JUST A COLLECTION OF ANTIQUES AND CURIOS, 1970

Release date: 23 Oct 1970

After Dragonfly failed to achieve commercial success, Cousins and Hooper were examining their options, which didn't really include a double bass. Ron Chesterman decided to leave, and Lyndsay Cooper who had initiallly joined to replace Claire Deniz on cello, switched briefly to string bass. Cousins and Hooper decided to go for broke. Recruiting Rick Wakeman, who had played on "The Vision Of The Lady Of The Lake" and who had also played some BBC sessions with them (notably "The Battle"), they took him to Paris (he spent his honeymoon there!) to play at the Rock'n'Roll Circus. That line-up played a Granada TV show. Not long after their return, the final piece of the jigsaw - the rhythm section of the Velvet Opera, John Ford and Richard Hudson, replaced Lyndsay Cooper. The group was now an electric outfit.

After a brief tour with Roy Harper to work in the new numbers, they were scheduled to headline a showcase concert at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall in July 1970. They also succeeded in electrifying the audience and the music press and Wakeman was acclaimed as a keyboard genius, with a headline on the front page of Melody Maker "Tomorrow's Superstar". The live concert was recorded for this release, the band's first release in North America, despite misgivings by A&M US about starting in America with a live album. It was also released in many other territories, and marked the Strawbs' arrival as a global concern.

Musicians

Dave Cousins (vcls, ac/el gtrs, dulcimer)
Tony Hooper (vcls, ac gtrs, tamb)
Rick Wakeman (org, pno, harpsichord, celeste)
Richard Hudson (congas, perc, sitar, vcls)
John Ford (bs, vcls)

Track listing

Charts

UK Chart: 27
US Chart: not placed

previous album

choose another album

next album