NOMADNESS

The first Strawbs album of dubious quality, this album reflects the change in the band's market focus. "Hero and Heroine" and "Ghosts" had broken in the States and the Strawbs' popularity at home had declined. The previous albums had seen the band going into full blown prog rock, but still with a distinctive British vibe and a noticeable folk influence lingering. "Nomadness" is an album of straight-ahead rock tunes, with the exception of a couple of ballads. Dave Cousins always had a fondness for exotic imagery and writing the occasional pretentiously worded lyric, but I find "The Golden Salamander" and "Hanging in the Gallery" just go to far- they're laughable, in fact, in their self-importance and purple, plummy verbosity. The rest of the album is nothing more than passable rock and roll, the best track being "To Be Free", which has a pleasing Who-feel to it. The band plays well, but I can't help feel them pushing into areas which were not their strong suit at all on this album. The next two albums would be better, but this is tied with "Deadlines" as the worst of the Strawbs pre-comeback output.