Review Summary: One of their very finest releases. A classic in the prog folk circles.
“Grave New World” is the fourth studio album of Strawbs that was released in 1972. The line up on the album is Dave Cousins, Tony Hooper, Blue Weaver, John Ford and Richard Hudson. The album also had the participation of Anne Collins, Trevor Lucas, Dave Lambert, the Robert Kirby Silver Band and Tony Visconti’s Old Time Dance Orchestra.
Strawbs, initially as The Strawberry Hill Boys, started in the mid of the 60’s as a bluegrass band. In 1967 they moved towards folk when Sandy Denny joined them. With her, Strawbs recorded “All Our Own Work”, an album only released in 1973. After she left to join Fairport Convention, they released “Strawbs” in 1969 and “Dragonfly” in 1970. With Rick Wakeman they released “Just A Collection Of Antiques And Curious” in 1970 and “From The Witchwood" in 1971.
“Grave New World” is another conceptual album. This time it depicts the story of one man’s life from the beginning “Benedictus”, until the end, “Journey’s End”. As happened with their previous studio album, “From The Witchwood”, “Grave New World” shows the continued movement from the Strawbs’ original folk leanings, for a more progressive rock sound. It was so evident that the founding member Tony Hooper began to be uncomfortable with this option and he left the band after the recording sessions of “Grave New World”. And this was also the first studio album released by the band after the departure of their keyboardist Rick Wakeman, who left Strawbs to join Yes. Blue Weaver was the man that was recruited to substitute Wakeman. He was considered by the fans a more than adequate replacement for Rick.
The front cover of the album is a reproduction of “Glad Day”, a picture of William Blake. The original vinyl version had a luxurious artwork, including a pamphlet showing all the lyrics on the album and the details of all instrumentation used on the album. Fortunately, I have the honour to have one of those copies on my hands that I bought in the 70’s.
So, “Grave New World” is the first Strawbs album since Wakeman moved to Yes. The band developed their distinctive, melodic progressive rock with strong folk roots. “Grave New World” was their first symphonic album, and remains the best Strawbs’ release for many. The songs are rather short and not very complex for a progressive work. Their strength lies in the strong melodies and the delightful arrangements that are full of organ, Mellotron, acoustic and electric guitars and beautiful folky vocal harmonies. The excellent and thought provoking lyrics of Cousins are another quality of the band. His lyrics revealed lots of social conscience and had often, especially on this album, religious overtones.
“Benedictus” is similar to “A Glimpse Of Heaven” recorded on their previous album “From The Witchwood”. This is a great opener. It’s very well constructed with a delightful organ break in the middle. “Hey Little Man…Thursday Child” and “Hey Little Man… Wednesday Child” is a nice, short, simple and calm acoustic song that is divided into two parts and placed as two different tracks in different places on the album. It’s performed only with vocals and acoustic guitar. “Queen Of Dreams” is one of their most experimental songs. It’s a great ambitious song with psychedelic influences and with its beats recorded in reverse. “Heavy Disguise” is a great short tune with good lyrics. It’s performed with a brass section played by the Robert Kirby Silver Band, which gives the track a special feeling. “New World” is one of their most powerful songs ever. It grows in intensity as the song progresses, is full of Mellotron and has one of the best vocal performances by Cousins. “The Flower And The Young Man” is a beautiful melodic song with great vocal work. It’s a folk song with a remarkable use of organ and Mellotron. “Tomorrow” is the most rock song on the album and has a great symphonic sound. It has a hard rock tune, perhaps the song that most upset Hooper. “On Growing Older” is a short folk acoustic song, nice and cool that sounds like an old English song of the 60’s. It has interesting lyrics too. “Ah Me, Ah My” is short and despite being fun, is the weakest song on the album. “Is It Today, Lord?” is one of the highlights on the album. It’s a mystical song, in the Indian vein, with sitar, tables, autoharp and Indian harmonium. “The Journey’s End” completes the man’s journey. It’s a nice song with good vocals and a cute piano performed by Weaver.
Conclusion: “Grave New World” represents, in my humble opinion, another major step forward in the musical career of Strawbs. It’s also one of their best albums and personally, it’s my favourite musical work of theirs. I bought this album for more than forty years and I always loved it. It always had a very own place in my heart. It’s one of the best albums of 1972 and one of the best progressive folk/rock albums ever made. Sincerely, if you don’t have this album and you like prog folk/rock music, don’t hesitate and get a copy of it. And if you can put your hands on one of those luxurious vinyl copies, better for you. Between 1971 and 1975 they made quite a few essential albums, and “Grave New World” shows Strawbs at their finest moment. This album helped to put Strawbs as one of the best British prog bands.
Music was my first love.
John Miles (Rebel)
