STRING DRIVEN THING

Now at this point in both cases many listeners leave the building feeling slightly cheated. Personally in both cases I feel nothing of the sort. I agree the compositions are very pedestrian here on this album but the execution is purely of very high quality musicianship of people at the top of their game

Again I insist I see this as well in Starship and I love those albums they have strong qualities not original but excellent musicianship and flow. The only exception here as it is indeed very creative altho it is a Cover of a Beatles track Which has a very psychedelic undertone/overtone/tone arrangement and is truly brilliant ... Byrds-flavoured

Is it a masterpiece album? Hell no but it is so competent and so easy to listen to yes easy listening / AOR/ MOR

If you feel those are dirty words stay away otherwise very enjoyable And yes you will be excused from thinking that you are listening to an album by Steely Dan it really sounds uncannily like them more than once :-) or the flippin' Eagles ... what would The Dude say? by the mid-70s many British acts wanted a slice of the US AOR pie and would bend over backwards to achieve that ... Exhibit 412 here

ps "Ways of a Woman" is one MOR bridge too far tho for this listener .... we are in Chris De Burgh realm here ....

ps2 took me ages to realize the title was "keep your hand on it" and that the photo on the sleeve was a hand squeezing "a tube of toothpaste" .... but subtlety always passes me by :)

One thing that is particularly interesting from this album is that many of the songs have a darker and somber mood, and it makes it sound better than the other albums where the non-proggy songs (the majority) were not much different from what 70s blues rock, folk rock and hard rock bands were doing. For example, Heartfeeder is a song that doesn't change much except for the solo, but the darker tone makes the violin shine. Sold Down the River is another rock with bluesy riffs, but enhanced by the electric violin solos.

There are obviously more rock and folk songs than prog ones. To See You, Travelling and The House are folk songs, the first being the most interesting to me, sounding like many folk rock songs from late 60s. People in the Street is a lenghty ballad, while Night Club and Two Timin' Rama makes things more interesting because of the change in the mood, since they are pure blues rock.

The album, being a bit uneven, fails a bit to become a masterpiece, but even so it ends being the most interesting String Driven Thing album not much because it is a prog gem, but because it has a bunch of interesting songs. I wouldn't say it is radically different to their other albums, but in a prog point of view, maybe it is the one that will leave the listener more satisfied, although most of the songs are either blues rock or folk.

I can see why some people don't like "Please Mind Your Head", and it is not because they have dropped the prog somewhere, it is because they dropped the folk/blues rock in favor of hard and soul/funk. While "The Machine That Cried" could technically be considered their most "prog" because the "proggy" songs are longer than the "proggy" songs in other albums, it is mostly just a bunch of folk rock and blues rock songs with the distinctive violin and viola by Graheme Smith making the difference.

The highlight of the album is obviously Timpany for the Devil, a song where Graheme Smith has free reign to take his experimental violin and viola playing to the heights. It is probably the most experimental song from String Driven Thing. Besides that, there are some pretty good songs, like Without You, which is harder and has some great violin use and a nice guitar solo (it reminds of early Kansas, even), the funky Josephine, with its great rhythm section and a good instrumental interludes, and the closing song To Know You Is To Love You, which is kinda funky as well, and not surprisingly since it is a Stevie Wonder cover. The other songs are nice too, but they are more commercial, especially Mrs. O'Reily, which is probably the weakest song of the album.

It seems like these albums here not released recently, so it was not worthy hunting down a copy, although the album is good. However, with music stream services, it is available, so it is fine. The version "Graheme Smith's personal tapes" is fine, though it is a bit rough and maybe it deserved a remaster.

It's time to wake up and smell the coffee for the album opener "July Morning", which is no relation to the rowdy Uriah Heep classic. No, this is an altogether Folkier tune. It's an upbeat feel-good song which is positively bursting with the joys of summer. There's enough joyous optimism here to inspire you to make an acrobatic leap out of bed in the morning, instilled with energy and enthusiasm as you bathe in the warm glow of the vibrant music. Yes, this exuberant song has more Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go energy than a steaming mugful of cappuccino latte coffee. We're travelling down country roads next for "Say What You Like", which is very reminiscent of Buffalo Springfield and The Byrds. This is a virtually unknown "lost classic" which could potentially have been a big hit, given enough radio airplay at the time. Sadly though, this first independently-released album by String Driven Thing disappeared without trace and the original LP album is now like gold dust to record collectors. It's rumoured there were only around a hundred pressings made of the original album, making it about as rare as finding a diamond in the dust. "Magic Garden" is the next song on our musical adventure. This is an all-round good Pop song with a touch of String Driven magic, featuring a driving chug-along beat and an energising electric guitar. It's a wonderful fifty year trip back in time to the days when everything was fabulously hip and groovy, which inevitably brings to mind the old cliche:- "They don't make music like this any more!" - and more's the pity too. Continuing with our wonderful nostalgia trip comes "Wonderful Places", which features a truly heavenly chorus from Pauline Adams. This gorgeous song includes the lyrics "Wonderful places I'm taking you to" - and this lovely song will indeed transport you back to wonderful places where the birds were always singing and everything in the garden was lovely. There's no chance of getting the Bell Bottom Blues listening to this lively piece of music. This is without doubt, a flowers and beads late 1960's sun-drenched summer of love song, so put on those mini-skirts, culottes and go-go boots and get up on the groovy dance floor - and maybe the girls can join in too! The following song "I Don't Wanna Wake Up" will have to be put quietly back to bed, as it's not currently available on YouTube, so we'll move swiftly onto the next song, which is: "City Man". This exhilarating Folk-Rock number about a man making big money in the big city could quite easily have been a "Greed is good" tribute to Gordon Gekko of Wall Street fame. And on the subject of big money, this incredibly rare debut album from String Driven Thing is now worth a Fistful of Dollars, and For a Few Dollars More, you can buy their second self-titled album too!

The Side Two opener "Another Night in This Old City" sounds as lively and colourful as a busy London street filled with trendy Carnaby Street fashions. It's a typically joyous 1970's Folk Pop tune that could have come straight out of The New Seekers songbook. The 8th song "That's My Lady" sounds like a Folk Rock classic that could well have been written and sung by Bob Dylan, even though the song is barely known by anyone other than ardent fans of String Driven Thing. It's another sparkling crystal of a song in an album that's turning out to be a marvellous nostalgia trip. The 9th tune "Catch As Catch Can" appears to be the one that got away as it's not currently available on YouTube, so we'll quickly skip that elusive song and move onto Song No. 10 which is: "No More You and I". The song title implies the sad break-up of a relationship, although the music itself turns out to be the complete opposite. It's another pleasant Folk Pop song with a cheerful vibe that chugs along nicely on a wave of exuberant String Driven energy. Just like the album as a whole, it's a celebratory song imbued with radiant happiness and the joys of being alive. The feel-good vibe continues with "Lie Back and Let It Happen", so just lie back and think of England (or Scotland) and let this glorious sunny music happen to you. This is cheery music designed to brighten up the dullest and darkest of days and it's just the tonic we need right now in our troubled times. We're slowing the pace right down now and ending the album on a sad note with "One of the Lonely People", a melancholic and thought-provoking song about those of us who are unlucky enough to end up spending the rest of our lives living Home Alone.

Take a nostalgic trip back in time to 1970 with the (mostly) cheerful Folk Pop of String Driven Thing. Just wind it up and let the music play!

Let's look at Charisma first. Formed by the manager of VAN DE GRAAF GENERATOR so he could release "The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other", their 1970 album, ultimately they made their mark in the 1970s by providing a hearth for GENESIS and its offshoots. It is thus surprising how many of their signings were barely on the periphery of progressive rock. In particular, in 1970 they rewarded LINDISFARNE with a deal. The Geordie folk rockers outsold the ROLLING STONES for a brief time in the UK, and a year or two later, STRING DRIVEN THING was signed, perhaps in the hope that they could replicate that success.

It turns out that STRING DRIVEN STRING bears a strong resemblance to a hard rocking LINDISFARNE (Chris Adams sounds like ALAN HULL, although his dutiful spouse is more like a CHAKA KHAN-CHRISTINE PERFECT hybrid) with a fiddle on performance enhancing steroids. Unfortunately the augmentation does not seem to impart inspiration, and after a few single note solos and vibratos one has heard the entire repertoire, only to be subject to it again over and over. It's an aural assault that has little to do with prog and even less to do with folk, the taxonomy apparently due to something about the strings. So, when all is said and done, STRING DRIVEN THING's classic album is notable for, oh yes I said that already!

The first couple of tracks are probably the strongest, with "Heartfeeder" and "to See You" displaying the heavy and balladic sides of the band at their peak. "Two Timin' Rama" is the best of those pieces sung by Pauline Adams. The 11 minute "River of Sleep" is a typical prog collage offered up during the genre's halcyon days by band's lacking any serious credentials, its disparate pieces taped together like fragments from three different photographs all shredded simultaneously, until we realize why we shredded them in the first place.

The bonus material actually proposed a more reasonable way forward for the group, as blues balladeers. I have not heard their other albums so cannot comment on whether this approach was followed earlier or later, The prog quotient is even lower than on the original disk but these tracks do possess a certain period charm.

Mostly uninteresting and frequently irritating, THE MACHINE THAT CRIED might be the sort of work that unwittingly inspired a reverse reaction in the form of ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA's silly fiddly bits, which is almost enough to move me to tears.

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.