STRAWBS LIVE IN TOKYO '75 / GRAVE NEW WORLD THE MOVIE

This DVD is a great treat for any Strawbs fan, albeit (very) far from perfect. it has enough features to satisfy most of the ones who never had a chance to see them either live or on tv (which, by the way, it is my case). First part shows the band playing live in 1975 in Tokyo. This is a "bittersweeet" affair, at least for me. The sweet part is the fact that Strawbs was featuring their most progressive line up and sound of their career at that point. The playing is great! The bitter part is the choice of songs (no prog epics like Ghosts or Autumn), the short playing time (only 40 minutes, and still they included a very dismissible drum solo? Oh, come on!!) and the sound quality (only average). Still it´s Strawbs best line up and the only available video around of them. I always wonder how they sounded live and I was not disappointed. Short, but great show!

Second part is at least equally as important. Featuring their second best line up, it is a long video clip made at the time for cinema playing. The band plays almost all the Grave New World album. It was an interesting idea and quite daring then. A novelty that was later copied by a number of bands, like ELO who did the same with their Discovery LP. Anyway, Grave New World was one of their very best albums and it is interesting so see them playing all those songs. The video technology was very limited at the time, but they did a quite good job and the film still holds your attention after more than 30 years.

The extras bring us some interesting features, like the band playing on TV in 1970 with their original band members, which included a very young Rick Wakeman on piano. Their sound was very much pure folk then, and it is amazing to see how they evolved since. Then we have the band doing an interview around the time they released the single Grace Darling from Ghosts. They are seen on a boat visiting the famous lighthouse they talk about on the song. Nice!

Finally there´s some studio shots recording the Hummingbird album (which reunited Dave Cousins and Rick Wakeman some two decades after they parted ways). Interesting.

This DVD may not have everything the fans want (well, which one does?), but it is a must have to any Strawbs fan, IMO. If you don´t know the band but like prog folk you should also see it, it´s worth it.