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| The Strawbs - Live In Tokyo ’75 and Grave New World The Movie |
 Released: 2003 Label: Bayside Entertainment Distribution / Witchwood Records Cat. No.: 9905 / WMDVD 2009 Total Time: 77:47 | |
Reviewed by: Duncan N Glenday, November 2004 If you grew up listening to The Strawbs, you would know. You would remember the delicate beauty of their songs, the timeless relevance of the prose, and the deep sincerity of the singing and the playing that brought the songs to life. You would identify immediately with the fascinating three-way junction between pop, progressive rock and folk, and you would have this DVD in your collection. Originally planned as two separate DVDs the two videos – Live In Tokyo ’75 and Grave New World The Movie - were issued instead as a single DVD. In 1975, The Strawbs played a televised gig in Tokyo, which became the Live In Tokyo ’75 video. The show was the first ever to be broadcast simultaneously across all of Japan's islands, and was played by the Hero And Heroine and Ghosts lineup of Cousins, Lambert (who puts in a great performance in the latter part of the show), Hawken, Cronk and Coombes. Being an early '70s live show the sound quality and mix are mediocre. Next up on the DVD is a step backward in time to one of the first full-length rock videos made, the 1972 film of Strawbs' epic album Grave New World. It was originally intended for play in cinema theaters and this time the lineup was Cousins, Hooper, Ford, Hudson and Weaver. It was a studio recording and consequently has none of the live concert atmosphere of the Tokyo film, but the quality of the video and the music is vastly superior - so you’re getting the best of both worlds on this DVD. It is on the Grave New World section that the poetic nature of The Strawbs’ music is most evident. There are hair raising scenes of riots, wars and famine in the title track, which was originally written about "The Troubles" in Ireland, but which the band often plays today as a tribute to the events of 9/11. There are go-go dancers and swirling psychedelia that will either trigger nostalgia or make you cringe, and there are close-ups of the band playing each song. Grave New World remains one of the finest albums ever released in prog's heyday of the 1970s, and this section of the DVD is a must-have for serious students of that movement. Extra features include several bonus tracks - "The New Era" and "’Til The Sun Comes Shining Through" recorded in 1970 in which a young Rick Wakeman makes his television debut; and "The Young Pretender" from the Wakeman and Cousins Hummingbird album filmed in Rick's studio in Wembley 32 years later. There’s also a news interview from 1974 with Dave Cousins talking about the single "Grace Darling." The liner notes are surprisingly spartan, and the cover art represents a mix of the two videos. The DVD has been released in both PAL and NTSC formats, coded for "Region Zero" and thus playable throughout the world. If you didn’t grow up listening to The Strawbs, you wouldn’t know - so take it from one who learned those songs on the day they were released: Once you start playing this DVD, you can’t stop. Rating 4.5 / 5 More about Live In Tokyo ’75 and Grave New World The Movie: Track Listing: Live In Tokyo ’75: Lemon Pie / Remembering/You And I (When We Were Young) / New World / Impressions Of Southall From The Train/The Life Auction / Syn Drum solo / Hero And heroine / Just Love / Down By The Sea Musicians: Contact: Website: www.strawbpage.ndirect.co.uk/ Discography
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