Yes, Five Stars, because...
Scott T Mc Nally | 03/15/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"...because, even though these are two uneven records, they still contain some of the Strawbs all-time best songs, and that makes it possible to forgive the lesser tracks (Isn't that the whole purpose of the "program" function on CD players? Skip the ones you don't like). Some of Dave Cousins best songs are here: "Simple Visions", "Turn Me Round", "Hard Hard Winter", "Burning for Me", "Cut Like a Diamond", and even "I Only Want My Love To Grow In You". Each is a small masterpiece, mixing folk, rock & prog with the kind of heartfelt lyrics only Cousins could write. So, yeah, there are more weak tracks then usual here, but just skip 'em and enjoy the classics."
THIS IS JUST A LOBBY FOR NOMADNESS & 2WEEKS LAST SUMMER
Scott T Mc Nally | 07/31/2001
(3 out of 5 stars)
"One can see there is a consensus that the 2 cd's don't match up to the need to release Nomadness and Dave's solo album Two Weeks Last Summer (also a must for starving Miller Anderson fans) Deep Cuts contains some classic Strawbs material but Burning for You has only one or two acceptable songs which makes the package a little annoying...and yes boo hoo John Hawken is gone by this time. Kirby and Mealing create atmospheric texture rather than inventive fills. I saw the promo tour for the release of Nomadness just after Hawken had left. The keyboards were inoffensive but the energy and focus was somehow dissapated which carried over into these recordings"
One good, one bad
Jim Panzee | Pittsburgh, PA USA | 02/03/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"My only real disagreement with Lawrance Bernabo, is that I like Deep Cuts much better than Nomadness. Nomadness was an artistic and marketing disappointment that brought an end to the Strawbs A&M recording contract. Deep Cuts represented a return to form. The album isn't totally consistent -- the Strawbs rarely were -- but I Only Want My Love to Grow in You, the Soldiers Tale, Simple Visions and Beside the Rio Grande are superlative tracks which stand comparison to the best of the Strawbs earlier work. The other tracks are all pretty good. Overall, the album is actually more like Bursting at The Seams (or at least the Cousins tracks on it) than the intervening albums. The Soldiers Tale, for instance, has a thundering final instrumental section that reminds you of Down By the Sea.
If you're a fan of the group, Burning For You is painful to listen to. Burning for Me and Cut Like a Diamond are the only good tracks; the rest don't even qualify as mediocre. I don't think the problem is John Hawken's absence, although he's missed. It's that the Strawbs always relied on Dave Cousins' songwriting, and on Burning For You he had run out of ideas. Maybe they had a contractual obligation to get an album out by the release date -- that's the only explanation I can offer."
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1