STRAWBS

Judging it as a prog album it's more of a 3 rating, but I have a folky streak to my personality, and thus I rate it higher. There are delights to be found everywhere, especially on the first half, and subsequently on the last cut, the epic The Battle, depicting in beautiful horrific lyrics the turmoil of a pitched battle near a castle, between Protestants and Catholics, apparently.

Dave Cousins wrote the often tender, often slyly observant lyrics. Musically the album veers from psychedelic pop like Or am I dreaming and Pieces of 79 and 15 (about a tenement flat singer Tony Hooper used to live in), while Where is this dream of your youth and I'll show you where to sleep shows influences from ethnic world musi. The production by Gus Dudgeon echoes his work with Elton John, fairly light and shimmery but with dark edges. Good first try from Strawbs, they ended up in another area of rock entirely.