Sackful of Sovereigns Albums - Small Change

Small Change - July 1997

July 1st 1997 saw the release of the band's first tape containing five tracks and titled "Small Change".

Originally scheduled to have six tracks and with a working title of "A bit of Loose Change" the tape nearly wasn't released as the multitrack machine on which it was recorded proceeded to die and screw up the master recordings the day after the first five tracks were mastered.

The band were lucky to lose only the one track and decided to rework the cover artwork and title for a smaller package of five tracks instead of delaying the release.

The track listing is as follows :

Small Change

"The Blacksmith" (Traditional arr. S.o.S.).
"Sackful of Sovereigns" (Harrison, Harrison, Rundle, Griffin, Mundy).
"All Things are Quite Silent" (Traditional arr. S.o.S.).
"Cam Ye O'er Frae France/ The Monaghan Jig" (Traditional arr. S.o.S.).
"Early one Morning" (Traditional arr. S.o.S.).

Engineered, Produced and Mixed by Mike Gerrish.
Remastered for CD by Mark Griffin at Littleton Studios.

Review

The tape (it was only on tape at the time) was reviewed in "The Wiltshire Times" on 1st August 1997 in their "You heard it first" music page.

They said :

"This collection, modestly priced at £3.50 will please fans of the West Wiltshire's answer to Steeleye Span. In fact, apart from slightly changed intro's, the band do a very good Steeleye impersonation on the Blacksmith and All Things are Quite Silent. The band's own song, a Sackful of Sovereigns, is catchy, while a medley of jigs shows off the members' instrumental talents. The only mistake, to my mind, is a horribly syncopated rendition of Early One Morning : sing it straight or not at all, chaps."

CHAPS!!! the reviewer obviously hasn't seen the Who's Who page! The jury is still out on the band's reply. We leave you to make your own minds up.