STRAWBS

STRAWBS
HERO AND HEROINE (1974)
REMASTER
320 KBPS

The group's ballsiest album to date, Hero and Heroine is a surging, hard rocking follow-up to Bursting at the Seams, and premiered a new lineup, as Richard Hudson, John Ford, and Blue Weaver had left to form their own group. In their places, ex-Nashville Teens keyboardist John Hawken and the more muscular rhythm section of Rod Coombes and Charles Cronk make their debut, on what is the Strawbs' first fully electric album. Dave Cousins' songwriting (augmented by Dave Lambert, who also contributes some slashing electric lead guitar) is still as romantic as ever in various spots ("Shine On Silver Sun," "Deep Summer's Sleep"), but also boasts dark visions ("Round and Round") that, coupled with the new band's muscular playing, made the Strawbs one of the hardest rocking progressive bands in the world. They should have been able to blow acts like the Moody Blues off the stage, so what went wrong with this album and the tour? One suspects it was a little too serious and complex for kids who were just looking for a soundtrack to their drug experiences, and it rocked too hard for the "sensitive" English major types who got off on Cousins' lyrics — in a sense, the Strawbs were squeezed out of the middle in a very small-scale, subtle 1970s version of the old folk-versus-rock battles of the '60s. Hero and Heroine deserved better, being one of the best guitar-driven progressive rock albums of its period.

1. Autumn
Heroine's Theme
Deep Summer's Sleep
The Winter Long
2. Sad Young Man
3. Just Love
4. Shine On Silver Sun
5. Hero And Heroine
6. Midnight Sun
7. Out In The Cold
8. Round And Round
9. Lay A Little Light On Me
10. Hero's Theme
Bonus tracks
11. Still Small Voice (hitherto unreleased)
12. Lay A Little Light On Me (early version)