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"...Out Of The Cold..."
Band's catalogues can be
funny - especially big groups of real longevity. After six whole albums with
A&M Records since 1969, The Strawbs finally hit commercial paydirt with
their brand of melodious Folk-Prog when the catchy "Part Of The Union"
45 and its parent album "Bursting At The Seams" both made No. 2 in
the UK single and LP charts in early 1973. An impressive feat, and surely their
next platter would follow the same success in Progressive Rock obsessed
Blighty? Well, yes and no.
John Ford and Richard Hudson
had left after "Bursting..." to an alternative career as HUDSON-FORD
whilst Keyboardist Blue Weaver went to the big money of The Bee Gees
("Jive Talkin' ahoy) - leaving the core duo of Dave Cousins and Dave
Lambert to recruit new band members. They called in John Hawken - an ex
Nashville Teens Keyboardist whom they'd heard on recently accomplished
Renaissance LPs and Chas Cronk and Rod Coombes - both ex the recently imploded
Joe Egan and Gerry Rafferty's Stealers Wheel. The five gelled and fresh songwriting
seemed to promise great new symphonic things.
But as I recall, "Hero
And Heroine" arrived in shops with a whimper in Britannia whereas it 'made
them' in the USA - something "Bursting At The Seams" had not done
despite its huge success in England. In fact A&M Records released
"Hero And Heroine" in America two months 'before' the UK long-player
and The Strawbs toured the new LP there first. So the band now finds that even
with a meagre No. 93 placing on the US Billboard Rock LP charts in the USA –
being just inside the top 100 has guaranteed them hundreds of thousands of
sales Stateside (steady sales too) with mega audiences of 17,000 and more
lapping it up. But when they returned home, the new Strawbs line-up scraped a
No. 35 LP chart placing in April 1974 (and for only 3 weeks) and got to play
halls of 200 people in Leicester - much of the good work of 1973 evaporated and
the group all but forgotten on their own turf.
So in some respects, their
rather brilliant and musically accomplished "Hero And Heroine" album
has been a wee bit of a lost gem in the UK for decades now and in post
pandemic-lockdown 2020, seems to remain so. I say let's give its music a second
go-round and get it 'out of the cold'. Here are the silver suns...
UK released August 1998 -
"Hero And Heroine" by STRAWBS on A&M 540 935-2 (Barcode
731454093521) is part of their A&M ReMasterPieces CD Reissue Series. It offers
the 1974 LP with Two Bonus Tracks (one Previously Unreleased) and plays out as
follows (44:26 minutes):
1. Autumn [Side 1]
2. Sad Young Man
3. Just Love
4. Shine On Silver Sun
5. Hero & Heroine [Side
2]
6. Midnight Sun
7. Out In The Cold
8. Round And Round
9. Lay A Little Light On Me
10. Hero's Theme
Tracks 1 to 10 are their
seventh album "Hero And Heroine" - released February 1974 in the USA
on A&M Records SP-3607 and April 1974 in the UK on A&M Records AMLH
63607. Produced by DAVID COUSINS and TONY ALLOM - it peaked at No. 94 in the
USA and No. 35 in the UK LP charts.
BONUS TRACKS (Previously
Unreleased):
11. Still Small Voice
12. Lay A Little Light On Me
(Early Version)
STRAWBS were:
DAVE COUSINS - Vocals,
Acoustic and Electric Guitars
DAVE LAMBERT - Vocals,
Acoustic and Electric Guitars
JOHN HAWKEN - Keyboards -
Piano, Electric Piano, Organ, Mellotron and Synthesizer
CHAS. CRONK - Bass,
Synthesizer and Vocals
ROD COOMBES - Drums,
Percussion and Vocals
The 8-page booklet features
JOHN TOBLER liner notes benefitting greatly from new interviews with principal
songwriter Dave Cousins. He talks of rehearsals in Devon, Lambert's "Round
And Round" being loosely based on "Substitute" by The Who and
even weirder, the moody start of the eight and half minute three-part album
opener "Autumn" being edited by A&M USA and circulated as a
B-side 45 to "Round And Round", only to find the 'sexy Prog funk' of
The Strawbs being featured on black radio stations and the band being applauded
by African Americans as they debuted it at gigs. It's an informative and
affectionate read but the real meat and potatoes lies in the new ROGER WAKE
Remaster and two Previously Unreleased Bonus Tracks – one a sessions outtake
"Still Small Voice" and the other an alternate version that a body
can see why it was left in the can (doesn't work nearly as well as the released
version). To the music...
"Autumn" nails its
three-part epic Prog Rock credentials to the mast as "Heroine's
Theme" ushers into your room with a surprisingly sinewy Bass followed by
Mellotron - only to usher in a pretty duet battle between acoustic and electric
guitars called "Deep Summer's Sleep". The last part "The Long
Winter" gives us a jaunty hold-on-to-me chorus, as Cousins and the boys
wax lyrical about soft falling snow. New boys Rod Coombes came up with the very
Greenslade "Sad Young Man" - a sort of Rock meets Prog ballad with
great playing and production. The band suddenly morphs into The Flamin Groovies
meets the New York Dolls with the out-and-out Rock 'n' Rolling of "Just
Love" - a Dave Lambert rocker. Things return to pastel with the lovely
"Shine On Silver Sun" and an old song as far as the album was
concerned. Trying to capitalise on "Part Of The Union" - A&M had
issued "Shine On Silver Sun" in the UK as a stand-alone 45 as far
back as August 1973 with "And Wherefore" on the flipside (A&M
Records AMS 7082). Despite its strong melody and catchy chorus, it managed No.
34 on the UK charts and di naught when it was issued November 1973 in the
States.
"Hero And Heroine"
has never been a fave - too heavy-handed for me. But "Midnight Sun"
is where the record really takes off - a song co-written with Cousins and Cronk
and apparently inspired by graffiti on a loo wall. At three minutes eleven,
"Out In The Cold" feels like a mash up of Cat Stevens meets The Ozark
Mountain Daredevils with its rolling acoustic guitars, harmonica and sudden
electric guitars. Now I know how it feels to be old, and out in the cold,
Cousins songs. With its very Prog heavy synth opening and Aerosmith rock guitar
verses, "Round And Round" was given a 45 in the USA with
"Heroine's Theme" on the flipside. Empty creeds and themes to suit
shysters - Cousins asks to "Lay A Little Light On Me". I'd admit its
over ambitious nature might put some off, but I have to say that "Lay A
Little Light On Me" and its very ELO Prog riffage as it segues into
"Hero's Theme" (the LP's last track) is one of the reasons I love it.
The two and half-minute Spanish guitar of "Still Small Voice" Cousins
advises was an unfinished idea - its Prog second half trying to find a place to
go but not quite finding it (a cool bonus actually). And although the alternate
"Lay A Little Light On Me" has more guitars, it's not a good way, but
too busy busy for its own good.
Despite having made a slew
of great albums (I've also reviewed the Cousins solo set "Two Weeks Last
Summer" from 1972 that is a fabulous find) - The Strawbs always seem to be
the fourth bridesmaid of four at the big Prog Rock wedding. This is a cool
album in so many ways, maybe not the masterpiece many think it is, but so worth
your investigation. And platter seven is available for under an English sixer
in most places. Enjoy peeps...
