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New Strawbs album due Feb. 2021.
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SteveG View Drop Down
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    Posted: December 05 2020 at 12:19
A new Strawbs studio album has been recorded and will be available on Feb. 26/2021. The album is titled Settlement and features Dave Cousins, Dave Lambert, Chas Cronk, Tony Fernandez and Dave Bainbridge from Iona.

Edited by SteveG - December 05 2020 at 13:47
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Snicolette View Drop Down
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It sounds interesting, indeed, looked at their site and what Cousins had to say about it.
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Yes, I heard rumors for months but saw nothing on their website until now. Very cheeky.
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John Ford and Cathryn Craig will be guesting on the album.
Amazing how they put it together.  Let's hope the product is half as amazing
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SteveG View Drop Down
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Yes, the way things are going music wise with this virus, I'll take a half good album.
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Points: 8950 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kenethlevine Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 01 2021 at 16:25
well I have to say this is a really good album.  It may not have anything as majestic as "When the Spirit Moves" but it also doesn't have anything as dire as the title cut to Ferryman's Curse.  Blue Weaver's production also seems clearer than Chris Tsangarides', and Dave Bainbridge's keyboards are more succinct and suited to the classic Strawbs sound this time around.  There is a very folky number sung by Dave Lambert  to banjo and dulcimer accompaniment and two beautiful instrumentals, one of which is almost the second part of that folky number.  John Ford sings lead on another highlight track.  Cousins' voice is a bit weaker still but I'll still take whatever he can give us.  I have just been listening on spotify which is basically the LP tracklist, the CD having 3 additional tracks that I haven't heard.

Any other comments?


Edited by kenethlevine - March 01 2021 at 16:26
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SteveG View Drop Down
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^ Still waiting for mine to come in the post, as I still dig physical product. I was bit underwhelmed by the two advance tracks released so far, so I hope your thoughts on the rest of the songs are correct.

Edited by SteveG - March 02 2021 at 08:08
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Steve, the title track and "Judgement Day" are both growers.  For the former, Cousins' angry voice can be a bit grating but the music is great...I just wish his "we're nobody's fools" had only been used a couple of times rather than 4!  But of the 9 tracks on the streaming/vinyl, Cousins only sings in 5 which is good.  With "Judgment Day", it's really just a very long groove that they play in with interesting time signature.  Unusual for Strawbs.  But when you put it all together as a package it works well.. I only have heard the streaming version which doesn't include the bonus tracks but I think it's as good as Ferryman's curse, possibly a bit better, but time will tell.

Nice to see a positive review by Heart of the Matter today.  Brief but hits the nail on the head


Edited by kenethlevine - March 02 2021 at 11:37
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SteveG View Drop Down
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Yeah, I'm not jumping the gun until I hear it all the way through. Chas Cronk doing a vocal sounds interesting. And I just looked at the review by Heart Of The Matter and he seemed more impressed by the songwriting then the songs, lol, but again, we'll see.

Edited by SteveG - March 03 2021 at 05:31
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Heart of the Matter View Drop Down
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Originally posted by SteveG SteveG wrote:


Yeah, I'm not jumping the gun until I hear it all the way through. Chas Cronk doing a vocal sounds interesting. And I just looked at the review by Heart Of The Matter and he seemed more impressed by the songwriting then the songs, lol, but again, we'll see.


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Originally posted by Heart of the Matter Heart of the Matter wrote:

Originally posted by SteveG SteveG wrote:


Yeah, I'm not jumping the gun until I hear it all the way through. Chas Cronk doing a vocal sounds interesting. And I just looked at the review by Heart Of The Matter and he seemed more impressed by the songwriting then the songs, lol, but again, we'll see.


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I'm not sure what that means, but I enjoyed your review. Smile
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Heart of the Matter View Drop Down
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Sorry, that's surely not an English expression. It means you reserve your opinion (on the album) to the last possible moment. I'm glad you and Ken enjoyed the review!
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Ha ha that's perfect for me. I'm always sceptical of these old prog acts initially but sentimentality always drives me in the end.
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One of the things I got out of Eduardo's review, which I agree with, is that we aren't going to get another Grave New World thru Ghosts.  It is impossible for a variety of reasons, including the time period in which they were released which can never be duplicated, and, yes, also the fact that that was their creative peak, 45-50 years ago!  But it's still a good album with gusts to great, which is more than enough, 45-50 years later.

I do feel that the biggest improvement over Ferryman's Curse is in the keyboards.  Bainbridge had quite a few writing credits on that album, and I am not a fan of his composing style.  He did some beautiful stuff on the two instrumentals, but he cannot or will not "close the loop".  To me that ability to tie up the melody with a nice bow has always been Strawbs' strength.  On this album he plays more in that old style - I wonder if it's because he has been too busy to contribute more of his own ideas lately, and that has worked to our benefit IMO.  The two instrumentals here are far better, serving as codas to the previous songs rather than intros to the next songs.  Also, having Lambert, Ford and Cronk each sing a song means less Cousins, who was overexposed on Ferryman's Curse.  Yes he overemotes on the otherwise fantastic title track here, but it's the price we pay for getting another Strawbs album, and it's well worth it.
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Originally posted by kenethlevine kenethlevine wrote:

One of the things I got out of Eduardo's review, which I agree with, is that we aren't going to get another Grave New World thru Ghosts.  It is impossible for a variety of reasons, including the time period in which they were released which can never be duplicated, and, yes, also the fact that that was their creative peak, 45-50 years ago!  But it's still a good album with gusts to great, which is more than enough, 45-50 years later.

I do feel that the biggest improvement over Ferryman's Curse is in the keyboards.  Bainbridge had quite a few writing credits on that album, and I am not a fan of his composing style.  He did some beautiful stuff on the two instrumentals, but he cannot or will not "close the loop".  To me that ability to tie up the melody with a nice bow has always been Strawbs' strength.  On this album he plays more in that old style - I wonder if it's because he has been too busy to contribute more of his own ideas lately, and that has worked to our benefit IMO.  The two instrumentals here are far better, serving as codas to the previous songs rather than intros to the next songs.  Also, having Lambert, Ford and Cronk each sing a song means less Cousins, who was overexposed on Ferryman's Curse.  Yes he overemotes on the otherwise fantastic title track here, but it's the price we pay for getting another Strawbs album, and it's well worth it.
Good God, this post was better than your review! I know exactly what you mean about Bainbridge not completing the circle musically on Ferryman's Curse. Astounding finales was not his forte, so I'm really looking forward to what he does on this one.
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^ bits and pieces of these thoughts will no doubt appear when I finally write the review, which may not be for a while as I haven't ordered the CD or heard the bonus tracks
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SteveG View Drop Down
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Originally posted by kenethlevine kenethlevine wrote:

^ bits and pieces of these thoughts will no doubt appear when I finally write the review, which may not be for a while as I haven't ordered the CD or heard the bonus tracks
Yes, this is great stuff to include when you eventually do one for Settlement.
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Heart of the Matter View Drop Down
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While waiting for Ken's review, I was just listening to In Amongst The Roses, and it's a fact: those were the times...
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^yep
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SteveG View Drop Down
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Originally posted by kenethlevine kenethlevine wrote:

^yep
Yup, is right. I just listened to From The Witchwood recently. Such a superb album when I'm in the mood for some pastoral prog.
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