Skip to main content

Strawbs - Hero and Heroine

The Strawbs were an English group that dabbled in tasty genres like folk, progressive and glam rock. They are a band that I want... No! I need to dig into more.

Rick Wakeman played with them before departing for Yes in 1970. Not nearly as technical as other prog bands, The Strawbs incorporated the softer sounds of fantasy and psychedelic pop. Melody was at the forefront of their songs, unlike groups like King Crimson or ELP who were more invested in musical gymnastics. At times, vocalist David Cousins can sound like early Peter Gabriel, which I like.

There is nothing quite like the punch of mellotron combined with bombastic drums and wizard-like vocals. And that's what The Strawbs' "Hero and Heroine" delivers! Are you game for adventure? Suspend your scabbard from your baldric and bring along a flagon of wine. Here is the map for your journey. Click play and take the first step of your quest.



Comments

Trending Tracks

The Blackbyrds - The Baby

There's a blizzard raging outside. I'm down in my basement thumbing through a stack of vinyl I've been neglecting for months. What am I in the mood for? Aha! Here it is.  The Blackbyrds second record . When jazz great, Donald Byrd , was head of Howard University's Department of Jazz Studies in the early 70s, he put together a collective of six gifted musicians and gave them flight as The Blackbyrds . Their second record, Flying Start, is loaded with jazz-funk grooves (some awesome drum breaks), Grant Green -esque lead guitar and a fair share of Kevin Toney's ARP synthesizer. The latter is what I dig the most. On this track, The Baby , Toney doubles up the synth with Joe Hall's bass to create a fat groove. For the entirety of the song, this bass/drum combination continues relentlessly, providing a perfect foundation for guitar, flute and synth pads. This is jazz-fusion at its finest. Very listenable, not too smooth and funky as hell. The perfect soun...

Hüsker Dü - Sorry Somehow

Winter comes and I think of bands, hunkered down in basements, turning up their amps to survive the bleak weather. As I stroll through the idyllic neighborhoods of my town, I sometimes wonder if the next wave of punk rebellion might be brewing beneath the restless facade of raised ranches and capes. Perhaps this is just the anachronistic dream of a music lover on the verge of a mid-life crisis. Hopefully not. During the early 80s, Minneapolis (a somewhat sleepy town) was home to a thriving underground rock scene that gave birth to acts like The Replacements, The Suburbs, Soul Asylum and a band that named themselves after a board game, Hüsker Dü.  Hüsker Dü has always been the least accessible to me. Their sound was edgier and songs tended to be faster and forelorn. Lately, I've really fallen in love with the group's uncompromisingly original approach to music. Their songs endure in a way that some other bands from this era haven't. Tonight's sonic selection is the...