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kenethlevine 
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 Topic: new Strawbs album this fall
Posted: July 24 2017 at 15:16 |
From Strawbs homepage, news of a forthcoming album "The Ferryman's Curse". It will be the first album of all new material since 2009. The title track is supposed to be a sequel to "The Vision of the Lady of the Lake" which appeared on the Dragonfly album from 1970. It also marked Rick Wakeman's first appearance in album notes though he had played as session musician for several artists prior to that.
Perhaps buoyed by Rolling Stone's selection of Hero and Heroine as one of the 50 best prog rock albums of all time, Cousins and company may hearken back to their most prog period of H&H and Ghosts. "The Broken Hearted Bride" from 2008 came close but was let down by a few average songs towards the end.
It looks like there will be opportunities to help finance the project made available shortly
Edited by kenethlevine - July 24 2017 at 15:18
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Barbu
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Posted: July 24 2017 at 17:37 |
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Count me in, prog or not.
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Dellinger
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Posted: July 24 2017 at 20:53 |
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So I didn't understand if Wakeman will be playing on this new album, or they are only talking about his appearance on "The Lady of the Lake" thing.
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kenethlevine
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Posted: July 25 2017 at 07:26 |
 Dellinger wrote:
So I didn't understand if Wakeman will be playing on this new album, or they are only talking about his appearance on "The Lady of the Lake" thing. |
I doubt Rick Wakeman will be on the new album. I was just mentioning that he had played on the original song.
It's likely to be Dave Bainbridge from Iona playing keys on the new album.
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kenethlevine
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Posted: July 25 2017 at 07:26 |
Barbu wrote:
Count me in, prog or not. |
agreed!
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kenethlevine
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Posted: August 24 2017 at 04:11 |
pre-ordering to get your name in the booklet is open now, only till Sept 8
details here
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SteveG
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Posted: August 24 2017 at 04:43 |
Yippie! Yippie! Yippie! 
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kenethlevine
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Posted: September 18 2017 at 19:26 |
Dick Greener, the all round good guy at strawbsweb, has an advance copy of the album and had reviewed it track by track
Sounds like lots of mellotron, several instances of dual lead guitars, and even bouzouki on one track!
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SteveG
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Posted: September 19 2017 at 04:04 |
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Aside from the classic keyboard sounds, the idea of twin guitar leads featuring both Lambert and Bainbridge sounds awesome. Can't wait to hear this album!
Edited by SteveG - November 03 2017 at 04:00
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Barbu
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Posted: September 19 2017 at 19:46 |
If the Greener man says it is their best in many years... Yeah, this will be good. 
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kenethlevine
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Posted: September 19 2017 at 19:51 |
Barbu wrote:
If the Greener man says it is their best in many years...
Yeah, this will be good. |
too bad the tour won't go near Massachusetts, or Quebec, for that matter 
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Barbu
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Posted: September 19 2017 at 20:01 |
^ I'm a satisfied newly retired long-time concertgoer so it doesn't really matter.  I'll def get any recent live album, though. Cheers.
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kenethlevine
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Posted: September 19 2017 at 21:22 |
Barbu wrote:
^ I'm a satisfied newly retired long-time concertgoer so it doesn't really matter.
I'll def get any recent live album, though. Cheers. |
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Barbu
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Posted: November 02 2017 at 12:36 |
Copy arrived, Strawbs weekend ahead! Reviewing albums in englisse has never been one of my strenght but I'll surely post a word or two about how I feel about it. Everything i've read so far have been highly favourable and I'm expecting total enjoyment from this new Strawbs. 'Hey it's been a long time, it's good to see you again'.
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kenethlevine
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Posted: November 02 2017 at 18:31 |
Barbu wrote:
Copy arrived, Strawbs weekend ahead!
Reviewing albums in englisse has never been one of my strenght but I'll surely post a word or two about how I feel about it.
Everything i've read so far have been highly favourable and I'm expecting total enjoyment from this new Strawbs.
'Hey it's been a long time, it's good to see you again'.
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Just received mine yesterday. Looking forward to your impressions
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Barbu
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Posted: November 02 2017 at 19:38 |
 Looking forward to yours and Steve too, of course. Have a good listening!
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Barbu
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Posted: November 05 2017 at 18:39 |
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Good one for sure.
The compositions are on par with those of the last two albums, nothing groundbreaking but definitely their proggiest sounding album in a while. Dave Bainbridge is a very welcome addition, his contribution really add more depth to the Strawbs sound...Cousins in fine voice, great duelling guitars, lots of Hammond (yeah!) and man I love that Lambert track.
Solid three.
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kenethlevine
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Posted: November 05 2017 at 21:00 |
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I agree it's a solid 3 stars, but I was hoping for more. The review is formulating but is probably a few days away.
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Barbu
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Posted: November 06 2017 at 22:23 |
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^ I wasn't expecting another Strawbs classic this late in the game but i know what you mean. honestly, i'm quite satisfied with it.
My only complaint is about the drums, they sound pretty awful in some places (always disliked those 'big arena rock' drum sound).
Edited by Barbu - November 07 2017 at 12:20
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kenethlevine
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Posted: November 07 2017 at 13:04 |
Barbu wrote:
^ I wasn't expecting another Strawbs classic this late in the game but i know what you mean. honestly, i'm quite satisfied with it.
My only complaint is about the drums, they sound pretty awful in some places (always disliked those 'big arena rock' drum sound). |
hmm, I think I agree. In general the sound is much more overproduced than even their 70s albums. There was also a spot-on melodic simplicity in the early work that is lacking in all but a couple of songs. Early Strawbs songs would stick in your ear for days. A Song like "The Nails from the Hands of Christ" is good but hardly hummable. The easiest way to compare the new/old is to compare the title track to its predecessor, "The Vision of the Lady of the Lake. In comparison it's a tedious drone. And the original had its flaws, but total lack of melody was not one of them.
I know Bainbridge is a good keyboard player but I have listened to Iona in the past and IMO he has brought some of the issues I have with Iona into Strawbs. I noticed this on his interludes between songs on the new live H&H performances. Lots of notes but no apparent master plan at all. Compare the lovely sounding instrumental intros that go nowhere on the new album with the succinct beauty of "remembering" written and delivered by John Hawken on "Ghosts". I'll take Hawken's work any day.
I shouldn't pile on too much - there are several excellent songs, with the 2 best being back to back - "The Familiarity of Old Lovers" and "When the Spirit Moves", and the twin leads are a great idea. "Bats and Swallows" is in the vein of the better light tracks in their history. "The Nails" is pretty good, flaws notwithstanding. The closer is good but I found the ending flat.
Edited by kenethlevine - November 07 2017 at 13:52
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new Strawbs album this fall
