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Strawbs

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The Strawbs are a rock band founded in 1964 in England. Originally known as the Strawberry Hill Boys, they started out as a bluegrass band and eventually moved onto to other styles (folk rock, glam rock, progressive rock, AOR).

History

Early Days

File:Gnw300.jpg
Strawbs: Grave New World

Their long-time leader and most active songwriter is guitarist and singer, Dave Cousins (guitar, dulcimer, banjo, vocals) (born David Joseph Cousins, 7 January, 1945, in Hounslow, Middlesex).

In the early days the Strawbs played with Sandy Denny (lead singer of Fairport Convention and Fotheringay).

Starting out in the sixties as a bluegrass band, as the Strawberry Hill Boys, the repertoire soon shifted to favour their own (mainly Cousins') material. They were the first UK signing to Herb Alpert's A&M Records and recorded their first single “Oh How She Changed” in 1968, which was produced and arranged by two highly influential seventies’ producers, Gus Dudgeon and Tony Visconti, who also worked on their critically acclaimed first album, Strawbs, which was released in 1969.

After the folk-tinged Dragonfly, Cousins & Hooper added Rick Wakeman on keyboards and Richard Hudson and John Ford on drums and bass respectively. The new line up had their London debut at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, where Wakeman was trumpeted as “Tomorrow’s Superstar” by Melody Maker. Their third album, Antiques and Curios, the first to have a US release, was taken from that concert. Wakeman stayed with them for a further album, From The Witchwood, then departed to join Yes, being replaced by Blue Weaver who had previously been with Amen Corner and Fairweather This line-up produced what many feel to be the archetypal Strawbs album Grave New World, before yet another change, the departure of founder member Hooper, replaced by rocker Dave Lambert, formerly of Fire and the King Earl Boogie Band.

Pop success

Lambert’s arrival in 1972 coincided with a move towards a harder rock style, also evidenced by Cousins’ solo album recorded that summer, with guests such as Roger Glover from Deep Purple, Jon Hiseman from Colosseum. The first single with Lambert on board “Lay Down” hit the UK charts at number 12, followed by a single from the album penned by Ford and Hudson, “Part Of The Union”, which went up to number 2. The album Bursting At The Seams also reached number 2 in the album charts and the band undertook a 52 date UK tour to packed houses.

Unfortunately during the course of a US tour, tensions came to a head and the Bursting At The Seams band did just that, with Hudson and Ford splitting off to record their own material, firstly as Hudson Ford, later as The Monks and High Society. Weaver also left the band, eventually finding a comfortable (and highly lucrative) gig with the Bee Gees; he also played with Mott The Hoople

Cousins and Lambert rebuilt the band, adding John Hawken (formerly Nashville Teens) on keyboards, Rod Coombes formerly with Stealers Wheel and Chas Cronk on bass. This line-up recorded Hero and Heroine and Ghosts, and tended to concentrate on the North American market with relatively little touring in the UK. Strawbs still retain a great fan-base today in the US and Canada. Hero And Heroine went platinum in Canada, and both albums sold extremely well in the US too. A further album, Nomadness, recorded without Hawken, was less successful, and was their last for A&M Records.

Signed to the Deep Purple-owned Oyster label, they recorded two more albums with two keyboardists replacing Hawken – Robert Kirby, also known for his string arrangements (notably Nick Drake) and John Mealing of jazz-rock group If. Coombes was replaced by Tony Fernandez for a further album Deadlines, this time on the Arista label.

Though recording was complete on a further album Heartbreak Hill, featuring Andy Richards on keyboards, Cousins’ decision in 1980 to leave the band to work in radio effectively signalled the band’s demise, and the album remained in the vaults for many years.

Reformation

A reunion on Rick Wakeman’s TV show Gas Tank in 1983, resulted in an invitation to reform to headline 1983’s Cambridge Folk Festival. The Grave New World line up plus Brian Willoughby (who had replaced Lambert when he left in 1978 during the making of Heartbreak Hill, and had also begun a partnership with Dave Cousins as an acoustic duo from 1979 onwards) went on from there to perform occasionally in the UK, US, and Europe over the next few years, replacing Weaver with Chris Parren from the Hudson Ford band and Ford himself (when he relocated to the US) with bass player Rod Demick.

1993 saw the band touring in the UK for their 25th anniversary, but the next few years proved rather quiet. Until 1998, that is, when Cousins staged a 30th anniversary bash in the grounds of Chiswick Park in London, which saw several different line-ups of the band perform on a bright summer’s day in the open air. The final line-up of the night – Bursting At The Seams line-up plus Willoughby – became the ongoing version of the band, with an annual tour in 1999, 2000 and 2001.

Acoustic Strawbs and beyond

Acoustic Strawbs: Baroque &^ Roll

An injury to Cousins’ wrist coinciding with a Cousins & Willoughby commitment brought Dave Lambert in to work with Cousins & Willoughby, which soon became Acoustic Strawbs, recording an album Baroque And Roll in 2001. That trio began to tour on a regular basis - first in the UK, then the US and Canada, and on into Europe. The three guitars of Acoustic Strawbs effortlessly reproducing much of the majesty and depth of the “big” Strawbs keyboard-laden instrumentation. Willoughby was replaced by Chas Cronk when Willoughby left in 2004 to spend more time working with his partner Cathryn Craig. Chas has brought bass and bass pedals, which further add to the depth of the Acoustic Strawbs sound.

2004 also saw the return of the Hero And Heroine line-up of the electric band, touring in tandem with the acoustic line-up, and recording their first new album for 25 years, Deja Fou, on the Strawbs own record label Witchwood Records. Further releases, including some archive releases and a Strawbs boxed set A Taste Of Strawbs (2006) have followed. And in 2007, as well as touring the UK and the US with the Strawbs, electric line-up, (playing Fairport's Cropredy for the first time in August), Cousins also recorded a new solo album "The Boy In The Sailor Suit" with a new grouping, The Blue Angel Orchestra.

Members

Besides Cousins, long-standing players were:

The latter pair had some hits as the duo Hudson Ford. Other members included:

Spin off bands

Hudson Ford, Monks and High Society

In 1973, Hudson and Ford then quit to form Hudson-Ford, with the line-up of Chris Parren (keyboards), Mickey Keen (guitar and sound engineer), and Ken Laws (drums). They produced four albums, three for A&M - Nickeloedon, Free Spirit, Worlds Collide - and a fourth for CBS - Daylight. They also had hit singles with "Pick Up The Piexes " and "Burn Baby Burn", and toured extensively in the UK, US and Canada.

File:Monks - Nice Legs Shame About The Face single picture cover.jpg
The picture cover of The Monks': Nice Legs Shame About The Face

Switching genre in the late 70s, Hudson, Ford and Terry Cassidy combined together with Clive Pearce on drums (Hudson was then playing guitar, having switched from drums) to produce punk flavoured 1979 album Bad Habits as The Monks (punk band). The album spawned a number 19 hit in the UK singles chart — Nice Legs, Shame About The Face (right). They dabbled with 1930s style music in 1980 as 'High Society' before returning to the pseudo-punk format of The Monks for a follow-up album released in Canada only, Suspended Animation with the addition of Brian Willoughby on guitar and Chris Parren on keyboards.

While the album failed to produce further UK chart success, the band were huge in Canada particularly, playing stadium gigs; Suspended Animation went platinum in Canada too. The CD re-release of Suspended Animation includes six bonus tracks, recorded for a third album, but never before released, by Hudson, Ford and Cassidy — Huw Gower guests on one track on lead guitar.


Present day

File:StrawbsElectric300.jpg
Strawbs electric line-up

As of 2007 the Strawbs are still recording and touring in two formats:

the acoustic format comprising Cousins, Lambert and Cronk and also as the entirely original "Hero and Heroine/Ghosts" line-up of the electric band from 1974 - Cousins, Lambert, Cronk, Coombes and Hawken.

The "Hero and Heroine" line-up played a hugely well-received mini-tour, including gigs at the Robin 2, Bilston, The Stables, Wavendon, and several locations in Southern and South-Western England, during February 2007.

As a 3-piece acoustic format they have various gigs lined up in Europe during the Spring, then the 5-piece "Hero and Heroine" line-up get together once again to play several concerts in North America and Canada in late June/early July, including two appearances at the Stan Rogers Festival in Nova Scotia.

Back in England, the same 5-piece line-up are due to play (on Thursday August 9th) at the 2007 Cropredy Festival, to help Fairport Convention celebrate their 40th anniversary year. The festival appearance will be preceded by 2 other concerts, one at the Half Moon, Putney (Tuesday August 7th) and the other at the Astor Theatre in Deal (Wednesday August 8th).

In autumn 2006 Strawbs released a long-awaited 4-disc boxed set called "A Taste of Strawbs" which has been magnificently well-received - several reviews can be read at Strawbs website (www.strawbsweb.co.uk)

Release of a live dvd recorded at the Robin 2, Bilston in March 2006 is anticipated in the near future. For that particular recording, and other concerts on the same tour, vocalist and bass player John Ford (member of an earlier Strawbs line-up) flew over from New York to perform with members of the "Hero and Heroine" line-up.

"Lambert Cronk" also have an album due for release in April 2007 entitled "Touch the Earth", on which former Strawbs drummer Tony Fernandez and former Strawbs keyboard player Andy Richards both play.

All details of Strawbs' activity, and that of ex-members, can be found at the official website www.strawbsweb.co.uk.

A link can also be found to the lively and friendly Yahoo Strawbs-related discussion group called "Witchwood", together with links to "Witchwood Records" where the band's products and related merchandise such as band members' solo projects can be purchased.

Links can also be found from www.strawbsweb.co.uk to both present and former band members' sites including:

http://www.johnfordmusic.net/ http://www.blueweaver.com/ http://www.johnhawken.com/ http://www.brianwilloughby.co.uk http://www.crynomore.co.uk/ (Chas Cronk is a member of Cry No More) http://www.highsocietyband.co.uk (Richard Hudson is a member of High Society) http://www.witchwoodrecords.co.uk/ http://www.andyrichards.com/

Hit singles

  • "Lay Down" (UK #12 1972)
  • "Part of the Union" (UK #2 1973)
  • "Shine On Silver Sun" (UK #34 1973)
  • "I Only Want My Love To Grow In You" (1976)

The latter single from the Deep Cuts album was a radio airplay success, but despite good overall sales did not chart very well.

Albums

  • Strawbs (1969)
  • Dragonfly (1970)
  • Just A Collection Of Antiques And Curios (1970)
  • From The Witchwood (1971)
  • Grave New World (1972)
  • Bursting at the Seams (1973)
  • Hero and Heroine (1974)
  • Ghosts (1974)
  • Nomadness (1975)
  • Deep Cuts (1976)
  • Burning for You (1977)
  • Deadlines (1978)
  • Don't Say Goodbye (1987)
  • Ringing Down the Years (1991)
  • Heartbreak Hill (1995)
  • Halcyon Days (compilation, 1997)
  • Baroque and Roll (2001) (Acoustic Strawbs)
  • Blue Angel (2002)
  • Deja Fou (2004)
  • Full Bloom (2005) (Acoustic Strawbs)
  • Strawbs Live at Nearfest 2004 (2005)
  • Painted Sky (2005)
  • Recollection (2006)
  • A Taste of Strawbs (2006) (box with 4 CDs, recordings 1967 - 2006)

DVDs

  • Complete Strawbs: The Chiswick House Concert (2002)
  • Strawbs Live in Tokyo DVD, plus Grave New World, the movie (2003)
  • Acoustic Strawbs Live in Toronto (2004)

Film

  • Grave New World (1973)
    • Shot on videotape and comprising videos of most of the songs from the album of the same name, this had a limited theatrical release supporting the video of Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Pictures at an Exhibition. The film, considered ahead of its time as an early music video, is paired with the "Strawbs Live in Tokyo 75" DVD.
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