01	The Weary Song						03:50
	02	Dragonfly						05:33
	03	I Turned My Face Into The Wind						02:38
	04	Josephine, For Better Or For Worse						03:17
	05	Another Day						03:03
	06	'Til The Sun Comes Shining Through						03:31
	07	Young Again						02:52
	08	The Visions Of The Lady Of The Lake						10:46
	09	Close Your Eyes						00:46

Strawbs [UK]

All Our Own Work (Sandy and the Strawbs) (67), Strawbs (69), Dragonfly (70), Just a Collection of Antiques and Curios (70), From the Witchwood (71), Grave New World (72), Bursting at the Seams (73), Hero and Heroine (74), By Choice (74), Ghosts (75), Nomadness (75), Best of (78), Deep Cuts (76), Burning For You (77), Deadlines (78), Don't Say Goodbye (87), Preserves Uncanned (90), Ringing Down the Years (91), A Choice Selection of Strawbs (92), In Concert (??, recorded '73)

I heard Deep Cuts, which isn't especially progressive but has gobs of nice mellotron work. Earlier albums are reportedly more prog orientated. -- Mike Ohman

The Strawbs started out as the Strawberry Hill Boys, a bluegrass trio, in 1966 with Dave Cousins, Tony Hooper and mandolin player, Arthur Phillips. By 1967, the name had been shortened to the Strawbs, Phillips had been replaced by Ron Chesterman on double bass and Sandy Denny had joined the band. The repertoire changed from bluegrass to a mixture of folk and originals written mainly by Cousins. Since then, the line-up has changed multiple times and the folk-based material has evolved into something a lot more like rock but Cousins remains the major songwriter.

The usual knocks are against Dave Cousin's vocals, but it doesn't take too much to get over them. An interesting folk/progressive blend, the Strawbs have gone though a lot of personnel changes, so every release brings something new. Grave New World is probably the most overt progressive release, but Rick Wakeman fans will probably want to pick up From the Witchwood or A Collection of Antiques and Curios. Antiques... is a live album which has a Wakeman solo - an interesting precursor of things to come.

These guys originally started out as a British bluegrass band back in the late '60s. In those days they were called the "Strawberry Hill Boys," but they soon adjusted their sound to a more traditional British folk style blended with enough rock to make the sound interesting, much like other bands of the time (most notably Fairport Convention), and shortened the name to the Strawbs. An early lineup featured Sandy Denny, who would later achieve fame with Fairport, Fotheringay and her Solo Projects before her untimely death. They have recorded over 15 albums through the years, with various lineups around the core of Dave Cousins, Who is the main driving force in the band and main songwriter. Keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman got his start with the Strawbs back in the early days before joining Yes on their third Album (he is featured on the albums Strawbs, Dragonfly and Just A Collection). Many other musicians have come and gone and some have come back again (Tony Hooper and Richard Hudson left for a long period from '72 to '82, but have since returned). Cousins has also released a couple of excellent solo albums. Because of all the personnel changes throughout the years, their sound has been in a state of constant evolution, from electric folk to a more progressive rock sound, then to an almost straight-ahead rock sound in the late '70s, then back to a more folk-rock sound which is where they are at today. Readers of this survey would probably enjoy the mid-'70s output the most, beginning with Grave New World, which still tends to be very folky, on to the overtly progressive Bursting At The Seams and Hero And Heroine, and finally Ghosts, which shows the band moving into a more accessible rock direction, but still contains some of the band's best work. Nomadness through Burning was a very commercial period for the band, although each of these albums contains a few hidden gems. With Deadlines they started to recapture their progressive past, but it also killed their record deal. The last two albums are more in-line with their pre-progressive sound, a folk-pop with strong melodic leanings. Oh yeah, one more thing: The 2CD live set Heroes Are Forever documents two excellent live shows in London in '73 and '74. I guess the really amazing thing is that these guys are still together after 25 long years !

Too many people approach the Strawbs, knowing that they were Rick Wakeman's first group, with the expectation that their music will a) sound like Yes b) sound like Wakeman's solo stuff, or c) feature lots of pyrotechnic keyboard stuff. In fact, Wakeman had very little impact on the Strawbs sound, and anyone buying their early stuff mainly to hear him will be disappointed. In fact, the Strawbs didn't really start their move toward a "progressive" sound until after he left. On the other hand, Strawbs would appeal to fans of bands like Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span, Pentangle, etc. who wish the sound of those bands were a bit more progressive. The Strawbs most interesting period began with Grave New World, and ended after Ghosts, the best probably being Bursting At The Seams.

The Strawbs have been around since the late '60s and Dave Cousins, the leader of the band, continues to release material under the Strawbs name. I have only one album, Grave New World. It's a very nice album of electric folk with some Progressive tendencies. For example, you'll hear mellotron, organ, acoustic guitar, dulcimer and autoharp. They even recorded parts of one song and played it backwards to record the vocals, mellotron and other parts (just one example), so there is a degree of experimentation here and there on this album. As a whole though, it's folk that wanders near the Progressive style here and there. Very nice if you are into the folk end of the spectrum such as Ithaca, Gygafo, Fairport Convention, etc. -- Mike Taylor





One of the better British progressive bands of the early '70s, the Strawbs differed from their more successful compatriots - the Moody Blues, King Crimson, Pink Floyd - principally in that their sound originated in English folk music, rather than rock. Founded in 1967 as a bluegrass-based trio called the Strawberry Hill Boys by singer/guitarist Dave Cousins, the group at that time consisted of Cousins, guitarist/singer Tony Hooper, and mandolinist Arthur Philips, who was replaced in 1968 by Ron Chesterman on bass. That same year, the group - now rechristened the Strawbs, and doing repertory well beyond the bounds of bluegrass music - briefly became a quartet with the temporary addition of Sandy Denny, who stayed long enough to record a relative handful of tracks with the group on the Hallmark label before joining Fairport Convention.
In 1969, the Strawbs were signed to A&M Records, and cut their first album, the acoustic-textured Strawbs, that same year. For their second album, Dragonfly, recorded and released the following year, the group broadened their sound with the presence of a group of session musicians, including piano/organist Rick Wakeman. Soon after the release of this record, the group became a full-fledged band with the addition not only of Wakeman but also Richard Hudson and John Ford, on drums and bass, respectively. These changes, coupled with Cousins' increasing dexterity on electric guitar, gave the Strawbs a much more powerful sound that was showcased on their next album.

The live Just a Collection of Antiques and Curios (1970) sold well, and was followed up the next year with From the Witchwood. In 1971, Wakeman left the Strawbs in order to join Yes; he was replaced by Blue Weaver formerly of the Amen Corner. Grave New World (1972) showed the band entering its strongest period, with Cousins' songwriting augmented by the new prowess of the composing team of Hudson and Ford. The record became their best-selling album to date. Unfortunately, its release also heralded the exit of Tony Hooper. He was replaced by Dave Lambert, a more aggressive, rock-oriented guitarist, and his addition brought the group into its peak period. The Strawbs' 1973 album, Bursting at the Seams, featured two Top Ten UK hits, "Lay Down" and "Part of the Union," became Top Ten British hits, and one album track, "Down by the Sea," racked up substantial airplay on American FM radio.

It was all too good to last, and it didn't. Blue Weaver left after one more tour, while Hudson and Ford exited to form Hudson-Ford, also signed to A&M. The Strawbs regrouped in 1974 with Hero and Heroine, recorded with a new lineup consisting of Cousins, Lambert, keyboardist John Hawken, bassist Chas Cronk, and drummer Rod Coombes. The new album was a critical and commercial failure in England, but proved popular in America. Their next two albums, Ghosts (1975) and Nomadness (1976), both did better in the US than they did in the UK. None of this was enough to sustain the group, however, which continued to lose members and also left A&M Records. Two more albums on the Oyster label were poorly distributed and received, and one album for Arista, Deadlines (1978), was a failure, while a second record for the label was never released. The group ceased to exist at the end of the 1970s, and Cousins embarked on some solo projects in association with guitarist Brian Willoughby that attracted the interest of die-hard fans but few others. That might have been the end of the group's history, if it hadn't been for an invitation to play the 1983 Cambridge Folk Festival. The Strawbs responded, in the guise of Cousins, Hooper, Hudson, Ford, Weaver, and Willoughby, and the response was so favorable that a tour was scheduled, which, in turn, led to their return to America in the mid-'80s. The group followed this up with two new studio albums released in Canada, and still plays whenever other commitments allow Cousins and company (with Rod Demick on bass and Chris Parren on keyboards) to get together. In 1993, they released their own retrospective concert album Greatest Hits Live!, which summed up many of the high points of their history. - Bruce Eder


1968 Sandy Denny & The Strawbs Hannibal
1969 Strawbs A&M
1970 Dragonfly A&M
1970 Just a Collection of Antiques and Curios A&M
1971 From the Witchwood A&M
1972 Grave New World A&M
1973 Bursting at the Seams A&M
1974 Hero and Heroine A&M
1975 Ghosts A&M
1976 Nomadness A&M
1976 Deep Cuts A&M
1977 Burning for You A&M
1978 Deadlines One Way
1988 Don't Say Goodbye
1996 Heartbreak Hill Road Goes On