Search - Strawbs :: Collection

A Taste Of Luscious Fruit

Daniel Eglesia | 04/01/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a very fine 'Collection' of Strawbs that may serve as an abbreviated version of Halcyon Days. Whoever chose the songs to be part of this 'Collection' was obviously familiar with both their popular hits and lesser known music. While it only has some of their most familiar songs, like Part of The Union, Benedictus, Lemon Pie or Lay Down, it also has a much richer compilation that includes less known gems like I Turned My Face To The Wind, Witchwood, Heavy Disguise, Shine On Silver Sun and Will You Go. Recently, I picked up the 20th Century Masters Best of Strawbs, which is also a nice CD with great sound, and wanted something to give a more indepth feel of their range and this 'Collection' fits that bill. If you are already somewhat familiar with their more popular songs, such as Down By The Sea, Hero and Heroine and Round and Round, this 'Collection' goes a long way if you do not want to buy the individual CDs or more expensive Halcyon Days."

They left off more good stuff than they included on this one

Lawrance M. Bernabo | The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota | 05/04/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The Strawbs were a peculiar favorite of the FM radio station that I listened to in college, which explains why they managed to get the group to come to Albuquerque, New Mexico to play a concert (with Richie Havens opening). Otherwise, there would be little reason for one of the legendary drinking bands from England to show up in the American southwest. I went to the concert on the basis of a strong liking of "Down by the Sea," the group's signature encore piece (set up by "The River") and bits of other songs played during commercials for the concert. That meant that after the concert I went out and picked up their most recent albums and then had to remember what songs I had just heard.



The two albums I picked up were "Bursting at the Seams" and "Hero & Heroine," and in retrospect that was fortuitous because those are the two best Strawbs albusm. That is important because this budget "Collection" of Strawbs songs only has two tracks from the first, "Part of the Union" and "Lay Down," and only one, "Shine on Silver Sun" from the second. Already this collection is in trouble because a Strawbs hits collection without either "Down from the Sea" and the title track of "Hero & Heroine" is already in a big hole. Once you get started on this train of thought it becomes clear that there are more key songs missing from this collection than are included. You do have "Witchwood," "Benedictus," "Grace Darling," "Tokyo Rosie," and "I Only Want My Love to Grow In Your," but I can put together a much better collection of Strawbs songs from what is NOT on this one ("Tears and Pavan," "Grave New World," "Round and Round," etc.), and that is never a good sign.



Consequently, I have grave doubts that "Collection" will really give you a taste of why the Strawbs were the best of the second level British Folk-Rock/Progressive-Rock groups from the early 1970s, even if their music was grounded more in English folk than rock (amply proven by the 2001 album "Acoustic Strawbs: Baroque & Roll). This album is okay, but there are much better collections out there (i.e., "A Choice Selection of Strawbs") that will give you a much better sense of why this group should be remembered. So the three star rating is a strong hint to go look elsewhere."