The Strawbs album by album thread!

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Chemically altered, Mar 27, 2020.

  1. Chemically altered

    Chemically altered Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Ukraine in Spirit
    [​IMG]
    Strawbs 1969.
    I knew this album would be good 3 seconds after I started playing it! It's a little bit of a mixed bag as a few of these over produced songs don't come off, but what does work is outstanding: The Man Who Called Himself Jesus, Pieces Of 79 and 15, Oh How She Changed, Where Is This Dream Of Your Youth? and The Battle. Fantastic!

    Dave Cousins; Vocals, guitar
    Tony Hopper: Vocals, guitar
    Ron Chesterman: Double Bass
    with guest session players that include John Paul Johns and Nicky Hopkins.
     
    Last edited: Mar 27, 2020
  2. Chemically altered

    Chemically altered Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Ukraine in Spirit
    The s/t debut's recording budget was 30, 000. More than $200,000 in todays money!!
     
  3. MikeM

    MikeM Senior Member

    Location:
    Youngstown, Ohio
    Though I know it wasn't released until a few years after the fact, it would make sense to start with All Our Own Work if you really wanted to chart the development of the band from the beginning.

    In saying this, I may be influenced by how much I love this album. But I entered this thread hoping that this would be what I'd first find under discussion.
     
  4. Chemically altered

    Chemically altered Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Ukraine in Spirit
    Yeah, that's what it sounds like, which is quite understandable as it's such a gem. I'll post the album right after Bursting At The Seams as it was released right after that one.
     
    Last edited: Mar 30, 2020
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  5. carlwm

    carlwm Forum Resident

    Location:
    wales
    Didn't know too much about The Strawbs beyond Part Of The Union until the mid 2000s although I missed a chance to see them in concert back when they toured with Lindisfarne in around '93/'94. Strawbs were on first and I was delayed getting to the show.

    Fast forward to 2002 and I was given a copy of The Strawbs' acoustic album Baroque & Roll to review, gave it a couple of spins and thought it was hopeless. Maybe five years later, I'm listening to the radio and a splendid prog/folk epic starts to play. Much to my astonishment, the deejay announces it as Benedictus by the Acoustic Strawbs. I was floored! I couldn't get my head around the fact that something that I had dismissed so perfunctorily could actually be so good. Luckily, I still had Baroque & Roll in the back of a cupboard so I dusted it down, gave it a spin... and was completely bowled over.

    To this day, I have never worked out why I didn't rate it first time round. I don't think my tastes had changed overly much in the intervening period. One of life's little mysteries, I guess.

    Anyway, eventually Baroque & Roll was the start of my love affair with The Strawbs. Like Fairport, they've delivered quality records regardless of line-up. Dave Cousins' firm hand on the tiller has ensured that!
     
  6. Chemically altered

    Chemically altered Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Ukraine in Spirit
    That's understandable to me as the Strawbs' acoustic outings, while brilliant, are a kind of deconstruction of their songs. After you hear the original bombastic versions, it's nice to see what lies underneath, for like of a better description. I don't know if I would have liked a song like Autumn done acoustically if I didn't hear the studio version first.
     
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  7. Toad of the Short Forest

    Toad of the Short Forest Forum Resident

    Location:
    90220 Compton
    Great thread idea! This was the first album by them I heard.

    Man Who Called Himself Jesus is one of my favorite songs!
     
  8. Where Is This Dream Of Your Youth? is great in both this early incarnation and the expanded live version with an amazing Rick Wakeman torturing a Hammond organ for an extended solo. Both versions are necessary.
     
  9. Nick Dunning

    Nick Dunning Forum Resident

    Supposedly that was actually supposed to be the budget for three LP's - they didn't realise and went to town on the first one.
     
  10. carlwm

    carlwm Forum Resident

    Location:
    wales
    The Strawbs

    As Chemically Altered, suggests, this one is a mixed bag and essentially shows a band in search of its sound. That said, even the tracks that are swathed in swinging Sixties strings like outtakes from an early Cat Stevens session, are enjoyable enough but the do sound like juvenilia when put up against songs like The Battle and The Man Who Called Himself Jesus which are classics of the band's oeuvre to this day.

    Somebody told me that the spoken word parts at the beginning of the album were done by Richard Wilson but I don't believe it. (badoom tish! :)).
     
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  11. Nick Dunning

    Nick Dunning Forum Resident

    IIRC I bought my first copy of The Strawbs debut blind, circa 1989.

    I love it as a sunny period piece, which is what it is. The A&M management were very right to reject the original track listing of the record (which was rather MOR) and ask for some more cutting-edge stuff, as it's that later material ('Pieces Of 79 & 15', 'The Battle') which really stands out.

    Cousins songwriting muse suddenly accelerates from the earlier whimsical/fey stuff to 'The Man Who Called Himself Jesus', which is a brilliant song and stands out majorly on the album.

    The lovely 'Oh How She Changed' is a lovely thing. As well as being very English it appears someone had heard Buffalo Springfield's 'Expecting To Fly' fairly quickly after it was released, as there's a sonic debt there (another song influenced by 'Expecting To Fly' was 'Wings' by The Hollies, from almost exactly the same time).

    I do find The Strawbs interesting as a band and culturally (I live very near Strawberry Hill and Dave Cousins went to school at the same place my step-daughter has just finished her 'A' levels at), but I do lose them after 'Witchwood' for some reason. The later stuff doesn't appeal.
     
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  12. Instant Karma

    Instant Karma Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    I'm a Strawbs fan but I don't have this album. I've really only started on their catalog a few years ago and think they are excellent. They seem to be categorized as folk by some and prog by others. Similar to Renaissance which I mentioned in their thread. My collection starts at "Grave new World".
     
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  13. Chemically altered

    Chemically altered Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Ukraine in Spirit
    [​IMG]
    Dragonfly: 1970.
    As a young prog rock fanatic, I was drawn to the Strawbs with later albums like Grave New World, Hero and Heroine and Ghosts. It took me 30 plus years to really listen to Dragonfly and appreciate for what it is. A unique folk rock album with some excellent songs in more stripped down arrangements than were found on the debut album. "The Weary Song" and "I Turned My Face To The Wind" how now become favorites along with "Another Day" and the title track. "The Vision Of The Lady Of The Lake" is not on my favorites list but I can appreciate it for it's proto prog qualities. The group are again: Cousins, Hooper and Chesterman.
     
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  14. carlwm

    carlwm Forum Resident

    Location:
    wales
    I've got a few gaps in my Strawbs collection and this is one of them. Must try and find it if only to compare it with the original.
     
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  15. Chemically altered

    Chemically altered Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Ukraine in Spirit
    [​IMG]
    Just a collection of antiques and curios -1971.
    This thread has stalled so it's time for the first album featuring Rick Wakeman as a member of the group. Ron Chesterman is gone replaced by John Ford on bass along with Richard Hudson on percussion. Great album!
     
  16. Just a Collection of Antiques and Curios was my first Strawbs CD and still holds a special place. A transitionary album, as it moves from folk to early proto-prog rock. The addition of Hudson, Ford and Wakeman really amp up the power and energy. Recorded live and sounding wonderful.

    My favorites:
    Martin Luther King's Dream -beautiful sentiment, lyrically rich and a nice melody
    The Antique Suite -much to love here, I get lost in it every time I listen to this song
    Temperment of Mind is a Rick Wakeman piano showcase -it's o.k., but I prefer his later Hammond work-outs
    Fingertips -Raga carried into the 70s, seems the Strawbs were one of the few bands to do this
    We'll Meet Again Sometime -would sound right in place on Witchwood -Rick's Hammond runs are amazing
    Where Is This Your Dream Of Your Youth? -I love this muscular interpretation and it contains what may be my favorite Hammond solo (some may hear wankery, but not me)
    Forever -A studio single tacked on as a cd bonus is a beautiful song recorded around the same time as this album, I like it a lot.

    Not a bad place to start appreciating The Strawbs.

    A nice live version of Where is This Dream... recorded on the same tour as this album:
     
    Last edited: Apr 1, 2020
  17. It is a bit disheartening that a Rush album-by-album thread can have more posts dedicated to a single song than an entire ground-breaking album by a terrific band like the Strawbs can generate (and no slam at Rush, I like them too).:sigh:
     
  18. carlwm

    carlwm Forum Resident

    Location:
    wales
    Another one I don't have. Beyond a few bands, I'm not massively into live albums.

    I do have everything between the next studio one and Deep Cuts so I'll be able to participate a bit more then. After that there are a few gaps but also some I'll be able to talk about.
     
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  19. Chemically altered

    Chemically altered Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Ukraine in Spirit
    Yes, but I'm use to it. Strawbs were always too folky for most prog fans and too proggy for most folk rock fans, it seems. :laugh:
     
  20. Chemically altered

    Chemically altered Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Ukraine in Spirit
    I have to a agree with most that you have written. I'm not too fond of Fingertips but every other song on the album is superb!
     
  21. I hear you, but this is an exceptional live album because most of the content is not on previous releases -they are new songs, songs not on their first 2 albums, or substantially re-interpreted songs. Plus the recording quality is pristine (particularly for 1970!). This one is worth taking a chance on.
     
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  22. carlwm

    carlwm Forum Resident

    Location:
    wales
    You've convinced me. Just ordered! :righton:
     
  23. I strongly suspect you won’t be disappointed:D
     
  24. fast'n'bulbous

    fast'n'bulbous tight also

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Antiques and Curios is where I started with Strawbs. I think I got it at the same time as From the Witchwood, which would have been just recently released. Those two very different albums started a love affair with the band that continues to this day. The first two albums are nice, but A&C was the start of a stupendous run of albums.
     
  25. ganma

    ganma Senior Member

    Location:
    Earth
    Playing now, Japan first CD release, A&M Records ‎– D32Y3524. Had this one on vinyl in the past too. Fantastic band!
     
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