Steeleye's album producers

[Phil Perry]

Well, unbelievably, it's been over eight months since any SS post so I thought it about time that somebody broke the silence.   In my view, SS were very well served by their producers during their classic era, notably Ian Anderson and Mike Batt. I suspect that they were at least partly to thank for such innovative arrangements as eg on "Edwin" and "Fighting for Strangers". And does anyone have any idea who Jerry Boys was? Presumably he played some part in the success of the "Salt" and "Rogues" albums. In contrast, it seems that Fairport struggled to attract a suitable "name" producer once Joe Boyd left. (By all accounts Glyn Johns managed to sow a lot of discontent during the "Rising for the Moon" sessions.) Does this difference help to explain why SS were more successful than FC in the mid-70s?

[Jules Gray]

Jerry Boys was Joe Boyd's right hand man for many years.  A great sound engineer, and then a producer in his own right.

Jules

[Jamie73]

Apparently John Wood passed on the first Fotheringay album, which led to Jerry Boys engineering that.

So many great albums with Jerry Boys listed on the cover.

[Greg E]

apparantly Anderson had very limited influence on Now We Are Six and was listed as Production Assistant. And, in his own words only really worked a little bit on Thomas the Rhymer and 700 Elves.
Although a lot of the percussion and layering of Maddy's voice on Fighting for Strangers was indeed down to Mike Batt.

[Phil Perry]

Thanks all. I would guess that a producer is often more influential on the final sound of a solo album than of a band album - because with the latter by the time all the members have made their own inputs there is less for the producer to do. Take, for example, Maddy's first two solo albums, Woman in the Wings, produced by Ian Anderson and Changing Winds, produced by Davy Rohl of the prog band Mandalaband. Both have their own unique feel despite being released very close in time to each other. (Both are also very good albums, IMO far better than the next LP Maddy would make with Steeleye, Sails of Silver.)