Sails of Silver now sported the same line-up that had brought it to the height of its success, "Sails of Silver" has often been seen as embodying a different spirit from their classic albums of the 1970s. Prior to "Sails of Silver", the band had always performed songs written by other people, predominantly traditional songs, but also a few 20th century pieces, such as the two Brecht songs on "Storm Force Ten". But on this album they included several songs they had written themselves, including "Let Her Go Down" and "Senior Service". This was the beginning of a trend that continues down to
Forces on sails the "tack", is shackled to a fixed point on the boat in a manner to allow pivoting about that point—either on a mast, e.g. for a mainsail, or on the deck, e.g. for a jib or staysail. The trailing lower corner, the "clew", is positioned with an outhaul on a boom or directly with a sheet, absent a boom. Symmetrical sails have two clews, which may be adjusted forward or back. The windward edge of a sail is called the "luff", the trailing edge, the "leach", and the bottom edge the "foot". On symmetrical sails, either vertical edge may be