 | | Reviews | | |  THE ACOUSTIC STRAWBS
Live at the Tivoli Theatre, Wimborne
6th February 2004
Bearing a rather valuable resemblance to erudite thespian Robert Hardy, Strawbs' mainmain Dave Cousins plumps himself down on his stool, glares out towards Wimborne's modest assembly of Strawbs devotees (folkies and progsters) and initiates proceedings with whispers of spooky woodland misadventure: "Out near Avebury (pause) there is a forest called Savernake (longer pause, tunes guitar etc) and if you walk (pause, tunes guitar a bit more etc) a few yards into the trees (theatre arm-rests are clutched as a hushed, nervous silence descends over The Tivoli) ... you may never come out again."
Yikes! While this is hardly music to the ears of the Wiltshire Tourist Board, the familiar cod-Elizabethan introductory guitar peals of Witchwood most definitely are. And the magic continues. The Acoustic Strawbs - Cousins, Brian Willoughby and Dave Lambert - have stripped away the mellotrons and more rockular aspects of their esteemed history (the set is largely drawn from the classic era of Witchwood, Hero And Heroine and Bursting At The Seams) to return the songs to a state of nascent nakedness. Lambert seems the more reluctant of the trio to forego the power of the amplifier (or the person most likely to compensate for its absence), assaulting his acoustic on Ghosts in a manner likely to make Pete Townsend say "Steady on!" and - on the proggier numbers (Autumn, for example) - scrunching up his face like discarded chip wrapping, beseeching his fingers to summon forth the latent power of electricity. Rock on, Dave.
Newies like Face Down in The Well interact well with ye olde vintages of Lay Down and Tears And Pavan while the delicate fragrances of In Amongst The Roses and Brian Willoughby's Alice's Song still blossom. It's a cruel world and folks seem to have forgotten about The Strawbs. Perhaps lapsed fans should get reacquainted. Especially as they've still got enough dignity not to play Part Of The Union.
Kevin Maidment - February 2004
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Folk & Acoustic
