FROM THE WITCHWOOD

One of their very best albums. The first song "A glimpse of heaven" sets the standard, with sweeping 12 string guitar, church organ (and in the middle, a banjo interlude) A really lovely song about a monk' s vision of heaven. David Cousins' songs are always a pleasure, the highlight here is the allegory about injustice and religious bigotry: "The Hangman and the papist", including some fireworks on the piano by Rick Wakeman. Wakeman is much more subdued here than he ever was in Yes, his style of playing is so flamboyant, the Strawbs could never really make full use of his talents. But he works wonders on the songs here, like the absolutely beautiful pastoral romance; "The Shepherd's song". Other great songs: Sheep, treating cruelty against said species, complete with animal shrieks. The title track is a moody and mystical hymn to a forest where you can get entangled if you're not careful, featuring the wonderful sound of a dulcimer. Why aren't more people using this?

The songs written by the other members of the group are radically different from Cousins, John Ford dips his foot in with "Thirty days", a rather lightweight affair, while Richard Hudson comes off better with "Flight", much more psychedelic, almost George Harrison-ish..

Overall a strong folkrock album with prog leanings in the instrumentation. I'll give it 5 stars. I bought it in 1979, and still listen to it regularly. 25 years of constant pleasure, that constitues a 5 star album for me.