JUST A COLLECTION OF ANTIQUES AND CURIOS

Strawbs

Prog Folk

3.65 | 91 ratings

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Easy Livin
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin

Relics?

A superb early live album from the Strawbs, allowing Rick Wakeman the most latitude to demonstrate his abilities he ever received during his brief time with the band.

"Martin Luther King's dream" is an excellent opener, faithful to King's preachings, while melodic and powerful. "The antiques suite" is four unrelated songs joined together in medley format. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts, and the songs blend neatly together to form a pleasant, if slightly basic piece. "Temperament of mind" sees Wakeman take centre stage with his piano, for a 5 minute solo spot, mixing classics and self compositions. For those in the UK old enough to remember, there's an amusing "Hamlet cigar advert" moment, when Wakeman alludes to having difficulty finding the right notes.

"Fingertips" finds Dave Cousins exploring what would become over the years his schoolboy like fascination with adult themes. "Where is this dream of your youth" once again allows Wakeman to benefit from a lengthy solo spot, this time on organ, there's more than a hint of what was to come with Yes here.

The bonus tracks on the remastered CD are excellent, especially the live version of "The vision of the lady of the lake", a disturbing tale of a young man and his encounters which first appeared on the "Dragonfly" album.

"Antiques and Curious" marked the Strawbs initial steps from folk rock to prog rock, and did so in a very assured and competent way. It does sound somewhat dated now, but is worth seeking out nonetheless. Unlike most live albums, a number of the tracks included here remain otherwise unavailable in a studio recorded format.

Easy Livin | 4/5 | 2004-5-15

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