STRAWBSWEB - Albums

DRAGONFLY, 1970

After the excesses of the first album, sheer economics forced the band to try a cheaper route. With newly recruited cellist Clare Deniz, they hopped across to Copenhagen (where they recorded with Sandy Denny) to record a much more acoustic folk-based album than the first. Even then, a sign of things to come, the album included a lengthy epic inspired by Arthurian legend - "The Vision Of The Lady Of The Lake" - which featured a contribution on keyboards from young sessions player Rick Wakeman.

The sessions for the album also produced a non-album single Forever, which was released, incongruously, just about the time that the next version of the band - with Wakeman, Hudson and Ford on board - was getting into gear.

The 2008 Universal re-issue of this contains four bonus tracks - see reviews page for more details.

Musicians

Dave Cousins (vcls, gtrs, pno, dulc, "Chinese Piano", perc)
Tony Hooper (vcls, ac/el gtrs, tamb, perc)
Ron Chesterman (dbl bs) Clare Deniz (cello)

With:
Tony Visconti (recorder)
Bjarne Rostvold (drms)
Rick Wakeman (pno)
Paul Brett (ld gtr)

Track listing

The Weary Song (Cousins)
Dragonfly (Cousins)
I Turned My Face Into The Wind (Cousins)
Josephine, For Better Or For Worse (Cousins)
Another Day (Cousins)
'Till The Sun Comes Shining Through (Cousins)
Young Again (Hooper)
The Vision Of The Lady Of The Lake (Cousins)
Close Your Eyes (Cousins/Hooper)

BONUS TRACKS - UNIVERSAL CD RELEASE, AUGUST 2008
We'll Meet Again Sometime(Cousins)
Recorded at Trident Studios, London in June 1969
Forever(Cousins/Hooper)
'A' side of the A&M single: AMS 791
Another Day(Cousins)
We'll Meet Again Sometime(Cousins)
Tracks 12 & 13 recorded for John Peel's 'TopGear'
BBC Radio One Show: 7th September 1969

Versions

Vinyl album: AMS 970 (A&M, Feb 1970) - DELETED. Produced in a simple white, slightly textured single sleeve, with an attractive painting of a dragonfly, with a single sheet insert with lyrics. The back cover photograph was taken by Philippa Clare (Tony's then girlfriend) whilst the band were down in the West Country (probably attending a festival in Cornwall. Issued with brown A&M label, but re-issued at later date with silver label.

Early Strawbs Vinyl album (Canada only): SP9014 (A&M, 1974) 2LP set re-issues Dragonfly and Strawbs. The two discs are arranged with a side of Strawbs on one side and a side of Dragonfly on the other so that you can stack the discs on a multi-changer record player, and play one of the albums in sequence, then turn them over and do the same thing with the other album.

CD: SRMC 0083 (Si-Wan, 1999). Packaging is got up to look like the album (4pp sleeve notes supplied by yours truly). Outer cover matches the vinyl. Black and white booklet includes both sides of the lyric insert lyrics and more unpublished photos from the Kew Gardens photo session used for the first album afghans, flowery shirts, and one of Ron Chesterman resplendent in naval uniform. The back page has a non-contemporary graphic - the circular photo from the back of the inner sleeve of Burning For You (1977 - come on guys!) featuring Cousins, Cronk, Coombes, Robert Kirby, John Mealing and last but not least a bearded Dave Lambert bearing a striking resemblance to "Beppe" from EastEnders! Again, the CD is got up to look like a mini vinyl album. Nice presentation.

CD: PL 503 (Progressive Line (bootleg)). Standard jewel case CD, with inner described below - NOT like the Si-Wan album facsimile styled release. The four photos from the Si-Wan release, all from the same period (probably the same photo shoot) as those mentioned above, are all reproduced, though not as full page shots (maybe their scanner was playing up!). The back of the booklet (as with Si-Wan) is a black and white version of the Burning For You circular montage.

CD: A&M 75302680. Long-awaited official 2008 re-issue on CD of this early Strawbs album with excellent sleeve notes by Mark Powell and 4 bonus tracks:

two versions (studio and live) of "We'll Meet Again Sometime" - the studio version previously released (by mistake) on the UK version of Halcyon Days - at the time this was thought to be a Witchwood outtake, but not so - a 1969 recording - the live version is an unreleased BBC recording from pretty much the same period;

"Forever" - the single, as previously released on the Antiquesre-issue; and

"Another Day" - alternate version, similar to the version released on Taste.

Sleeve Notes

Lyrics are included as a separate single page insert

Engineer Roger Quested
Production and engineering Tony Visconti
Recorded at Rosenberg Lydteknik, Copenhagen with additional work at Morgan Studios, London
Mixed at Trident Studios, London

Sleeve design
Design and illustration Roger Saunders
Printed and made by MacNeill Press Ltd

Other information
A & M Records Ltd Address 1-2 St George Street, London W1

Sleeve contains the following acknowledgement:

"Love and thanks to Tony Visconti for being of sound mind while producing, engineering, and adding percussive effects: to New Breed for Tony Visconti; to Ivar Rosenberg for electronics; to Torben for sunshine and magic moments; and to Roger Saunders for sleeve design and illustration."

Though not credited the back cover photograph was taken by Philippa Clare.

Charts

UK Chart: not placed
US Chart: not released