That most quintessentially 'English' of bands, the Strawbs are one of those institutions who, despite having been constantly creative for a long time in recent years both in terms of live and recording work, find themselves forever trapped in a sort of 1970s amber, with everything they do being held up against work which is..
STRAWBS – Burning For You / Heartbreak Hill (Esoteric)
Burning For You is a much better album than its reception at the time indicated ... while Heartbreak Hill is simply essential Strawbs. The very end of the original Strawbs career is covered here with these two Esoteric reissues, covering what was intended to be the last album they recorded in the 1970s, and the..
DAVE COUSINS – Two Weeks Last Summer (Esoteric)
As a slight annex built on to their ongoing Strawbs reissue campaign, Esoteric have unearthed this 1972 solo album by Strawb Supremo Dave Cousins, so named because he did, in fact, record it in two weeks in the Summer of 1972, in between the Strawbs albums Grave New World and Bursting At The Seams. Although..
STRAWBS – DEEP CUTS (Esoteric)
a mix of more commercial, easily melodic material alongside harder-edged fare for those who didn't want too much sugar with their Strawbs! By 1976, when Deep Cuts originally appeared, The Strawbs were getting to the end of their original 1970s run, and would split following two more albums, in 1978. The previous album, 1975's Nomadness,..