DON'T SAY GOODBYE

The members of the Strawbs that recorded 'Deadlines' a decade prior had mostly dispersed by the late eighties. Dave Cousins was well into a lengthy career as radio producer and director. Chas Cronk had dabbled in songwriting with Dave Lambert and later went on to record and play live with the likes of Gordon Giltrap and Rick Wakeman (as did drummer Tony Fernandez). And Robert Kirby rode the New-Wave for a while with Elvis Costello and later Nick Lowe before turning to a commercial marketing career. Most of the would resurface with the Strawbs at one point or another eventually, but for the time being Cousins had been doing some touring since 1983 with an early seventies lineup of the band that included Tony Hooper, John Ford, Richard Hudson and Blue Weaver along with Brian Willoughby who had been in the band before and had also been part of brief punk and dance-hall music groups the Monks and High Society with Ford and Hudson in the early eighties. Weaver didn't stay long with this Strawbs version and was replaced by Chris Parren who was yet another Monks/High Society alumnus. This is basically the lineup that recorded 'Don't Say Goodbye' except that Ford moved to the U.S. and was replaced by Rod Demick in what appears to have been nothing more than a session player role.

I'm not an expert on the band's history but I assume they made this album as simply a means to having something to promote while touring. The Strawbs hadn't released any new material since 1978's 'Deadlines' which was probably already deleted from Arista's catalog by then. And surprisingly they hadn't even bothered to flood the market with various live, hits, anthology or 'rediscovered' rarities in the ensuing years, something many of their peers had done to keep residual royalties flowing. I suppose not having a record deal didn't help.

Despite its tenuous origins, this is a pretty decent album. The band seemed to be a bit short on new material as they re-recorded three tracks from the forgotten late seventies 'Heartbreak Hill' project including a powerful version of "Let it Rain" along with "Something for Nothing" and "We Can Make it Together". I'm not sure where the other tunes originated but I wouldn't be surprised if some of them came from earlier Strawbs studio sessions or from Cousins' solo acoustic work. "Evergreen" and "That's When the Crying Starts" in particular sound like something Cousins would have done outside the context of the Strawbs.

"Tina Dei Fada" is a Richard Hudson composition and a quaint little instrumental that focuses primarily on one lead guitar along with sporadic rhythm guitar accompaniment, very simple drums and light organ in the background. The guitar score sounds like something Hudson spent a lot of time and effort developing and I doubt it was written for these sessions but rather was likely something he had been working on and decided to offer the group. Whatever the source it's an unlikely but very polished and beautiful addition to the album.

Hudson had coauthored "Part of the Union" with John Ford back in the early seventies which became one of the band's biggest hit singles. "Big Brother" sounds like a stab at reviving the working-class and rebellious sentiments that caused people to identify with that song, but the beat is a bit too catchy and the lyrics not quite biting enough to pull that off. A decent song though.

Back to the beginning of the album for a minute, "A Boy and His Dog" really sounds to me like the only song that was specifically written for this album and in fact is credited to Cousins and Parren. I have to say it's also the worst song on the record by far. The opening techno-dance riff and swelling guitar/synth horn buildup was not at all appropriate for a group of the Strawbs character and stature at the time. It appears Cousins couldn't resist a stab at a hit single even after similar failed attempts with Oyster and Arista in the seventies. Every time I hear this song I instantly start visualizing Phil Collins of eighties Genesis on stage, very drunk and wearing parachute pants while trying to groove and sing along with Prince and The Revolution. No offense Phil, just describing an involuntary visual spasm. Fortunately a cooler head prevailed somewhere and this was not one of the two singles released from the album.

Hopefully most listeners didn't spin the record off the turntable after that first song because things immediately get better with the follow-on track "Let it Rain" from the 'Heartbreak Hill' sessions, a gorgeous slow-tempo number with gospel choir vocal choruses, tight guitar chords and a very emotive feel. The overall feel is similar to that of Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is" and was a very good sound for the group at the time.

"We Can Make it Together" was another 'Heartbreak Hill' number and the version here has much more developed keyboard arrangements but is otherwise pretty true to the original. "Something for Nothing" follows the pair of Hudson tracks and is also a 'Heartbreak' song that gets a better keyboard treatment this time around.

The best song on the album is easily "Evergreen", a bitter retrospective look at a failed relationship with gorgeous keyboards and sparing use of guitar chords, and more importantly containing some of Cousins more poignant lyrics: "passionate days, remember them well, the devil may care of evergreen. We measured success in the stains on the back seat, our tongues in your mouths, our hands on your heartbeat? we married in haste, young lambs to the slaughter; we weep in the arms of a favorite daughter". I would stack this one against anything else the band did after about 1974.

The last two I've already mentioned, both Cousins songs and both likely written earlier but well arranged and played here. The closer "Beat the Retreat" is mostly acoustic and very nostalgic, and I wonder if fans at the time might have read something into its words and position at the end of this album. But regardless, the band would go on to release several more albums well into the new century and this one would become something of an afterthought except to hardcore fans.

I can't quite go to four stars for this album since it's really a hodge-podge of sounds including some that would have been considered borderline filler in the Strawbs' earlier days. But three stars is completely appropriate based, if nothing else, on "Evergreen", the reconstituted 'Heartbreak Hill' tunes and the underappreciated country folk-rock closer "Beat the Retreat". If you are a Strawbs fan, don't make the mistake of skipping over this one.

peace