STRING DRIVEN THING

Scottish band,which started as a pure folk act in 1967 in Glascow,led by husband and wife Chris and Pauline Adams.They were joined by guitarist John Mannion and released an eponymous LP in 1968.1970 sees the band moving to London along with a turn to a more rock sound.This would led to the departure of Mannion and the arrival of violinist Grahame Smith and bassist Colin Wilson.String Driven Thing signed with Charisma and recorded a new (again) eponymous album in 1972,produced by The Who's and The Kinks' producer Shel Talmy.

The album is half-acoustic,half-electric,definitely far from the progressive sound of rock, and offering among others heavy vocal content.The acoustic tracks have a strong rural feeling,featuring often the Classical-influenced playing of Grahame Smith and the acoustic guitars of Chris Adams with strong British Folk influences and more in a ballad style.On the electric ones,Graham Smith's violin is again on the front,but this time accompanied by Chris Smith's groovy guitar playing and the distinctive bass of Wilson.Unfortunately this specific style sounds rather dated,despite the ambitious approach of the band by mixing British Folk and Rock music.What actually is quite great are the nice vocals of the Smith pair with Chris alternating between a crying style on the electric ones and dreamy,sensitive chords on the acoustic ones and Pauline having always an ethereal voice.Still these cant save the album of not growing well through the sand of time.

For 1972 ''String driven thing'' might have been a decent work,but listening to this album nowadays one recognizes its magic is lost.With no significant surprises,a standard sound throughout and a rather secure overall style,the album heads only to Folk Rock collectors of this world.