Fulfillment! Singer/songwriter Dave Cousins finds a space somewhere between Bob Dylan and John Bunyan, Hudson and Ford come up with some superb hooks, and the electric sound is powerful and majestic.
The music is serious -- perhaps too much so -- bracing, and sincere, if a bit downbeat.
Reissued on CD in 1998 in remastered form, the band sounds really loud and close, so you can practically feel the room ambience of the studio.
Cousins' electric guitar in "The Flower and the Young Man" crunches right in your ear, and his acoustic fills the room in "On Growing Older," with new notes and two extra tracks.
Of the latter, "Here It Comes" (recorded before this album) is bouncy and pleasant enough, even if it doesn't fit the mood of most of the original album, and the previously unissued "I'm Going Home" is one of the best hard rock sides the group ever recorded -- a piece of '70s rock & roll in the manner of Badfinger's "Rock of Ages" and T.
Rex's "Get It On," which it resembles.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BenedictusDave Cousins | The Strawbs | Play | 04:25 | 10 MB | 30 MB |
| 2 | Hey, Little Man.... Thursday's ChildDave Cousins | The Strawbs | Play | 01:06 | 2 MB | 5 MB |
| 3 | Queen of DreamsDave Cousins | The Strawbs | Play | 05:31 | 12 MB | 35 MB |
| 4 | Heavy DisguiseJohn Ford | The Strawbs | Play | 02:53 | 6 MB | 19 MB |
| 5 | New WorldDave Cousins | The Strawbs | Play | 04:13 | 9 MB | 31 MB |
| 6 | Hey, Little Man.... Wednesday's ChildDave Cousins | The Strawbs | Play | 01:07 | 2 MB | 5 MB |
| 7 | The Flower and the Young ManDave Cousins | The Strawbs | Play | 04:18 | 9 MB | 27 MB |
| 8 | TomorrowDave Cousins, John Ford, Tony Hooper, Richard Hudson, Blue Weaver | The Strawbs | Play | 04:49 | 11 MB | 33 MB |
| 9 | On Growing OlderDave Cousins | The Strawbs | Play | 01:56 | 4 MB | 14 MB |
| 10 | Ah Me, Ah MyTony Hooper | The Strawbs | Play | 01:25 | 3 MB | 9 MB |
| 11 | The Journey's EndDave Cousins, Blue Weaver | The Strawbs | Play | 01:45 | 4 MB | 9 MB |
| 12 | Here It ComesDave Cousins | The Strawbs | Play | 02:43 | 6 MB | 17 MB |
| 13 | I'm Going HomeDave Cousins | The Strawbs | Play | 03:15 | 7 MB | 22 MB |
| 14 | Is It Today, Lord | Strawbs | Play | 03:07 | 7 MB | 20 MB |
| 42 mins | 98 MB | |||||
| 42 mins | 281 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom (Colonel) Allom | Creative Engineering, Engineer |
| 2 | Samuel Artis | Musician |
| 3 | Dickie Bell | Tapes |
| 4 | William Blake | Cover Art, Paintings |
| 5 | Anne Collins | Vocals |
| 6 | Dave Cousins | Compilation Producer, Composer, Dulcimer, Electric Dulcimer, Engineer, Guitar, Guitar (12 String Acoustic), Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Producer, Recorder, Vocals |
| 7 | Gus Dudgeon | Producer |
| 8 | Jean-Luke Epstein | Remastering Graphics |
| 9 | John Ford | Bass, Composer, Guitar (Acoustic), Producer, Vocals |
| 10 | Mike Gill | Compilation Producer |
| 11 | Tony Hooper | Autoharp, Composer, Guitar (Acoustic), Producer, Vocals |
| 12 | Richard Hudson | Composer, Cymbals, Drums, Percussion, Producer, Sitar, Tabla, Vocals |
| 13 | Dave Lambert | Guitar, Vocals |
| 14 | Martin Levan | Assistant Engineer |
| 15 | Trevor Lucas | Vocals |
| 16 | John Macksmith | Engineer |
| 17 | Frank Owen | Engineer |
| 18 | Paper Tiger | Booklet Design, Illustrations |
| 19 | The Strawbs | Primary Artist, Producer, Remixing |
| 20 | John Tobler | Liner Notes |
| 21 | Tony Visconti | Producer |
| 22 | Roger Wake | Digital Remastering |
| 23 | Blue Weaver | Clavioline, Composer, Harmonium, Keyboards, Mellotron, Organ, Piano, Producer |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |