GRAVE NEW WORLD

The beginning of their greatest set of records. "Grave New World" sheds Wakeman who joins Yes and gains an underappreciated player by the name of Blue Weaver. The album opens up with a winner, "Benedictus" is classic Strawbs, wonderfully sung, fantastic lyrics and as catchy and gorgeous a melody you can possibly find. The Strawbs seem to open every one of their albums with a stunner and for me this is up there with "Autumn" from 'Hero and Heroine'. There are a few folky acoustics tunes that are typical for this band and a few songs from the Hudson/Ford combo which tend to stick out like sore thumbs. Yet, "New World" and "Queen of Dreams" kick in with awesome Mellotron runs by Weaver and pretty much are the prog highlights. I would say this album compares favoribly with the following three and is as strong. They still have that folky sound, yet you can hear them beginning to stretch out musically into a more rocking territory tinged with some symphonic prog thrown in. If not for a few dogs, this would have been their best ever. 4 stars easily!