HERO & HEROINE IN ASCENCIA

Love this album. Just got it and I played it many times and it really grew on me. David Cousins sounds so fresh. his voice good as ever. Dave Lambert is great on giutar. John Young is doing wonderful job on Keybards.Chas Cronk on base and Tony Fernandez on drums completes the renewed excelent band. All in all I think its shows that the Strawbs can sing today and that to see them live will be a brilliant opportunity. I am waiting to see them in Israel soon. All the songs sounds frsh, strong and new. One of my favourites is "hero and heroine" that is realy super powerful again. Great job Starwbs, one of my all times favourite

In purchasing this remake of a mythical album, I was led by the premise that even if it's a carbon facsimile of the 1974 original , how could I be pissed off at another copy? In my proggy travels throughout the decades, I have not budged an instant in hailing 'Hero and Heroine' as a masterpiece of music, rating it no1 or 2 in my gargantuan collection. This seminal work has healed many wounds on a myriad of occasions, bringing a"Little Light on Me" when I felt like a "Sad Young Man" and "Out in the Cold". These familiar tracks were pure panacea ("Just Love") and I am happy to report that the revisit is just as enthralling today with subtle little sonic changes that make this a lovely companion as the "Midnight Sun" settles on the "Autumn" of my life. I guess David Cousins feels the same way, marshaling Dave Lambert and Chas Cronk along for the ride with added complicity from long-time associate Tony Fernandez on drums and keyboard virtuoso John Young (ex- Greenslade, John Wetton, Asia, Fish, Qango etc..). There are some radical differences between this and the celestial mother ship, mostly in Cousins' nasally twanged voice which has obviously morphed in the intervening 36 years, as well as a less symphonic keyboard delivery from Young in some places while Lambert is slicker and less raunchy than before. In a way, 'In Ascencia' is a bluesier effort, less anguished and freer wheeling, yet keeping close tabs on the original structures. On the title track, the comparisons become more acute, Cousins finds himself now less controlled and the mellotron is buried deeper in the mix. Nowhere do the new tracks outshine the past glories, a rather impossible mission anyway and that is clearly not the purpose. In fact, it should be seen as an acknowledgement from David and the band that 'Hero and Heroine' has always been considered by the prog world to be an iconic offering, superior in symphonics to the equally delicious 'Ghosts' and the legendary 'Grave New World'. The lyric sheet alone is well worth the adulation, the pristine production, the stellar melodies and finally, the ideal cover art for a bright prog rock album. The rework will never trump the icon. If you do not have the original Hero and Heroine, you are missing out on a plethora of various delights ("I could scarcely believe all the pleasures inside")

While the original is an "untouchable" of unmitigated proportions, 'In Ascencia' counts as a welcome reworking of the masterpiece, so how does one go about rating this? Well the white dove of 1974 will remain a 5 jeweled crown and this can ease in at 4. Round and Round we go

Hero and Heroine (Redux).

I've been listing to a lot of newer Strawbs material lately and this is, by far, the strangest of their strange but engaging make overs. The fact that this album was redone 30 plus years later is enough to add another dimension to this classic work let alone the fact that the signature keyboard player was replaced and a more technical and less rock oriented drummer was recruited to round out the new line up. Having just said that little, you can already surmise the change in sound even with the arrangements being left more or less intact. The sound production is much thinner than the original which also adds to the album's new ambiance.

One of the most notable features of this album is the aging of Dave Cousins' nasal voice. Yes it's raspier than in the days of old, but his vocal delivery is more earnest and sincere sounding. An amazing feat for a musician that's been performing the same pieces of music for over 40 years.

The simple fact is that this album works because the material is so strong that it can stand up to a make over. Essentially, this album a testament to Dave Cousins ability as songwriter, if nothing else. Essential ? Perhaps only for die hard Strawbs' fans as a casual fan would find this album redundant. However, as a member of the former, "In Absencia" it is an incredibly good album that I enjoy listening to over the original as it does exude quite an air of freshness and energy. 4 stars for "In Ascencia" as opposed to 5 stars generally awarded to it's masterful original version. It's that close.

Sadly this recording adds nothing much to the far batter original. On the whole the instruments do benefit from the re-record, and sound a tad better, the mix was a rather disappointing one. However age has not been kind to Cousin's vocals. Whilst in the past his voice was gritty, yet strong, it now sounds far the worse for wear. The only time this version really makes my ears prick up is during Hero & Herione, which is even better than the original. I have spun this a few times, but frankly see it as a rather sad confirmation that the Strawbs are a spent force.

I can only offer it 2 stars, and suspect strongly that i will listen to it at most a couple more times.