THE COLLECTION

A good anthology, but nothing more. Not because of the songs in it that are all beautiful (I thinh in primis of Benedictus and Witchwood), but for the decision to not put in it the more proggish material which is simply fantastic!! When I heard, for example, Hero and heroine or New World (only to name a few) I change immidiately my opinion on this band. A great anthology should indicate with more precision to the newcomers the spirit of the group on which is about!

Review Nº 859

"The Collection" is a compilation album of Strawbs that was released in 2002. It has a selection of some of the best tracks of Strawbs that were taken from several albums all over their great and extensive career. It covers the career of Strawbs since the beginning of it in 1969 with their eponymous debut studio album till 1976, the time of Strawbs' tenth studio album "Deep Cuts". It has also two non-albums' tracks that were originally only released in the format of singles.

"The Collection" has eighteen tracks. From "Strawbs" we have two tracks "The Man Who Called Himself Jesus" and "Oh How She Changed". "The Man Who Called Himself Jesus" is an interesting song with strange lyrics about the return of Jesus Christ to the World. It's a controversial song that due to the lyrical content was quickly banned from the airplay by the BBC. "Oh How She Changed" is a simple and short beautiful song where all the elements, the vocal and the musical performances, are perfectly mixed. From "Dragonfly" we have only one track "I Turned My Face Into The Wind". It's a piano and cello driven song. It was written after a walk in Yorkshire that brings some darker pastoral feeling imagery of the English traditional countryside. From "Just A Collection Of Antiques And Curious" we have two tracks "Song Of A Sad Little Girl" and "Martin Luther King's Dream". "Song Of A Sad Little Girl" is a nice song that shows some intricate acoustic guitar performances and a perfect interplay between Wakeman and Cousins, which stands as one of the best examples of Wakeman's integration with Strawbs. "Martin Luther King's Dream" is a short track, a kind of a folk troubadour song that benefits from the newly acquired rhythm section and backing vocals from Ford and Hudson and the brief performance by Wakeman on organ. From "From The Witchwood" we have two tracks "I'll Carry On Beside You" and "Witchwood". "I'll Carry On Beside You" is a song with a great folk tune where we can feel the vocal power and the instrumentation. It sounds more like a typical classic country folk song that we can listen to on the radio. "Witchwood" is a calm, beautiful song in the style of Medieval and Celtic music. It has a wonderful pastoral melody that can catch the attention of everybody. It's one of the highlights on that album. From "Grave New World" we have two tracks "Benedictus" and "Heavy Disguise". "Benedictus" is a very well constructed song with a delightful organ break in the middle. This is a great opener and one of the best songs on that album. "Heavy Disguise" is a short song with a great tune and good lyrics. This is a song well performed, with a brass section played by the Robert Kirby Silver Band that gives it a special feeling. From "Bursting At The Seams" we have two tracks "Part Of The Union" and "Lay Down". "Part Of The Union" is a well made and funny song. Lyrically, the song is very satirical about the power of the trade unions in the U.K. It's a controversial song misunderstood and poorly received by many union activists. "Lay Down" is a good strong pure rock song, very enjoyable, well sung, with lots of Mellotron and a good guitar solo too. This is a song made in a more commercial vein to be a big hit. From "Hero And Heroine" we have only one track "Shine On Silver Sun". It's a typical and classic song from the band with excellent vocal harmonies, a good Mellotron work and a very catchy piano strong harmony. From "Ghosts" we have two tracks "Grace Darling" and "Lemon Pie". "Grace Darling" is a beautiful piece with a fantastic keyboard performed and a beautiful and majestic choral accompaniment provided by a school choir. It's one of the most beautiful celestial ballads I've ever heard. "Lemon Pie" is a catchy song in Strawbs most folk traditional roots. The song was written about Cousins' then girlfriend and future wife. From "Nomadness" we have only one track "Tokyo Rosie". It was made to be listened to on the radio stations and be a big hit. Despite is a vulgar commercial song, is pleasant enough to hear due to its funny and catchy rhythm. From "Deep Cuts" we have only one track "I Only Want My Love To Grow In You". It's a nice song written to be a hit single, a good effort with a simple but largely enjoyable melody and a great vocal performance too.

"The Collection" also has two non albums' tracks "Let's Keep The Devil Outside" and "Will Ye Go". Both were initially released as singles and later were also released as two bonus tracks on the remastered editions of "From The Witchwood" and "Bursting At The Seams", respectively. These are two really nice additions to this compilation album.

Conclusion: "The Collection" is a good and interesting compilation album of Strawbs, really. It covers the career of the band since the beginning of it, from 1969 to 1976. It has tracks from all the first studio albums of the band, if we forget the album "All Our Own Work", which isn't properly a Strawbs' album but a collaboration album with Sandy Denny. So, some of their best tracks are present here because they were written in their golden era, an era that belongs to this period of time. Of course I'm talking about "Just A Collection Of Antiques And Curious", "From The Witchwood", "Grave New World", "Bursting At The Seams", "Hero And Heroine" and "Ghosts". But, besides the tracks of these albums, we have also some great tracks from albums less good and two tracks previously only released as singles.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)