"Deadlines" by STRAWBS – February 1978 UK Twelfth Studio Album on Arista Records featuring Dave Cousins, Dave Lambert, Chas Cronk, and Tony Fernandez with Guests John Mealing and Robert Kirby on Keyboards – Audio and Visual Extras include Andy Richards on Keyboards (March 2019 UK Esoteric Recordings 'Deluxe Expanded Edition' in a Mini Clamshell Box Set with 2CDs, 1DVD, Poster and Booklet and Including Previously Unreleased Audio and Visual BBC Content – Paschal Byrne Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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RATING: *** to ****

"…The Last Resort…"

The chart success of Pink Floyd ("Animals" in January), Emerson, Lake & Palmer ("Works, Volume 1" in March) and Yes ("Going For The One" in July) across those varying months in 1977 (and extended into early 1978 via Tours and popularity sales) belied the fact that in the late Seventies Prog Rock was having a hard time. With Punk and New Wave snarling at their tired and played-out feet – the giant bands prevailed anyway – but those down the rung of the ladder had it different. 

Although I never viewed the Melodic Folk Rock with Rock-Flourishes of England's Strawbs as Prog Rock per say – they seemed to get lumped into that bracket anyway (their sound and songs had moved more and more to that as the Seventies wound on). Bands like say Camel or Caravan or even Gentle Giant (who were British Prog) got hammered by the sophisticated US Rock of Rush, Journey, Kansas, and hell even Boston and Blue Oyster Cult. It was also generally felt (amongst my mates anyway) that Prog bands (especially in 1977 and early 1978) were so old-fart as to be embarrassing and you didn't carry their albums around under your arms with pride as you had once done lest some New Wave safety-pin neer-do-well clock your level 12 mortal sin, inform you that your time was up and hit you over the head with a brick (as a form of mercy to hippies).

And so, we come to the last album for our British Heroes Strawbs in the Seventies (ten years burning down the road since 1968) – fraught with 1977 recording difficulties in both Dublin and London. Their initial sessions in Dublin were good musically but the studio wasn't up to snuff (tape machines running slow) and on returning to the UK - a microphone had accidentally been left on the new mastertape boxes overnight at AIR Studios which had stripped away portions of the drums. Much had to be salvaged and re-recorded, but Cousins felt the magic had slipped that was inherent in the Irish sessions. Producer Jeffrey Lesser also insisted that all lead vocals be carried out by Dave Lambert – and despite Cousins agreeing that Lambert sang probably his best work on "Deadlines" - excluding Dave Cousins from the mike left a released LP that confused DJs and Fans who were used to both singers. 

After signing a deal with Clive Davis (a letter from him is featured in the booklet) "Deadlines" was eventually issued with a typically drear Hipgnosis sleeve in February 1978 on Arista. Arista Records was more associated at the time with Country Rock like The Outlaws and whiny singer-songwriters like Barry Manilow. And that artwork – geez - a man drowning in a phonebox by the side of a dark country road on the front sleeve - with horror-types from the set of 1984 scowling on the rear, phone receiver in one hand and a dagger in the other. Not exactly bright-n-breezy easy-peasy. But for fans like me who had loved "Grave New World" in 1972 and "Bursting At The Seams" in 1973 – and after the neither-here-nor-there letdowns of "Nomadness" and "Burning For You" in 1975 and 1976 – their twelfth studio album "Deadlines" felt like a slight-return to form – not brilliant – but good enough.

And you must cede that once again Esoteric Recordings of the UK (part of Cherry Red) have pulled out the stops on an album that many have forgotten and has laid unloved for decades on end. ER have found and Remastered Audio and Visual content for a BBC Radio One In Concert set and given us the Cousins-endorsed reissued album (done in 2012) on CD1 with outtakes he felt represented the spirit of the album better than the released product. It is a very tasty package indeed and probably about as comprehensive as we are ever going to get for this forlorn album. To the details…

UK released 23 March 2019 - "Deadlines" by STRAWBS on Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 32676 (Barcode 5013929477643) is a 'Deluxe Expanded Edition' Mini Clamshell Box Set with 2CDs, 1DVD, Poster and Booklet (including Previously Unreleased Audio and Visual BBC Content from 1978) and New Remasters that plays out as follows:

CD1 (77:43 minutes):
1. No Return [Side 1]
2. Joey And Me
3. Sealed With A Traitor's Kiss
4. I Don't Want To Talk About It
5. The Last Resort
6. Time And Life [Side 2]
7. New Beginnings
8. Deadly Nightshade
9. Words Of Wisdom 
Tracks 10 to 9 are their twelfth studio album "Deadlines" – released February 1978 in the UK on Arista Records SPART 1036 and in the USA on Arista AB 4172. Produced by JEFFREY LESSER – it didn't chart in either country. 

BONUS TRACKS (originally issued 2012): 
10. Midnight (Out-Take)
11. No Return (Dave Cousins Acoustic Demo)
12. Sealed With A Traitor's Kiss
13. Time And Life (Dave Cousins Acoustic Demo)
14. Deadly Nightshade (Dave Cousins Acoustic Demo)
15. Words Of Wisdom (Dave Cousins Acoustic Demo)
16. The Chosen One (Dave Cousins Acoustic Demo)
17. Sealed With A Traitor's Kiss (Band Demo)
18. No Return (Dublin Production Mix)
19. Joey And Me (Dublin Production Mix)
20. Deadly Nightshade (Dublin Production Mix)

STRAWBS for "Deadlines" was:
DAVE COUSINS – Vocals and Acoustic Guitar
DAVE LAMBERT – Electric Guitar and Vocals
CHAS CRONK – Bass, Acoustic Guitar and Vocals
TONY FERNANDEZ – Drums and Timpani
Guests were:
JOHN MEALING – Polymoog and Organ
ROBERT KIRBY – Mellotrons, Mini Moog and Autoharp

CD2 (61:10 minutes):
BBC Radio One 'Sight & Sound In Concert'
Golders Green Hippodrome in London, 18 February 1978
1. Lay Down
2. The Last Resort
3. Ghosts
4. No Return
5. Heartbreaker
6. Sealed With A Traitor's Kiss
7. Simple Visions
8. Cut Like A Diamond
9. Out In The Cold
10. Round And Round
11. Hero And Heroine

DVD – BBC TV "Sight & Sound In Concert" Golders Green Hippodrome, London, 18 February 1978 – 11 Tracks as per CD2 - NTSC All Regions – Previously Unreleased

STRAWBS for BBC Concert (CD2 and DVD) was:
DAVE COUSINS – Lead Vocals and Acoustic Guitar (6 and 12-String)
DAVE LAMBERT – Electric Guitar and Lead Vocals
CHAS CRONK – Bass, Acoustic Guitar and Backing Vocals
ANDY RICHARDS – Keyboards
TONY FERNANDEZ – Drums and Percussion

Fans will know that 1996 saw "Deadlines" CD-reissued on One World OW 34499, but with what many felt was comprised audio. A far more concerted effort was made to whip "Deadlines" into shape in 2012. The source material (July to September 1977 recordings made at Dublin Sound Studios and Air Studios in London) was restored from original tapes at Cyclone Music Production in Rochester in July 2012 with principal band member Dave Cousins and a team in the control booths. Released November 2012, Witchwood WMCD 2055 introduced the Bonuses of Tracks 10 to 20 (CD1 above) which Cousins has said gives a better idea of how Strawbs wanted the music to sound instead of the forced re-recordings they had to make due to a Microphone glitch.

Here in March 2019 (third reissue go-round), CD1 is the same as 2012 while CD2 and DVD offer the Audio and Visual on a Previously Unreleased BBC In Concert Gig from February 1978. But Esoteric Recordings have given the whole shebang a PASCHAL BYRNE Remaster and I can honestly say that the album has a wee bit more oomph (CD1) while the acoustic bonuses still sound like the demos they are (rough-ish but acceptable). But I am sure that I am not the first Strawbs fan who having heard these Demos has not thought what the LP would have been like if it had had a Completely Acoustic Based Sound – all melody and less bombast. The outtake "The Chosen Ones" had potential to be a great LP track and even though it is audibly less than the LP variant, the sad "Sealed With A Traitor's Kiss" Band Demo is filled with melody and fresh hurt that maybe got lost in translation. The three Dublin mixes are better than I had expected – certainly audio-wise. 

The glossy Clamshell Box Set offers three mini-LP card sleeves on the inside which use variants of the front and rear Hipgnosis artwork, a 16-page booklet with new Dave Cousins liner notes that go a long way to explaining the convoluted history and a fold-out poster repro of their March 1978 British Tour (phone-box photo, special guest Roy Hill, see photos provided) – advertising their first album on Arista Records. The lyrics are here too, musician credits beneath them etc. PASCHAL BYRNE – a very experienced engineer and long-standing go-to-Audio-guy for Esoteric has handled the Remaster and as I say, the album does sound better. To the music…

Prior to album release in early February 1978, Arista put out a taster in the form of Side 1's "Joey And Me" (composed by Cousins, Cronk and Lambert) as a January 1978 UK 45-single (Arista ARIST 159) with Side 2's "Deadly Nightshade" (a Dave Cousins song) on the flipside. The A-side sounded like 1974 Peter Gabriel-led Genesis circa "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" doing a Rock riff song on breaking free from drudgery. But without even a picture sleeve and given the Elvis Costello, XTC, The Clash, The Damned, Blondie and Ian Dury New Wave scene (to name but a few) – there were few takers. With the LP in the shops, Arista tried again on 31 March 1978 with the upbeat big-chorus message song "New Beginnings" (Arista ARIST 179) sporting Side 2's final cut "Words Of Wisdom" on the flipside (a Cousins song). "New Beginnings" (a co-write between Cousins and Lambert) was a strong melody and the huge doomy synths of the very marching-drums Pink Floyd and Animals Prog of "Words Of Wisdom" should have won them some love, but again a non-runner. 

Arista-USA tried a different tack by putting the slightly hammy but perceived as more commercial "I Don't Want To Talk About It" on the A-side instead of "New Beginnings". They kept the 5:38-minute full album version of "Words Of Wisdom" on the flip, but with Lambert's strangulated vocals and its wildly overwrought production - Arista AS 0327 died. I can't help thinking that if someone had had the balls to take a chance at Arista – the crushingly sad "Sealed With A Traitor's Kiss" on the A-side with the commercial Blue Oyster Cult guitar rock of "The Last Resort" on the B-side – Radio Stations and lapsed fans might have noticed. Dave Cousins was obviously in serious pain when he penned lines like "…You gave me your best…I gave you all my worst years…" in the short but shimmering "Sealed With A Traitor's Kiss" - but while perhaps the searing personal honesty in the title seemed to much of a downer – I think the public might have taken to its dangerously close-to-the-knuckle "Love And Affection" vibe.

Side 2 opened with another strong track "Time And Life" brimming with great guitar work, orchestration and walls of headlines and deadlines choruses. Our singer looks to children and songs for his salvation in the slightly pappy "New Beginnings" but that is kicked into sinister speaker-to-speaker touch by the phased vocals of "Deadly Nightshade" where Lambert sounds like Marillion before there was a Fish.

The extras are compromised audio-wise by their very nature, but it is cool to hear an Electric Banjo pop out of the Dublin Mix of "Joey And Me". I would admit to initial disappointment at CD2 – the first two tracks are awful in my mind – somehow the recording getting away from the engineer. As they go into track three "Ghosts" (to some applause from the crowd who clearly did not yet know the first two newbies in the set) – you get keyboard parts from Andy Richards that feel almost external to the overall sound – like they are not gelling as a unit - and that is probably why the set has remained unreleased. 

It isn't so apparent on the visual DVD (picture is TV Box Aspect and in colour) when compere Alan Black introduces the show and band. The picture quality is acceptable at best – typical of so much BBC stuff that doesn't seem to have been either filmed well or kept well. The five-piece band is led by Dave Cousins on his ubiquitous Twelve String Guitar while Dave Lambert plays Electric Guitar Lead. The first three are voiced by Cousins until Lambert takes over the more Prog "No Return" (very nice echoed-guitar opening) and the Rock Out "Heartbreaker". Unfortunately, and just when the audio needed to be at its best – the sad and beautiful "Sealed With A Traitor's Kiss" starts out so well – Andy Richards playing gorgeous complimentary piano - but then someone clearly unplugs a lead or something and what sounds like a huge fart emanates from the PA. Cousins carries on regardless (sweating and without breaking a smile) but the tender moment is ruined. Towards the last three tracks, Andy Richards gets to let rip on the keyboard stack – Hernandez gets to bash his huge hanging symbol (how very Greenslade) as the songs become more Prog Rock with a bit of 12-string melody thrown over it. The band seemed pleased with themselves and their prowess – I'm just not sure that either the Audio or Visual captured it to a best advantage. 

To sum up – CD1 of "Deadlines" is better but the 1978 material on CD2 and the DVD are compromised affairs in every department – Audio and Visual. But I doubt Strawbs fans will be too repulsed because anything new from this forgotten period is collectors' gold-dust. 

So, once again, Esoteric Recordings of the UK do the business by a forgotten milestone and artists worth celebrating. Just taper those expectations as you dive in...