''Dragonfly'' is the second studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by English band

Strawbs Strawbs (or The Strawbs) are an English rock band founded in 1964 as the Strawberry Hill Boys. The band started out as a bluegrass group, but eventually moved on to other styles such as folk rock and progressive rock. They are best known fo ...

. It contains the lengthy and rather progressive ballad "The Vision of the Lady of the Lake" describing the hardships of a boatman who encounters and battles a variety of mystical creatures on a lake, with a sword that was given to him by the lady of the lake. The album marked the first collaboration of

Rick Wakeman Richard Christopher Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboardist best known as a former member of the progressive rock band Yes across five tenures between 1971 and 2004, and for his solo albums released in the 1970s. Born and raised ...

with the band, though he only played on one song on this album, piano on ''The Vision of the Lady of the Lake''; he eventually joined them on their next album, ''

Just a Collection of Antiques and Curios ''Just a Collection of Antiques and Curios'' is the third album by the Strawbs, mostly recorded live at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London on 11 July 1970. The album reached number 27 in the UK Albums Chart. The band line-up had changed from ...

'', in 1970. Tony Visconti also played flute on two other songs.

Track listing

Personnel

;Strawbs *

Dave Cousins Dave Cousins (born David Joseph Hindson; 7 January 1945) is an English musician who has been the leader, singer and most-active songwriter of Strawbs since 1967. Career Cousins is a founder member of the Strawbs, which started out as the S ...

–

Vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

Acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

Dulcimer The word dulcimer refers to two families of musical string instruments. Hammered dulcimers The word ''dulcimer'' originally referred to a trapezoidal zither similar to a psaltery whose many strings are struck by handheld "hammers". Variants of ...

, Chinese piano,

Percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Tony Hooper Anthony Hooper (14 September 1939 – 18 November 2020) was an English folk singer-songwriter and musician. He was best known as a founder-member of Strawbs together with Dave Cousins and double bassist Ron Chesterman. He left The Strawbs ...

– Vocals, Acoustic & Electric Guitars,

Tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

, Percussion *Claire Deniz –

Cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

Ron Chesterman Ronald George Arthur Chesterman (27 November 1939 – 16 March 2007) was an English musician. He is best known as the original double bass player with The Strawberry Hills Boys, starring Dave Cousins on guitar, dulcimer, banjo and vocals, Tony ...

–

Double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

;Additional personnel : *

Tony Visconti Anthony Edward Visconti (born April 24, 1944) is an American record producer, musician and singer. Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers. His first hit single was T. Rex's " Ride a White Swan" in 1970, the first of man ...

–

Recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

on "Dragonfly and "Young Again" *

– Piano on "The Vision of The Lady of the Lake" *

Paul Brett Paul Brett (born 20 June 1947 in Fulham, London) is an English classic rock guitarist. He played lead guitar with Strawbs (although he was never actually a member), The Overlanders, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera, T ...

– Lead guitar on "The Vision of The Lady of the Lake" *Bjarne Rostvold –

Drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

on "The Vision of The Lady of the Lake"

Recording

Recorded at Rosenberg Lydteknik,

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

with additional work at Morgan Studios,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Mixed at Trident Studios, London *

– Producer,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, Percussive effects *Roger Quested – Engineer *Roger Saunders - Design, Illustrations

Release history

References

''Dragonfly'' on Strawbsweb
*Sleeve notes AMS 970 ''Dragonfly'' *Sleeve notes 5302680 ''Dragonfly'' Strawbs albums 1970 albums Albums produced by Tony Visconti A&M Records albums Albums recorded at Morgan Sound Studios {{1970s-folk-album-stub