BURSTING AT THE SEAMS

This Strawbs album has some of my favorites of the band. For sheer rocking, "Lay Down" is one of my favorites of the band. A great pop/rock melody and awesome vocals by the band. As catchy as can be. The second, my favorite Dave Lambert song, "The Winter and The Summer". It has a beauty thats hard to describe, subtle at first, then it picks up towards the middle and explodes at the end. Just an incredible song. The album as a whole has beautiful singing, some majestic keyboards, and David Cousins incredible lyrics. No one does it like him. What keeps this album from me rating it 5 stars is the massive hit, (back in the day) "Part of The Union" and the country tinged "Stormy Down". They just don't seem to fit the album. But with songs like the flat-out pretty "Lady Fuschia", the dark "Down By The Sea" and the proggy "Tears and Pavan" its an incredible Folk/Prog album thats in their top 5 recordings. If you haven't heard any of their albums, this would be the perfect place to start. It has some of their older folky sound, some of their more prog middle period and some of the more basic rocking later album sound. Get it now!!