written before 1872 in response to a request from the magazine Scribner's Monthly for a Christmas poem....
    
    " (words - Christina Rossetti
    Christina Rossetti
    Christina Georgina Rossetti was an English poet who wrote a variety of romantic, devotional, and children's poems...
    
    , music - Gustav Holst
    Gustav Holst
    Gustav Theodore Holst was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets....
    
    )