STRAWBS

While rock groups like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones may have dominated the 60s with extremely successful pop hits and albums that still remain some of the biggest sellers in the entire history of recorded music, the folk and hybridization with rock scenes were quite popular on both sides of the Atlantic. While Bob Dylan and The Byrds were giving the American folk scene and electrified makeover to the chagrin of staunch acoustic stalwarts, the British scene was more keen to engage in free-spirit experimentation which led to a wider spectrum of sounds emanating from the British settings. Folk artists like Davy Graham, Roy Harper, The Pentacle and Fairport Convention were some of the earliest pioneers of crafting the British folk traditions into a free-for-all of unhinged creativity and by the time the end of the 60s culminated, in some of the most fertile musical scenes ever to exist developed with bands like Third Ear Band, Synanthesia and Principal Edwards Magic Theatre releasing folk sounds steeped in ethnic and psychedelic influences often blurring the lines between cultural distinctions.

One of the other major bands to have been included in this rich nascency of folk rock fecundity was the London based bluegrass turned progressive folk band THE STRAWBS. Formed in 1964 as the Strawberry Hill Boys by guitarist / vocalist Dave Cousins, guitarist / vocalist Tony Hooper and bassist Ron Chesterman, the band shortened its name for a June 1967 concert and during that same year played with future Fairport Convention / Fotheringay singer Sandy Denny with whom they would record an album which wouldn't find a release until 1973 ("All Our Own Work" was technically released in Denmark in 67.) Evolving from more of an American bluegrass band to a progressive English folk band, THE STRAWBS incorporated many influences into the musical mosaic that made them stand out from the start. Originally influenced by the skiffle sensation of the 50s, with Sandy Denny they developed a firm connection with the native English folk sounds but the trio's adventurous spirit eventually found them incorporating Indian raga themes, American folk and blues as well as the zeitgeist of the psychedelic 60s.

Notorious for being the first group signed to Herb Alpert's A&M Records, the leading single "Oh How She Changed" was released in 1968 and the debut self-titled album appeared the following year in 1969, however by this time Denny had joined Fairport Convention and the group was trimmed down back to the core trio with some mystery guests providing the touches of tribal percussion, recorder, light orchestration and what is referred to on the liner notes as "musical vibrations.' Given the five year run of writing and performing, the official STRAWBS debut is quite an eclectic folk rock experience for a 60s albums. Steeped in English folk rock tradition, Cousins, the chief songwriter and creative force tackles eleven earnestly delivered narrations ranging from the hilariously titled "The Man Who Called Himself Jesus" to the medieval pioneering docu-drama of "The Battle" which sounds like a shoe in as ground zero for the future progressive sounds of early 70s Genesis. While some of the tracks such as "Or Am I Dreaming?" were clearly composed during the lush folky ballad years of the band's origins sans Ms Denny, others such as "Where Is This Dream of Your Youth" clearly point in the direction of a more progressive future and a possible inspiration for future freak folk artists such as Comus.

In fact much of THE STRAWBS' debut album seems to be more influential for other bands rather than THE STRAWBS itself as the band would go on to create some of the most ambitious albums within the confines of the progressive folk universe but even at this early point, this band was greeted with open arms by critics and fans alike. "That Which Once Was Mine" sounds more like what Fairport Convention would become whereas "All The Little Ladies" and its jittery classical time signature offings could have possibly given inspiration to an ambitious Jan Dukes de Grey. "Pieces Of 70 And 15" and several other tracks also evoke the sounds that Spiro Gyra would make their own in a few short years but nothing on the debut STRAWBS album really prognosticates what the band itself would sound like on future albums such as "Grave New World."

If you are only craving the ambitious angularities of the crafty complexities of the future albums then this is probably best skipped but if you are at all interested in the development of the English progressive folk scene as a whole then you can't miss this spectacular debut by THE STRAWBS which cranks out eleven spectacularly brilliant tunes that retain the simplistic beautiful of the English folk melodic tradition but are already exhibiting a wealth of creative mojo that the band would not only nurture into their own but also pass on to create an entire musical scene. It isn't really apparent exactly how influential this band was until you delve back to the beginning and although the cameo with Sandy Denny was the first recording, this first official album is really where the magic began and this is even before Rick Wakeman joined on for the following "Dragonfly." While clearly more pop oriented and the easier of accessibility compared to the monstrous prog dynamics developed just a few years down the road, THE STRAWBS is nevertheless quite an accomplished bridge between the best of what the 60s had to offer in the world of folk rock and what would unfold in the earliest years of the 70s. Personally, i love this one!