Which is THE Strawbs Epic?
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Topic: Which is THE Strawbs Epic?
Posted By: SteveG
Subject: Which is THE Strawbs Epic?
Date Posted: July 14 2020 at 09:11
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Which is THE Strawbs Epic? ------------- This message was brought to you by a proud supporter of the Deep State. |
Replies:
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: July 14 2020 at 09:28
I don't know any of those songs, but I do know that Hero & Heroine is my favourite Strawbs album. 
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Posted By: Hercules
Date Posted: July 14 2020 at 09:45
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As a huge Strawbs fan, I could say "all of them", because they're all exceptional, but Down by the Sea is my choice. The opening guitar riff (copied by Bleak House on Rainbow Warrior, then by Metallica on Welcome Home (Sanitarium) is just awesome, as is the rest of the song. ------------- A TVR is not a car. It's a way of life. |
Posted By: VianaProghead
Date Posted: July 14 2020 at 09:47
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Very interesting and difficult poll. I think I'm going to choose an option that almost nobody will choose. So, "The Battle" it is.
------------- "PROG IS MY FERRARI". Jem Godfrey (Frost*) |
Posted By: BrufordFreak
Date Posted: July 14 2020 at 10:42
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Good one, Steve! I'd never have thought of this poll/thread, but there are some great ones here! Picked "Ghosts" from my favorite Strawbs album. ------------- Drew Fisher https://progisaliveandwell.blogspot.com/ |
Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: July 14 2020 at 10:45
^ Thanks Drew. I forgot to include The Vision Of The Lady Of The Lake. KenLevine is going to give me hell!  Ouch!------------- This message was brought to you by a proud supporter of the Deep State. |
Posted By: Progosopher
Date Posted: July 14 2020 at 12:22
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My favorite is Ghosts, so that got my vote, but The River/Down by the Sea, and Autumn are also stellar. ------------- The world of sound is certainly capable of infinite variety and, were our sense developed, of infinite extensions. -- George Santayana, "The Sense of Beauty" |
Posted By: Mortte
Date Posted: July 14 2020 at 13:13
| The Antique Suite for me. |
Posted By: Snicolette
Date Posted: July 14 2020 at 13:39
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I love Blue Angel the best, but I think of it as a solo Cousins tune, as that is how I first heard it, on Two Weeks Last Summer. Hard to choose between Ghosts and New World for me, although I love all of these, those two are very closely tied together in terms of what I love about Strawbs. I've always loved the juxtaposition of the lullaby into the nightmare of Ghosts, so that's where I'm going. Plus I kind of have a thing for dreams and spooky things. ------------- "Into every rain, a little life must fall." ~Tom Rapp |
Posted By: xhouse
Date Posted: July 14 2020 at 13:52
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The Battle is short—certainly not of epic length, but it is most certainly epic in nature. Also The Vision Of The Lady Of The Lake is a strong contender. ------------- Between Thought and Expression Lies True Perception |
Posted By: Man With Hat
Date Posted: July 14 2020 at 14:00
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Ghosts ------------- Dig me...But don't...Bury me I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect. |
Posted By: tszirmay
Date Posted: July 14 2020 at 15:05
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The Autumn suite is stellar. ------------- I never post anything anywhere without doing more than basic research, often in depth. |
Posted By: Squonk19
Date Posted: July 14 2020 at 16:01
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Blue Angel - Dave's masterpiece! I know it started out as a solo track, but I think it has cemented its place in the band's hall of fame ever since! ❤️ .... Autumn would be next, though. ------------- “Living in their pools, they soon forget about the sea.” |
Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: July 14 2020 at 17:05
If he doesn't, I will   The most epic?? Hangman & Papist But I'll take Where Is This Dream of Your Youth (also unlisted) on Antiques & Curios |
SteveG wrote:Posted By: iluvmarillion
Date Posted: July 14 2020 at 18:34
The Hero and heroine theme is an epic, even though it gets broken up, isn't it? Since it's not an option here I've chosen River/Down by the Sea.
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Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: July 14 2020 at 20:01
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Autumn....perhaps my favorite track by Strawbs. ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: kenethlevine
Date Posted: July 14 2020 at 21:43
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I went with Autumn, though Ghosts and Blue Angel are close seconds, depending on the mood. All of those listed are excellent and show a huge variety of what constitutes an epic Steve, if you included "The Vision of the Lady of the Lake" you would also have had to include "The Ferryman's Curse"
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Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: July 15 2020 at 04:59
------------- This message was brought to you by a proud supporter of the Deep State. |
Posted By: Manuel
Date Posted: July 15 2020 at 06:28
| This is really a hard choice, since all these are great pieces of music. I'll vote for ghosts, but any of them cold win, and that would be fine with me. |
Posted By: kenethlevine
Date Posted: July 15 2020 at 09:42
I listened to those two songs and both have remarkable similarities not just in the riff but in certain other parts of the songs as related to parts of "Down by the Sea". I remember someone else saying the heavier sung parts of the song reminded him of Marillion. Off topic slightly, I always thought that Peter Gabriel had listened to Strawbs' "Simple Visions" before penning "Solsbury Hill". Not that it's a copy or anything
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Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: July 15 2020 at 10:00
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Oh, Simple Visions could have easily fit on this poll. Such a great song from such a mediocre album.
------------- This message was brought to you by a proud supporter of the Deep State. |
Posted By: M27Barney
Date Posted: July 15 2020 at 13:17
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Ok. I've done farts longer than all those tracks...epics? Suppose to the popsters everything over three minutes is an epic boring prog dinosaur noodle fest....😎 ------------- Play me my song.....Here it comes again....... |
Posted By: iluvmarillion
Date Posted: July 15 2020 at 20:14
Prefer three minutes of euphoric well constructed music than 20 minutes of boredom.
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Posted By: geekfreak
Date Posted: July 15 2020 at 23:39
 So that`s two of us then ------------- Friedrich Nietzsche: "Without music, life would be a mistake." Music Is Live Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. Keep Calm And Listen To The Music… < |
Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: July 16 2020 at 05:12
------------- This message was brought to you by a proud supporter of the Deep State. |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: July 16 2020 at 08:48
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HI, I don't know that I think of one of my favorite bands as having "epic" songs, and they have too many albums that I love dearly. Just great music, but I'm not sure that DC can come up with something longer than his nice words and poems, that could be enlarged by the music as is the case in a couple of examples ... but they were always good and I wish they had better luck and a better chance ... DC and the group, deserve it for the fine amount of music right from the start. My only sad comment? That DC had to quit music to work in the development of the FM radio in England, and apparently got known really well for his proposals to add a station in various places. So he had an effect, in terms of adding something ... but none of that is reflected too well in the albums, although I have not done a listing side by side of dates for the albums and the rest of his life. For all the good he did on the radio thing, he did not push his own band, at least as far as his words are concerned in the book, and I think he should have done it a couple more times, but with the BBC and other folks with knives and guns in their had, I think he played it safe to not hurt any investors, Something like that, although my understanding of radio "history" in England is nothing compared to the one in America, that I was very close to! ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: July 16 2020 at 09:18
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I don't claim to know anything of DC's radio adventures except that I do know he was relieved to leave the Strawbs for it 1978 and was successful at whatever his function was. I do know that the Strawbs were resurrected in the 80s to keep his friends like Brian Willoughby, Tony Hooper and Richard Hudson employed, so the band never had DC's undivided attention and it shows in the few albums that version of the group made. ------------- This message was brought to you by a proud supporter of the Deep State. |
Posted By: M27Barney
Date Posted: July 16 2020 at 10:29
Epic is used primarily to define the longer (chronologically defined) peices of music. I reckon the cutoff time for arbitrary purposes is 15+ minutes. Again, people could say, I think A is the best ergo A is EPIC....thus it just becomes another synonym for favorite....again every track a band does could be defined as EPIC....we have this argument ad nauseum.... ------------- Play me my song.....Here it comes again....... |
Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: July 16 2020 at 10:35
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Not really, as your definition only applies to long poems. ------------- This message was brought to you by a proud supporter of the Deep State. |
Posted By: M27Barney
Date Posted: July 16 2020 at 12:12
Ok. Then change the topic title. As none of these are poems obviously. You may as well apply the word elephantine to this set of tracks... ------------- Play me my song.....Here it comes again....... |
Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: July 16 2020 at 12:20
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Very well, just keep your eye on the thread title and wait for it to change. ------------- This message was brought to you by a proud supporter of the Deep State. |
Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: July 16 2020 at 16:52
Barney, Stop being a twit and a tw@t!!  does it get more epic than this??  |
Posted By: M27Barney
Date Posted: July 17 2020 at 02:46
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^ A few nice licks by R.C.Wakeman do not an epic make! Extend the hammond organ intro out by 10 mins and add mellotron and moog plus a five minute guitar solo and you may have your epic....otherwise MEH... And cockney rebel's proper epic (live version) blows all these tracks out of the water... ------------- Play me my song.....Here it comes again....... |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: July 17 2020 at 05:50
Hi, His book is not clear in a lot of things ... the ending of the band in 1978, seems to coincide with the chance to make some money back at where he came from in radio which he had been involved with even in the earlier days with STRAWBS, and he might have stopped because STRAWBS was not bringing in enough money ... and I think his bills were mounting for house, child, etc ... His book is a bit strange for me, because his divided attentions, seems to make a case that the band just did not cut it to make things easier for him, even if/when the music was excellent all around, which at least in Santa Barbara, all the albums from 1974 to when I left in 1982 ... were all played senseless by Guy Guden on his shows regularly ... but I have a feeling that the American sales is what hurt the most ... they probably did not generate numbers that helped, and were too close to breaking even or losing some money. I can't even decide how to do a review of the book, and I have read it twice. ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: July 17 2020 at 09:54
You refuse (on purpose, I suppose) to see that "epic" means more "heroic" than "lengthy" And
the grandeur/poetry (that is implied in an "epic") is really present in
the poignant text (the Orangists hanging the catholics on NI, while
claiming they're "loyal") |
Posted By: Snicolette
Date Posted: July 17 2020 at 10:33
------------- "Into every rain, a little life must fall." ~Tom Rapp |
Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: July 18 2020 at 05:33
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Autumn is just 1 vote ahead of Ghosts. I myself could not pick one over the other form this list so I'm impressed. ------------- This message was brought to you by a proud supporter of the Deep State. |
Posted By: kenethlevine
Date Posted: July 18 2020 at 14:57
| The latest album has at least 3 songs that easily qualify as "epic" - "The Nails from the Hands of Christ", "When the Spirit Moves", and "The Ferryman's curse" |
Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: July 21 2020 at 08:12
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Posted By: kenethlevine
Date Posted: July 21 2020 at 09:55
right, Strawbs tended to the epic side of things during what is generally regarded as their peak period, but even the backsliding years had epics like "Beside the Rio Grande", "Burning for me" or "Words of Wisdom". Beginning with "The Broken Hearted Bride" in 2008, they returned to the epic ideal with force. BHB had 2 distinct epics ("A Call to Action" and "Through Aphrodite's Eyes"), "Dancing to the Devil's Beat" had one major one ("pro Patria Suite") and a smaller one ("When Silent Shadows Fall"), and the latest has 1-3 as we discussed. TBH (and I think you agree Steve), the title cut to "Ferryman's Curse" doesn't quite do it for me. Lyrically yes, and at times musically as well, but the meter and melody are just meh for me,. especially when compared to its prequel "The Vision of the Lady of the Lake". If that track could have lived up to its billing, it would be a 5 star album, but it costs the album a star and a bit for me unfortunately
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Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: July 21 2020 at 09:59
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Oh, I agree 100%. I don't like to beat up on Dave and the boys, naturally, but I was disappointed with the title track of the Ferryman's Course. If it was as good or better than The Vision Of The Lady Of the Lake then the album would have been a near masterpiece, imho. It really needed a strong ending and didn't have one. ------------- This message was brought to you by a proud supporter of the Deep State. |
Posted By: Moyan
Date Posted: May 22 2024 at 20:56
| "Ghosts" to me. |
Posted By: Octopus II
Date Posted: May 23 2024 at 01:28
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Another vote for 'Ghosts'
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Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: May 23 2024 at 04:27
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The Vision Of The Lady Of The Lake (on dragonfly) and the "most epic" would be Hangman & Papist. ------------- let's just stay above the moral melee prefer the sink to the gutter keep our sand-castle virtues content to be a doer as well as a thinker, prefer lifting our pen rather than un-sheath our sword |
Posted By: mellotronwave
Date Posted: May 23 2024 at 13:38
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Autumn They were and still are one of my fav bands |
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: May 23 2024 at 13:41
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Ghosts by far! The other selections don't stand a ghost of a chance.
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Posted By: mellotronwave
Date Posted: May 23 2024 at 14:32
the life auction of the same LP ( Side 2 Opener) isn't that bad either
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