HERO AND HEROINE

the numerous line up changes (and musical directions) have placed ai strain on the Strawbs audience and critics. The group no longer was a folk trio. And after the complete break up of the last line up a lot of people seemed to be losing their patientice with Dave Cousins. After all, Burstin´At The Seams was their most successful record up till then, and yet it did not prevent an almost total disband. Only David Lambert was retained. But in the end it was a good move, since the new personel was Strawbs best.

And what about the album? Hero And Heroine is a transitional work, Cousins is not at his best, which does not mean the songs are not good. They are good. Sometimes very good, like the opening suite, Autumn. This is great prog music and unfortunatly does not repeat on the rest of the LP. On the other hand, no song here is really weak or bad. It is a CD you can hear without any problems and the arrangements are always very well done.

Strawbs would do their best ever work in the following year, with Ghosts, but Hero And Heoine gives hints they were going in the right direction. The title track and Autumn suite are certainly classic songs. Recommended.