''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 Derek John "Blue" Weaver (born 11 March 1947) is a Welsh rock keyboardist, session musician, songwriter and record producer. Career Weaver's career as a musician began as a co-founding member of 1960s Welsh rock band Amen Corner and its succ ...

, late of Amen Corner.

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 Benedictus may refer to: Music * Benedictus (Song of Zechariah), ''Benedictus'' (''Song of Zechariah''), the canticle sung at Lauds, also called the Canticle of Zachary * The second part of the Sanctus, part of the Eucharistic prayer * Benedictus ...

". The songs themselves show the continuation of the movement away from Strawbs' original

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fo ...

leanings. Founding member Tony Hooper began to be increasingly uncomfortable with this and left after the recording sessions of this album. The original

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from 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 William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

's ''Glad Day''. The album reached number 11 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

Track listing

Side one #"

" (

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 Str ...

) – 4:24 #"Hey Little Man ... Thursday's Child" (Cousins) – 1:06 #" Queen of Dreams" (Cousins) – 5:32 #"

Heavy Disguise "Heavy Disguise" is a song by English band Strawbs written by bassist John Ford. The track first appeared on the '' Grave New World'' album and features just John Ford from the band singing and accompanying himself on the acoustic guitar backed ...

" (

John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and naval officer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. He ...

) – 2:53 #"

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...

" (Cousins) – 4:11 #" Hey Little Man ... Wednesday's Child" (Cousins) – 1:06 Side two #" The Flower and the Young Man" (Cousins) – 4:17 #" Tomorrow" (Cousins, Tony Hooper, Ford,

, Richard Hudson) – 4:49 #" On Growing Older" (Cousins) – 1:56 #" Ah Me, Ah My" (Hooper) – 1:24 #"Is It Today, Lord?" (Hudson) – 3:07 #"The Journey's End" (Cousins, Weaver) – 1:46 Bonus tracks - A&M 1998 reissue CD #"

Here it Comes "Here It Comes" is a song by the English band Strawbs. It did not appear on any of their studio albums, but it was included on two compilation albums: '' Strawbs by Choice'' and '' Halcyon Days''. Written by bandleader Dave Cousins, "Here It Com ...

" (Cousins) – 2:42 #"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 *

– lead vocals, backing vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar,

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 ...

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 ...

* Tony Hooper – lead vocals, backing vocals, acoustic guitar, autoharp,

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 ...

– organ, piano,

harmonium The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. Th ...

, mellotron,

clavioline The clavioline is an electronic keyboard instrument, a forerunner to the analog synthesizer. It was invented by French engineer Constant Martin in 1947 in Versailles. The instrument consists of a keyboard and a separate amplifier and speaker ...

on ''The Flower and the Young Man'' *

– lead vocals, backing vocals, bass guitar, acoustic guitar * Richard Hudson – backing vocals, drums,

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form ...

tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

s ;Additional personnel *

Trevor Lucas Trevor George Lucas (25 December 1943 – 4 February 1989) was an Australian folk singer, a member of Fairport Convention and one of the founders of Fotheringay. He mainly worked as a singer-songwriter and guitarist but also produced many album ...

, Anne Collins – backing vocals on "Benedictus" *

Robert Kirby Robert Kirby (16 April 1948 – 3 October 2009) was a British-born arranger of string sections for rock and folk music. He was best known for his work on the Nick Drake albums, ''Five Leaves Left'' and '' Bryter Layter'', but also worked ...

- arranger ("Heavy Disguise") *

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 ...

- arranger ("Ah Me, Ah My") 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 Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 191617 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. Heath a ...

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 *

Tom Allom Thomas James Allom is an English record producer and sound engineer. His best-known work was in the 1970s and 1980s, working with artists such as Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Krokus, Loverboy, Def Leppard, Kix and Rough Cutt. Allom is a memb ...

– engineer at Morgan Studios *Martin Levan – assistant engineer *Frank Owen – engineer at Island Studios *

John Mackswith John Anthony Mackswith (born 1948, Islington, London) is an English sound engineer. Since the late 1960s, he has engineered the recordings of an array of notable performers at Landsdowne Studios & Utopia Studios in London and at various studios ...

– engineer at Landsdowne Studios *

– producer, "Benedictus" *

Gus Dudgeon Angus Boyd "Gus" Dudgeon (30 September 1942 – 21 July 2002) was an English record producer, who oversaw many of Elton John's most acclaimed recordings, including his commercial breakthrough, " Your Song". Their collaboration led to seven US N ...

– original producer, "Ah Me, Ah My"

Charts

Release history

References

''Grave New World'' on Strawbsweb30th anniversary article on Strawbsweb
*Sleeve notes CD 540,934-2 ''Grave New World''

Notes

{{Authority control Strawbs albums 1972 albums Albums arranged by Robert Kirby Albums arranged by Tony Visconti A&M Records albums fi:Grave New World