HERO AND HEROINE

This was a new band for me, as I was searching for more folk oriented rock and prog. I was a bit disappointed to find this album has no folk traces at all. It's an old men's symphonic rock album with minor classical influences. The production of the album is very professional, but lacks directness and a convincing sound.

The Strawbs themselves made some very symphonic compositions with all instruments sounding if coming from the far end of a catholic church. The chord progressions are all very simple and the music is driven by it's sound. The choral arrangements on the opening track and most others tracks make the music sound as if it were modern church music. Even my girlfriend though it was way to cheesy. It's way to polite and polished for the progressive rock genre. The band has some relatively successful attempts at song-writing during the shorter tracks, that don't have the (for me) silly arrangements. The title track Hero and Heroin stands out as one of the most failing attempt at combining genre's I've ever heard; combining bombastic symphonic rock with... country. What can I say?

Conclusion. By now every-one must have noticed I'm not that positive about this record. I just can't stand the complete lack of originality and bravery. This album almost makes the later work of Barclay James Harvest sound rough. If you like very polished symphonic rock this album might just hit the spot for you, but I can't recommend this album at all. Two stars.

* Edited. At first I criticized Strawbs for having a vocalist that sounds too much like Gabriel, but other users reminded me of the fact was at least as early at the scene as Genesis and that it might have been the other way around (Gabriel sounding like Strawbs).

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