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Strawbs - Deep Cuts CD (album) cover

DEEP CUTS

Strawbs

 

Prog Folk

2.79 | 84 ratings

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Easy Livin
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin
3 stars The first cut is the deepest

After the excellent "Ghosts", the following "Nomadness" was rather disappointing. It was to be hoped that this was a mere glitch in the run of excellent albums the band had produced. Unfortunately, "Deep Cuts" indicated that there were indeed major incisions being made in the band's ability to come up with more of the superb prog folk they had recorded over the previous few years.

Once again, we are presented with a collection of straight forward songs, with simple but largely enjoyable melodies. All the tracks are short and basic in structure, with little if anything worthy of the progressive tag. If we accept that for what it is, this is actually quite a likeable album.

"I only want my love to grow in you" was the most likely hit single the band had produced since "Shine on silver sun", with a wall of sound (not quite the Phil Spector heavy drum beat type, but loud with soaring guitars nonetheless), and a great vocal performance by Cousins.

Many of the other tracks appear to be rather lacking in real effort, with half the tracks clocking in at under 3 minutes. You do get a sense that the band were simply going through the motions, with just enough material for a standard 10 track album.

"Hard hard winter" for example, is a lovely delicate tune, but it could have been developed so much better. Simplicity is all very well as a composition tool, but it should be used in moderation like any other.

With so many Strawbs albums available, it's hard here to recommend this one, especially for anyone looking for a starting point for the band. There are many others which are superior both in terms of the quality of the songs, and the extent to which they are brought to maturity.

Easy Livin | 3/5 |

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