The Strawbs
Huntington Hall, Worcester
Wednesday 14 November
Sometime in the 1970s my brother Phil and I were dragged
along to what, in those days, would have been called a Sunday market (a forerunner
of the car-boot sale.) Perhaps it was the summer of 1977, when the top ten was dominated
by Showaddaywaddy, Donna Summer, The Brotherhood of Man and David Soul.
Rummaging through some singles at a record stall, I found Steeleye Span's Fighting
for Strangers and Phil found The Strawbs' Lay Down. I'm not sure if
Phil liked my Steeleye single that much but I was very taken with Lay Down which
seemed to me a perfect folk-rock record, featuring Dave Cousins intoning the psalm-like
lyrics, a hooky chorus and Dave Lambert's wonderful, distorted electric guitar.
In their fifty-year trajectory The Strawbs have occupied a
unique position in the intersection of English folk-rock and prog-rock. Dave
Cousins is one of the few British singer-songwriters to have composed and
performed songs on the mountain dulcimer (something that may well have unconsciously
influenced my own love affair with the instrument.) His voice is a weathered blend
of preacher, actor and wild-man-of-the-woods. (One of the greatest compliments
I ever received in my own insignificant musical career was to have an audience
member tell me after a gig that I sounded "a bit like Dave Cousins".)
The Strawbs are also distinguished by being one of the very few bands that my
wife and I both like. So, of course, when I heard they were touring again, we
just had to go and see them.
We've seen The Strawbs twice before at the Worcester's magnificent
Huntington Hall, once as a full electric line-up and once as The Acoustic
Strawbs. Both were great performances and Huntington Hall's ambience and
acoustics really enhanced the experience. Sad to report, then, that this time there
appeared to be some problem with the sound. I don't think it's just my advancing
age that made me find the music too loud - the vocals were distorted to the
point where not only did we lose the meaning of the lyrics but some songs
became less instantly recognisable in the general mush of sound.
The band were obviously keen to showcase a few songs from
their latest album The Ferryman's Curse, but it was disappointing
that so many other great songs - Benedictus, Witchwood, Heartbreaker, Stormy
Down - were omitted. Still, the lovely Out in the Cold was performed
beautifully, and segued into Round and Round as part of what Dave
Cousins introduced as a Readers' Digest version of their 1974 album Hero
and Heroine. Sadly Shine on Silver Sun was again only quoted, rather
than played in full. Perhaps the problem is the back catalogue contains just
too many good songs. Still, drums, bass and keyboards were spot-on, Cousins was
the consummate front-man as always, and the ever-cool Dave Lambert sang and played
exquisitely, making wonderful, versatile electric guitar-playing seem
effortless. And the encore? Inevitably, Lay Down.
