Grave New World

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Grave New World
Grave new world.jpg
Studio album by
Strawbs
ReleasedFebruary 1972
RecordedNovember 1971
Genre
Length36:31
Label A&M (UK)
Producer Strawbs
Strawbs chronology
From the Witchwood
(1971)		Grave New World
(1972)		 Bursting at the Seams
(1973)
Singles from Grave New World
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Christgau's Record Guide D [3]

Grave New World is the fourth studio album by English band Strawbs, their fifth overall. It was the first album to be released after the departure of Rick Wakeman, who was replaced by Blue Weaver, late of Amen Corner.

Contents

Background

Tony Visconti influenced Cousins to buy an I Ching book; Cousins used the book to decide what he should do after Wakeman had left the band. The answer was used in the lyrics for the first track on the album, "Benedictus". [4] The songs themselves show the continuation of the movement away from Strawbs' original folk leanings.[ according to whom? ] Founding member Tony Hooper began to be increasingly uncomfortable with this[ according to whom? ] and left after the recording sessions of this album.

The original vinyl album had lavish artwork and included a pamphlet showing the lyrics of each track together with details of instrumentation. The front cover is a reproduction of William Blake's Glad Day.

The album reached number 11 in the UK Albums Chart. [5] [6]

Track listing

Side one

  1. "Benedictus" (Dave Cousins) – 4:24
  2. "Hey Little Man ... Thursday's Child" (Cousins) – 1:06
  3. "Queen of Dreams" (Cousins) – 5:32
  4. "Heavy Disguise" (John Ford) – 2:53
  5. "New World" (Cousins) – 4:11
  6. "Hey Little Man ... Wednesday's Child" (Cousins) – 1:06

Side two

  1. "The Flower and the Young Man" (Cousins) – 4:17
  2. "Tomorrow" (Cousins, Tony Hooper, Ford, Blue Weaver, Richard Hudson) – 4:49
  3. "On Growing Older" (Cousins) – 1:56
  4. "Ah Me, Ah My" (Hooper) – 1:24
  5. "Is It Today, Lord?" (Hudson) – 3:07
  6. "The Journey's End" (Cousins, Weaver) – 1:46

Bonus tracks - A&M 1998 reissue CD

  1. "Here it Comes" (Cousins) – 2:42
  2. "I'm Going Home" (Cousins) – 3:14

"I'm Going Home" originally appeared on Dave Cousins's solo album Two Weeks Last Summer . This track is the first occasion on which Dave Lambert recorded with the band. He had occasionally been appearing on stage for encores, but after this album and the departure of Tony Hooper, Lambert joined the band full-time.

Personnel

Strawbs
Additional personnel

The track "Ah Me, Ah, My" credits "The Gentlemen of the Chorus" with vocals and "Tony Visconti's Old Tyme Dance Orchestra" (actually the Ted Heath Orchestra) as musicians.

Recording

Recorded mainly at Morgan Studios, London with additional work at Island Studios and Landsdowne Studios.

Produced by Dave Cousins, Richard Hudson, John Ford, Blue Weaver and Tony Hooper

Charts

Chart (1972)Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report) [7] 49
United Kingdom (Official Charts Company)11
United States (Billboard 200)191

Release history

RegionDateLabelFormatCatalog
United KingdomFebruary 1972 A&M stereo LP AMLH 66078
United StatesFebruary 1972A&Mstereo LPSP 4344
Japan1987A&M/CanyonCDD32Y3578
South Korea 1997Si-WanCDSRMC 0075
Worldwide1998A&M remastered CD540,934-2

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References

Notes

  1. ↑ Grave New World at AllMusic. Retrieved 20 June 2011.
  2. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0195313734.
  3. ↑ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: S". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies . Ticknor & Fields. ISBN   089919026X . Retrieved 13 March 2019– via robertchristgau.com.
  4. ↑ Dick Greener (2022). "Simple Perfection". strawbsweb.
  5. ↑ UK Top 40 database Archived 17 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine . everyHit.com retrieved on 16 December 2008
  6. ↑ "STRAWBS | Artist | Official Charts". officialcharts.com. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  7. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 296. ISBN   0-646-11917-6.


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