''Ringing Down the Years'' is the fourteenth studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

band Strawbs. The album was released initially only in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Because of the record company's request that a Canadian song be included on the album (in order to facilitate Canadian airplay), the track "Might as Well Be on Mars" written by members of the Pukka Orchestra was included. The title track was written by leader

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 ...

about his hearing of the death of former member

Sandy Denny Alexandra Elene MacLean Denny (6 January 1947 – 21 April 1978) was an English singer who was lead singer of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. She has been described as "the pre-eminent British folk rock singer". After briefly w ...

Track listing

#"Might as Well Be on Mars" (Graeme Williamson, Neil Chapman) – 4:11 #"The King" (

) – 3:01 #"Forever Ocean Blue" (Cousins) – 3:58 #"

Grace Darling Grace Horsley Darling (24 November 1815 – 20 October 1842) was an English lighthouse keeper's daughter. Her participation in the rescue of survivors from the shipwrecked ''Forfarshire'' in 1838 brought her national fame. The paddlesteamer ...

" (Cousins) – 6:32 #"Afraid to Let You Go" ( Rod Demick, Richard Hudson,

Brian Willoughby Brian Willoughby (born 20 September 1949) is a British guitarist. He has worked with many musicians, notably Dave Cousins and The Strawbs, Mary Hopkin, as well as releasing solo work. Discography (UK releases unless stated otherwise) Albums ...

) – 3:55 #"Tell Me What You See in Me" (Cousins) – 6:27 #"Ringing Down the Years" (Cousins) – 6:57 #"Stone Cold is the Woman's Heart" (Cousins) – 4:21 #"Taking a Chance" (Demick, Hudson, Willoughby) – 3:57

Personnel

– lead vocals,

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

, acoustic guitar * Tony Hooper – backing vocals, acoustic guitar * Richard Hudson – lead vocals (track 9), backing vocals, drums, acoustic guitar *

–

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

*Chris Parren – keyboards * Rod Demick – lead vocals (track 5), backing vocals,

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

* Cathy Lesurf - vocals on "The King"

Recording

Recorded at Parkwood Studios, Chalfont St. Giles, England, spring 1990 *Stuart Kerrison, Strawbs – producers *Stuart Kerrison – engineer

Release history

References

''Ringing Down the Years'' on Strawbsweb
*Sleeve notes on CD RGF/WC DCD039 ''Don't Say Goodbye''/''Ringing Down the Years'' 2-CD set Strawbs albums 1991 albums {{progressive-rock-album-stub