Reviews
Artist: Strawbs
Album: Dancing To The Devil's Beat
Label: Witchwood Media
Tracks: 9
Website: http://www.strawbsweb.co.uk
The Strawbs are quite amazing, given that they recorded the very first Folk Rock album ever: "All Our Own Work", and have released albums in the sixties, the seventies, the eighties, the nineties and the noughties. As there are at least two more DVDs in the pipe line, and hopefully many more albums to follow, they are now only four months away from releasing material during a sixth decade!
Many people think of them as a seventies group, unaware that if you include solo projects they have released more records this decade than they did in the whole of the sixties, seventies and eighties combined, and given that one of the newer releases was a five CD box-set, with each CD being almost twice as long as the average vinyl LP, it is safe to say that the Strawbs are definitely more of a modern band, then a throw back to the glam rock era.
"Dancing To The Devil's Beat", excluding solo albums and re-issues, is, I think, their 29th album. The first thing you'll notice is the parallels with the album cover and the cover of the box-set. The box-set featured a white cat, and this features a black dog, both licking some Strawberry flavoured product. Worryingly, to me, having such a similar themed cover feels like an attempt to close a circle, so gives a feeling of finality. As if there was something that was left to be said, and now it's been said.
In addition, the last track on the album is a new studio version of the bands very first single. Again, this feels like some form of closure, otherwise why chose that one particular track to re-record, considering there are a couple of hundred other tracks they could have chosen? Still, I have thought I detected closure in previous Strawbs albums before and have been proven wrong.
The cover comprises current photographs of the band, labelled "Now", and photographs of the band from the archives, labelled "Then". Humorously, the "Then" picture of Oliver Wakeman, the newest band member, is a picture of a baby, demonstrating that at some previous time time "Then", when all of the rest of the band were out earning a living, Oliver was just a twinkle in his father's eye.
Paradoxically, after Rick Wakeman left the band, their style changed from folk rock to prog, but now, with another Wakeman in the band, this album is back to their folk rock roots.
As ever, with Dave Cousins, many of these songs have quite cryptic lyrics. There are several links to more established poets, which I suspect is deliberate. For example, in Track 3, "Copenhagen", he uses a metaphor of a Skylark to refer to Sandy Denny. I'm sure that this is a reference either to Shelley's poem "To a Skylark", or perhaps, more aptly, considering the tragedy of Sandy's life, it is a reference to Hardy's tragic poem "Shelley's Skylark". In the first movement of track 4, Dave refers to Nightingales, which I suspect is a reference to "Ode to a Nightingale" by Keats.
Indeed, the whole of Track 4, "Pro Patria Suite", an anti World War I protest, strikes one as an homage to the First World War poet Wilfred Owen, especially maybe to his poem "Dulce et Decorum Est", which ends with the line 'The Old Lie: Dulce et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori". A quote originally from Horace meaning, "Sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country".
The "Sweet" theme is also extended to the first track "Revenge (Can be So Sweet)", and to the 8th (the title track) which includes the line 'Contempt they say is bitter sweet.'
Strangely, both the third movement of "Pro Patria Suite", and Track 5, Dave Lambert's "The Man Who Would Never Leave Grimsby", deal with the theme "Home is where the heart is", a line first written, albeit in Latin, by Pliny (the elder). Suspect there are many other references and links embedded within this album that are beyond me.
Being a long haired peace-loving hippy, I very much applaud DC's anti-war songs, such as "Beneath The Angry Sky", (I assumed this was about Coventry during World War II: the mention of an oak tree excludes Dresden, or Hiroshima, but I've been told it was inspired by Picasso's Guernica), but I must confess to be slightly disturbed by his more misogynistic songs, (though I have to admit that "Oh How She Changed" is one of my all time favourite Strawbs' tracks, despite the anti-female theme). At first hearing, Track 7, "The Ballad of Jay and Rose Mary" seems very anti female - "She asked me did I sleep well, I said most every day. They say that money talks, Mine just said goodbye." This is a curious song, with two male characters, both of whom appear to be called Jay. The first Jay, referred to in the third person, is a married man who has an affair with Rose Mary. The second Jay, referred to in the first person, is about to embark on an affair with her, hence the hit to his finances. One is left with the thought that there could be something schizophrenic occurring here, with both Jays being the same person. Recalling an earlier Strawbs song, "Joey and Me" (me and Joey make three), I think that this is quite a possibility. The song could be autobiographical, with Jay short for Joey, which I believe is DC's middle name.
Afraid I haven't yet interpreted "Revenge (Can Be So Sweet)". It seems quite Biblical in nature, commencing in Eden, and progressing to the Tower of Babel. The chorus includes the line 'We shall all rise up'. Not sure if this is a reference to Judgement day, or whether it is a call to arms. For an album full of anti-war songs, a cry to arms doesn't seem appropriate. No idea yet what form the revenge will take place, and against whom it is directed. Working on it.
Fairly sure that "Where Silent Shadows Fall" is a protest against the UK government's failure to support the troops in Afghanistan. First time I heard it though I was convinced the soldier was a soldier of fortune, and the battle represented the struggle to con some poor woman in to bed.
Also fairly sure that the title track is based on another topical subject: the credit crunch induced by fat cat banker's greed.
All in all, an intriguing album. Here's hoping there are many more to come.
Track List
Revenge (Can Be So Sweet)
Beneath The Angry Sky
Copenhagen
Pro Patria Suite
(i) Back Along (We Were Young)
(ii) All For Each Other
(iii) Home Is Where The Heart Was Ever
The Man Who Would Never Leave Grimsby
The Ballad Of Jay And Rose Mary
Dancing To The Devil's Beat
Oh How She Changed
Pete Bradley