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New Strawbs album due Feb. 2021.
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SteveG View Drop Down
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Originally posted by kenethlevine kenethlevine wrote:

Good points all.  It sounded like in the 1970s Cousins was paid by the management company, I'm guessing a salary with potential bonus, because he does mention in the autobiography that he depended on the money from management to pay his way as well as wives and children from a couple of marriages, so he had to go into radio and probably accumulated most of his wealth during those 20 years.  I skipped over a lot of that part of the book as the details of it don't interest me much.  

What was just as disappointing was that he barely mentions the minimal band activities during those 2 decades, and does not even mention the two albums released in 1987 and 1991.  I happen to think "Don't Day Goodbye" is better than any album after Ghosts released up to that point, but Cousins is so stuck on "Deep Cuts" as being a great album.  It's like he was ashamed of those albums or sees them as not even a footnote.

He has always skirted around the religious issue but clearly that is an important part of who he is and also has contributed to some of his most authentic songs, like the ones you mention as well as "A Glimpse of Heaven" and, even recently, "When the Spirit Moves".

On the subject of the album, at least the streaming version plays well several times through due to its diversity.  There are several tracks where Cousins' voice is rather detracting, in this case the softer numbers.  On "Ferryman's Curse", Tsangarides kept it from ever reaching this stage, but of course he is 3 years older and of advanced age, so we will never know if the late Chris could have still helped.  Yes the vocal on the "Ferryman's Curse" track is dire but that is mostly the fault of the song, while in the new album all the songs are good but his voice fails in several.  Oh well!




Yes, I have a problem with weak vocals, even giving the artist the benefit of his age. I disparaged over the vocals of 70+ year old Gary Brooker in a PA review I did of Procol Harum's last studio album, which really annoyed the admins of one of Procol's official album sites. They actually reprinted the entire review instead of just ignoring it. To be fair, the review was not one of my better ones, so they had a right to be annoyed! LOL But I really don't know how to balance that one when an artist's vocals were so much a part of the musicality of their songs. A tough one that I'll continue to grapple with, I'm afraid.

Edited by SteveG - March 11 2021 at 07:27
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Originally posted by Snicolette Snicolette wrote:

And oddly, or maybe not, "Deep Cuts," is one of my lesser loved Strawbs LPs, although I do like a few individual tracks.  

the only one I think is weaker than "Deep Cuts" is "Heartbreak Hill", even though it's much proggier than Deep Cuts.  It's prog yes but it's poor.  But yes, a song like "Simple Visions" is going to elevate any album it's on
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And oddly, or maybe not, "Deep Cuts," is one of my lesser loved Strawbs LPs, although I do like a few individual tracks.  
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Good points all.  It sounded like in the 1970s Cousins was paid by the management company, I'm guessing a salary with potential bonus, because he does mention in the autobiography that he depended on the money from management to pay his way as well as wives and children from a couple of marriages, so he had to go into radio and probably accumulated most of his wealth during those 20 years.  I skipped over a lot of that part of the book as the details of it don't interest me much.  

What was just as disappointing was that he barely mentions the minimal band activities during those 2 decades, and does not even mention the two albums released in 1987 and 1991.  I happen to think "Don't Day Goodbye" is better than any album after Ghosts released up to that point, but Cousins is so stuck on "Deep Cuts" as being a great album.  It's like he was ashamed of those albums or sees them as not even a footnote.

He has always skirted around the religious issue but clearly that is an important part of who he is and also has contributed to some of his most authentic songs, like the ones you mention as well as "A Glimpse of Heaven" and, even recently, "When the Spirit Moves".

On the subject of the album, at least the streaming version plays well several times through due to its diversity.  There are several tracks where Cousins' voice is rather detracting, in this case the softer numbers.  On "Ferryman's Curse", Tsangarides kept it from ever reaching this stage, but of course he is 3 years older and of advanced age, so we will never know if the late Chris could have still helped.  Yes the vocal on the "Ferryman's Curse" track is dire but that is mostly the fault of the song, while in the new album all the songs are good but his voice fails in several.  Oh well!






Edited by kenethlevine - March 10 2021 at 16:59
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SteveG View Drop Down
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I think it's impossible to listen to a song like Benedictus or Lay Down and not conclude that Cousins was and is a deely spiritual person. I wish that he would have touched on that in his bio. I agree with you Nickie, half a book about a man's life in radio had no attraction for me.
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I tend to agree with you, Moshkito....the duality of the autobiography was difficult for me, as well.  At least, for him, his work in FM was somewhat connected still to music, rather than being a CPA or something, but I didn't find that as interesting as his viewpoint on his band, etc.  And I felt that in some ways, he was guarded, as well.  

Wondering if others felt that way, reading it?

I have always found something to love with almost every release, Strawbs or Cousins or collaborations, btw, just don't have this one in hand yet.


Edited by Snicolette - March 08 2021 at 13:14
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Originally posted by kenethlevine kenethlevine wrote:

I agree he is only doing story or topical songs these days, but it seems to me he is doing what he wants now, and luckily has the support of Cherry Red to do it.  I think where Strawbs lost their way somewhat in the late 1970s was when they stopped being true to that voice.  They have always had that gift for melody but everything became somehow lightweight.  That helped contribute to their decline in popularity.  At this point they seem to be playing mostly for themselves and their existing fan base and, while they are probably gaining few new fans, I would guess that the sales of even the recent albums would be the envy of many of today's prog groups.  Because they are not, nor have they ever been, strictly a prog group

Hi,

A lot of the "breaks" in the band were on account of Dave going back to doing his job in developing FM radio in England (I might have not described it quite right!), and then in between ... folks wanted some more Strawbs. 

All in all, I think it hurt, and I agree with you, that it might have made it difficult to be true to his voice, but he explains ... I had to pay for the house ... and a car! Financially it was a disaster for him, and my thoughts were/are that he did not own his early music ... and was not gaining a nickel from it at all ... which, of course would not help, even if it was small, but a month's rent would have been nice, no?

I have not been able to write a good review of the book, because of that duality ... they just seems to at odds with each other ... and I still have not seen what I would imagine is "the real Dave Cousins" ... as his lyrics are fleeting ... and some of the songs, seem to not be exactly "attached" to the words, even if he can accentuate them well enough to make it look like the song is fine!

I think that something has been lost during his time ... though I still like the albums, but the last 2 or 3 have become just about 2 or 3 songs ... and the rest felt somewhat forgetful.
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I agree he is only doing story or topical songs these days, but it seems to me he is doing what he wants now, and luckily has the support of Cherry Red to do it.  I think where Strawbs lost their way somewhat in the late 1970s was when they stopped being true to that voice.  They have always had that gift for melody but everything became somehow lightweight.  That helped contribute to their decline in popularity.  At this point they seem to be playing mostly for themselves and their existing fan base and, while they are probably gaining few new fans, I would guess that the sales of even the recent albums would be the envy of many of today's prog groups.  Because they are not, nor have they ever been, strictly a prog group

Edited by kenethlevine - March 07 2021 at 15:33
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Originally posted by SteveG SteveG wrote:

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.

Hi,

Just heard one song from the album last night (on Space Pirate Radio!!!), and it was a pretty good rocker. It's making me want to hear more of the album and I will get to it this week. 

The only thing that I am thinking is that Dave Cousins, now only does the "meaningful" song, in his words, and that's that ... and while he has always done that, his emotional feel seems to have gotten a bit bitter in time (more than before), when you could hear different stories before. I like his previous album and the song about the nails is "MASSIVE", but I think that the wording is getting people to turn left and leave ... to me, it is a real strong dig at a lot of music that has little meaning, and while he can appreciate BS, in the end, he is finding a lot of his music hollow, I think!
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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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^yep
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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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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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^ 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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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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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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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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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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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.


Not easy to get your signature on paper!   
I'm not sure what that means, but I enjoyed your review. Smile
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