“I have no idea who they are,” shrugged the blue-haired little old lady as I rummaged through the box of records she’d set out at the mobile home rec room rummage sale. Mantovani, Andre Kostelanetz, Percy Faith and…Strawbs? She professed to know of John Hartford, whose first album she also owned. Having listened to it, I find that somewhat more bizarre than her possession of a Strawbs record.
I know Strawbs by chance. I inherited a handful of their records from a radio station that changed format. It’s the ultimate moment of confusion for a music junkie: “I’m sorry but we’re changing the station’s format to all Pat Robertson All The Time. As a parting gift, here’s your severance and several boxes of records”.
I can safely say that, up until that time, my upstate New York upbringing had not allowed me to cross paths with Strawbs. I can say that no tonearm has ever crossed those Strawbs records I got for free, either. But I kept them because they had a cool, Britishy air about them (kind of like the Steeleye Span record I’ve had since 1979 but don’t think I’ve listened to.
Fast forward many years and here I am: kindly Mrs. Grandma Record Collection and the Best of Strawbs for 25 cents. How could I miss?
To quote the first few paragraphs of the liner notes:
It’s something of a tribute to the slightly bizarre nature of that catchall pigeonhole known as “British Rock” that a group which originated as England’s answer to Flatt and Scruggs would go on to cite The Tibetan Book of The Dead as one of its prime influences, gives the world one of its best-respected female vocalists and classically-oriented keyboard wizards, spawn the career of a hit-song writing duo and end up classified closer to the spatially-stately progressive wing of rock than to anything remotely resembling it “world’s fastest bajo”/bluegrass beginnings.
And that’s just one sentence!
The female vocalist was Sandy Denny; the keyboard wizard was none other than Rick Wakeman of Yes and the songwriting duo was drummer Richard Hudson and bassist John Ford (who wrote Strawbs UK #1, Part of the Union).
What pulls this all together is a listen to Lay Down, their UK Top 10 in 1972. One part Jethro Tull, one part Cat Stevens, one part Emerson, Lake and Palmer, it draws together in just a few minutes the whole of the British folk and prog rock era. And little old blue-haired ladies like it too!
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Strawbs! Mmmmmmm! I read a comment in a history/review of rock once that said that the Strawbs were what The Band would have sounded like if its members had been British. Kind of an odd comment, but it makes sense to me. Great band, well worth seeking out!