By MIKE CHAIKEN
EDITIONS EDITOR
As Dave Cousins, the erstwhile leader of Brit band Strawbs, explained it, nothing his group has ever done has been planned.
So the fact that Rolling Stone magazine dubbed the group’s 1974 album “Hero and Heroine” as one of the 50 best prog albums of all-time was nothing the band had anticipated, said Cousins, who was calling from London.
Cousins explained the album—with its suites, movements, and symphonic touches— was never intended by the band as a way to latch on to the prog rock movement of the 1970s—which was marked by the ascendance of King Crimson, Genesis, and the Moody Blues.
The album, instead, said Cousins, was the result of a series of unfortunate events for the band… and himself.
Strawbs play the Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den on May 12.
Strawbs had just had the most successful album of its career—1973’s “Bursting at the Seams,” said Cousins.
As luck would have it, the key word for the hit album was “Bursting.” Following the album, the group split into two factions. Members Richard Hudson and John Ford left for a more pop sound, forming Hudson-Ford, said Cousins. Cousins wanted to write longer songs and took Strawbs toward that direction.
“And never the twain shall meet,” said Cousins of the split.
Although “Bursting at the Seams” was a hit for the band, said Cousins, “I was going bad period.”
Cousins said he split with his first wife for an 18-year-old woman. And once he split with his wife, the 18-year-old subsequently left him as well.
And the dramatic tone of the songwriting on “Hero and Heroine” was born by that situation, Cousins said. The album is about a young man being destroyed by, for one, the narcotic heroin and, secondly, the female heroine of the tale. (The song “Shine on Silver Sun,” for instance, was written about the 18-year-old, said Cousins)
Although prog ruled at the time, Cousins said the album wasn’t about following a trend. It was about addressing a “serious matter of the heart” by putting it to music.
The musical roots of the title track “Heroin and Heroine” reflected Cousins’ own folks roots. But, when recorded, it became “jagged and fragmented… which was my mind at the time.”
Looking back on the album, Cousins does see some things he would have liked to have done better.
“I felt the first side wasn’t as strong as the second side,” said Counsins. “The second side was the best thing we ever did in our lives.”
And the album, as a concept, didn’t really have an ending, said Cousins.
When audiences turn out at the Wolf Den, they will hear Strawbs (which is now Cousins, guitarist/singer Dave Lambert, bassist Chas Cronk, drummer Tony Fernandez and new member—keyboardist Dave Bainbridge) play “Heroin and Heroine” from beginning to end. The band also has written new interludes to bridge the tracks to bolster the concept, said Cousins.
Although the album is 40 years old, Cousins said the band has rarely played it from beginning to end. But he said the group, which is the strongest as it has ever been, felt it was the right time to revisit it now that it is coming back to America.
Strawbs performs at the Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den on Thursday, May 12 at 8 p.m. Shows at the Wolf Den are free but seating is first-come first-serve. All shows are 21-plus. For more information, go to MoheganSun.com.
For more information about Strawbs, go to Strawbsweb.co.uk
Comments? Email mchaiken@BristolObserver.com.
Strawbs perform at the Mohegan Sun Wolf Den next Thursday.