STRING DRIVEN THING

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.

I don't know any of this group's other albums, but to me this album is barely progressive. The majority of the tracks are sixties style psychedelic rock, similar to the early Jefferson Airplane albums. To make it worse, Chris Adams too often sings in a faux Bob Dylan style (it's bad enough when Dylan himself does it).

The only prog track is the last one on the original album, River Of Sleep, a tune that meanders through some spacey territory. Another good track on the album is Heartfeeder. While not terribly progressive, the primal scream aspect makes it interesting.

The three bonus tracks on my CD are okay, but spoil the mood after the origuinal album ending, the aforementioned River Of Sleep.

Not bad for a psychedelic album, but not a favorite of mine.

"Keep yer 'and on it" was the second album by the radically transformed line up of String Driven Thing led by Grahame Smith; it also proved to be their last. After the disappointing "Please mind your head", the band came back with a fine collection of rock based songs featuring strong compositions and excellent performances all round.

Both sides of the album open with similar up tempo numbers with strong hooks and a rich sound. "Starving in the tropics" has a pragmatic but sensitive message, while "But I do" is a nicely twisted love song. Kim Beacon, who was the principal vocalist on Tony Bank's first album "A curious feeling" (but sadly is no longer with us), is on fine form throughout. His voice may be something of an acquired taste, being somewhere between John Wetton and Tom Jones(!), but for me he was one of the best in the business.

The songs are generally straight forward, the exception being the superb interpretation of the Beatles "Things we said today". Here the band allow themselves a little more latitude, developing the instrumentals aspects, and briefly exploring psychedelic territories.

The ballad "Ways of a woman" may be schmaltzy, with weeping violin, but it is performed tenderly and Beacon offers his most soulful performance of the album. The melancholy mood continues on the reflective "Part of it", a song which would have suited the previous line up well. The subtitle of "Chains (I wanna be just like Stan Bowles)" will mean little to younger members, but think early 70's British football.

"Stand back in amazement" and "Call out for mercy" are excellent pop rock songs, certainly not challenging, but enjoyable nonetheless. And that pretty much sums up the album. "Keep yer 'and on it" may have a silly title and a poor sleeve design (Grahame Smith's name is even misspelled throughout) and it will certainly never win any prog awards, but seen for what it is, it is an accomplished and enjoyable album.

Worth a listen.

When Chris and Pauline Adams left String Driven Thing after the release of "The Machine that cried", the heart of the band essentially went with them. To his credit, Grahame Smith rebuilt String Driven Thing from scratch, but the truth was that this was a completely different band using the same name (per Fleetwood Mac). The new line up recorded two albums together; unfortunately this was the poorer one.

Vocal duties were taken on by Kim Beacon (here referred to as Kimberley) who was the principal vocalist on Tony Banks' first solo album. Beacon's vocals represented a fundamental change from those of the Adams family, implying an immediately apparent change of sound for the band. This, combined with a general move towards a more orthodox pop rock direction alienated many of SDT's original fans. In fairness though, the songs here are not that good to start with.

Things start off brightly enough with "Overdrive" a mid-paced pop song with a fine harmonic chorus. Unfortunately, that's about it. Songs such as "Without you" try to be more adventurous, with Smith's violin and viola contributions at least moving the songs on from being totally average rock, but ultimately even the best performances cannot disguise a poor song.

Personally, I find the late Kim Beacon to be one of the finest rock singers of his day, his voice being a cross between Paul Rogers and Rod Stewart. Indeed, this album is probably best described as a second rate FREE album. Even he though cannot breath life into the decidedly average "Josephine", the playful but dull pop of "Mrs. Reilly", or any of the other anonymous compositions here.

Apart from "Overdrive", only "Timpani for the devil" offers anything different or mildly interesting. This instrumental piece draws in brief classical influences as Grahame Smith gets loose on his violin while drummer Colin Fairley expresses himself. In truth, the workout is mediocre, but it is at least a change.

Fortunately, String Driven Thing would come good again with their final album "Keep yer 'and on it", but this one can be safely passed by. Silly sleeve too, with a tennis rackets theme.

If you only ever hear one album by String Driven Thing, make sure it is this one. If you can only manage one track, it simply has to be "Heartfeeder". This is a truly inspired album, which opens with one of the finest, darkest, yet most uplifting pieces of prog I have come across.

"Heartfeeder" was written along with many of the songs here by Chris Adams while laid up in hospital with a collapsed lung. The song weaves it's way through soft violin and cello sections (played by Grahame Smith and his wife Claire Sealey) and loud cries of "Feel the pain" in a wonderful cacophony of melodies and sounds. The "band's official version" of the album released on CD in 1996, reveals that the track was not originally included on the album, space only being found for it through a significant trimming of the 11 minute "River of sleep" (which became about 4 minutes!).

Chris Adams dominates the album both in terms of composition and performance, his wife Pauline generally providing backing and harmony vocals. The ballad "To see you" would perhaps have suited her voice well, but is nonetheless a touching number. Likewise, "Travelling" is a reflective song with some fine violin work by Smith. "Sold down the river" is reminiscent of the preceding self titled album with a captivating, repetitive chorus. Pauline eventually takes centre stage for "Two timin' rama", surely the inspiration for a whole swathe Stevie Nicks Fleetwood Mac songs.

"People on the street" is one of the band's most adventurous pieces. On the face of it, it is a power ballad, but the intricate structure of the song reveals itself as it progresses through a variety of passages. The "Time shot down." section builds especially poignantly.

The title track returns to the darker aspects of "Heartfeeder", but it is the restored "River of sleep" with its dramatic, swirling violin which steals the show right a the end. For those who have the original vinyl release of the album, the 11 minute version will astonish you. The beautiful closing section which was all that remained on the LP is but a part of the magnificent whole.

The CD remaster also has three bonus tracks. Little information is offered about two of these tracks, "If only the good" and "Part of the city" (titled elsewhere as "City at night") which are simply described as "Archive tracks". The former is appears to be an unfinished demo with a slightly folk feel, which could have been developed into a fine song. The latter is a rather dull uninspired song which also appears on the "Dischotomy" collection. "It's a game" was a non-album single which failed to find the success it deserved until tragically covered by none other than the Bay City Rollers, a 1970's Scottish boy band.

The "band's official version" of the album came about when they decided they were unhappy with the way their albums had been transferred to CD. They took the opportunity to restore the tracks to their full length, including the aforementioned "River of sleep" which regains its full 11 minutes. The remastering brings out the strength of the album superbly, although the pressing I have is prone to annoying screeches, presumably through a manufacturing fault. Incidentally, the cover illustration is an extreme close up of a bed bug!

Sadly, after this album, the band effectively broke up, although the name carried on in a new line up.

Boy, does this album take me back. This album is not so much about the music for me, as the memories it recalls. It is about sitting with friends listening to new and exciting albums by bands we had never heard of. The strange and original names of those bands only served to enhance the mystique which surrounded them. We are talking decades before the internet here, when finding out any information about a band was all but impossible, until they were featured in one of the weekly music publications.

String Driven Thing originated in my home town of Glasgow in Scotland, but I'm proud to say I discovered their music before I discovered their origins. Their history is chequered, and although they achieved a certain level of success, including touring as more or less equals with Genesis, they never truly gained the recognition they deserved.

The parallels with Genesis continue with this album, in that while it is generally regarded as their first, there was in fact a previous releases for another record label which failed to secure any recognition whatsoever. The albums was completed in just two weeks, the stylish sleeve illustration reportedly costing more than the recording of the album.

The dominant features of the band are male and female lead vocalists plus frequent violin passages. When then male and female vocals sing in harmony the effect is very like that which Fleetwood Mac went on to perfect.

The album opens with a magnificent slice of loud rock. "Circus" has soaring violin, incisive lead vocals, and great harmonics. "Take me to the circus. I want to see the chimpanzee. the chimpanzee wants to see me", you really had to be there. They even have the audacity to sing "I'm going home to my mama, to listen to some String Driven Thing".

It is though the sheer diversity of the tracks on the album, if not within the tracks, which makes the album so irresistible. Right after "Circus", we are thrown into a Sandy Denny like lilting vocal performance by Pauline Adams on "Fairground" (also referred to as "Fairground at night"). Graeme Smith's violin work here is simply sensational, never dominating Adams vocal, but offering the perfect counterpoint.

The rock orientated songs and the softer ballad orientated numbers tend to more or less alternate. Tracks such as "Hooked on the road" (with wah wah violin!) and the magnificent "Jack Diamond" (the most progressive track on the album) are invigorating, they are exciting, damn it why did this band not conquer the world.

"Easy to be free" and "Very last blue yodell (sic)" may initially seem lightweight, even whimsical, but listen awhile and you discover perfectly written folk songs with eloquent lyrics and melodies which will intertwine themselves in your memory till they are totally embedded. Only midway through side two do things dip slightly, with a ubiquitous pop rock song ("My real hero"), and a late night drunken smoothy ("Regent Street incident").

After this album, SDT went on to record their finest album. Do not however allow that to overshadow this magnificent offering. This is a superb work.

Actually I've got this CD already since many years in my collection and even don't really remember how I discovered this band. Think I found it in a discount rack, sometimes there are true gems to be found there. SDT had been a very little known band releasing five albums between 1970 and 1975 before they resigned due to unsatisfactory record sales. Violinist Grahame Smith did a lot of session work (i.e. VDGG, Steve Hackett) after that as a matter of interesting fact. I never listened to any of their other regular albums, only to a compilation called "Early Years" or something like that which contained some really crappy 60's pop songs though (which obviously was a reissue of their debut one). But this album here is of much different calibre and a quite remarkable work. Unfortunately not everything's really great on here and on par with the last two tracks which are undoubtedly to be classified as Prog. Most of the other songs though are sounding a bit too simplified reflecting rather straight forward bluesy folk rock being still in a rather 60's vein and quite dated for 1973. Anyway Grahame Smith is the shining star here with his furious violin play. Other quite good songs apart from the title track and the three-parted "River Of Sleep" include "Heartfeeder", "Night Club" and "Sold Down The River". Overall this album is worth 3 ½ stars I would say but I doubt it's necessarily an essential addition to any Prog collection.

"Dischotomy" is a collection of demos, outtakes and live versions from String Driven Thing's early years when Chris and Pauline Adams formed the core of the band along with violinist Grahame Smith. The tracks are therefore from the period when the band released what are regarded to be their two strongest albums, "String driven thing" (1972) and "The machine that cried" (1973).

A significant number of the tracks here will already sound familiar to those who know those two albums as they appeared on them, albeit in different form. "Let me down", "Circus", "The machine that cried", and the magnificent "Heartfeeder" all fall into this category. The versions here are demos and early unfinished renditions which, while of some interest, are largely superfluous, the final album tracks being the definitive versions.

"It's a game" was a non album single which deserved much greater success in this form than it gained. It and "City at night" (also sometimes called "Part of the city") subsequently appeared as bonus tracks on the re-master of SDT's finest album, "The machine that cried".

Of the other tracks here, "Moonlight kid" would have fitted in well on the band's albums of this period. "Timeglide" is a slow atmospheric piece, the decent production defying its "demo" status. "Are you really a rock'n'roller" is something of an oddity for the band. This B side finds SDT really rocking to a driving guitar rhythm with echoed vocals and references to Little Richard et al.

The two live tracks here, "Sold down the river" and "Circus" are little different from their album originals. The final track is a 10 minute interview with Chris Adams, who provides a candid history of the band up until "The machine that cried" and the subsequent single "It's a game", shortly after which he and his wife Pauline left the band.