Os Favoritos dos Sousa: Strawbs

Uma das minhas bandas prediletas de rock progressivo sempre foi o Strawbs, especialmente o Strawbs dos primeiros anos. Até hoje eu me lembro do impacto que tive ao escutar um LP que caiu por acaso nas minhas mãos: ” Just a Collection of Antiques and Curios“. A discografia do Strawbs no Brasil sempre foi e é muito escassa. Por isto resolvi disponibilizar alguma coisa desta banda aqui no blog.

Strawbs (ou The Strawbs) é uma banda de rock inglesa, fundada em 1964. Embora  a banda tenha começado como um grupo de  bluegrass,eles fizeram uma caminhada em direção a outros estilos, como folk rock, glam rock e o rock progressivo. São mais conhecidos, fora do Brasil, pelo seu hit “Part of the Union”, que atingiu o número dois das paradas inglesas em1973, e pela turnê que fizeram com o Supertramp para o lançamento de Crime of the Century , quando aproveitaram para lançar seu disco de maior sucesso comercial no mundo, Brasil inclusive, Hero and Heroine.

Membros atuais

• Dave Cousins – guitar, dulcimer, banjo, vocals (Early 1964-June 1980, July 1983-present)
• Dave Lambert – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, vocals (August 1972-November 1978, April 1999-present)
• Chas Cronk – bass guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals (June 1973-July 1980, March 2004-present)
• Tony Fernandez – drums (July 1977-July 1980; October 2010-present)
• John Young – keyboards (October 2010-present)

Membros anteriores

• Tony Hooper – guitar, vocals (Early 1964-August 1972, July 1983-August 1993)
• Arthur Phillips – mandolin, vocals (Early 1964)
• “Talking” John Berry – double bass, vocals (Early 1964; deceased)
• Ron Chesterman – double bass (Early 1964-February 1970; died 2007)
• Sandy Denny – vocals, guitar (Early 1968; died 1978)
• Sonja Kristina – vocals (Early 1968)
• Claire Deniz – cello (September 1969-December 1969)
• Lindsay Cooper – cello, double bass (January 1970-April 1970)
• Rick Wakeman – keyboards, clavinet (March 1970-July 1971)
• Richard Hudson – drums, vocals, sitar (May 1970-May 1973, July 1983-June 2001, June 2004-July 2004)
• John Ford – bass guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals (May 1970-May 1973, July 1983-May 1985, April 1999-June 2001, June 2004-July 2004)
• Blue Weaver – keyboards, accordion (August 1971-May 1973, July 1983-October 1984, September 1993-June 2001, June 2004-July 2004)
• Rod Coombes – drums, acoustic guitar, vocals (June 1973-June 1977, March 2004-October 2010)
• John Hawken – keyboards (June 1973-May 1975, March 2004-June 2008)
• Andy Richards – keyboards (December 1977-July 1980)
• Brian Willoughby – acoustic guitar, electric guitar (December 1978-July 1980, July 1983-August 2004)
• Roy Hill – guitar, vocals (June 1980-July 1980)
• John Knightsbridge – guitar (June 1980-July 1980)
• Bimbo Acock – saxophone (June 1980-July 1980)
• Chris Parren – keyboards (November 1984-Late 1992)
• Rod Demick – bass, vocals (June 1985-August 1998)
• Don Airey – keyboards (January 1993-August 1993)
• Oliver Wakeman – keyboards (January 2009-October 2010)

Supporting musicians

• John Mealing – keyboards (June 1975-November 1977)
• Robert Kirby – keyboards, acoustic guitar, string arrangements (October 1975-November 1977; died 2009)
• Jo Partridge – guitar (December 1977-November 1978)
• Miller Anderson – guitar (December 1977-November 1978)
• Adam Wakeman – keyboards (2002)

Studio albums

Year	Album details	Peak chart position						Notes
		UK [1]	US [2]	CH [3]	NOR [4]	NL [5]	SWE [6]
1969	Strawbs	–	–	–	–	–	–
1970	Dragonfly	–	–	–	–	–	–
1971	From the Witchwood	39	–	–	–	–	–
1972	Grave New World	11	191	–	–	–	–
1973	Bursting at the Seams	2	121	–	–	–	–
	All Our Own Work	–	–	–	–	–	–	as “Sandy Denny and the Strawbs”, recorded in Denmark, 1967
1974	Hero and Heroine	35	94	–	20	–	–
1975	Ghosts	–	47	–	–	–	–
1975	Nomadness	–	147	–	–	–	–
1976	Deep Cuts	–	144	–	–	–	–
1977	Burning for You	–	175	–	–	–	–
	Deadlines	–	–	–	–	–	–
1987	Don’t Say Goodbye	–	–	–	–	–	–
1991	Ringing Down the Years	–	–	–	–	–	–
1995	Heartbreak Hill	–	–	–	–	–	–	Recorded in 1978
2001	Baroque and Roll	–	–	–	–	–	–	Acoustic Strawbs
	Strawberry Sampler Number 1	–	–	–	–	–	–	Released privately in 1969
2003	Blue Angel	–	–	–	–	–	–	Includes re-recorded songs from Two Weeks Last Summer and Bursting at the Seams
2004	Déjà Fou	–	–	–	–	–	–
2008	The Broken Hearted Bride	–	–	–	–	–	–
2009	Dancing to the Devil’s Beat	–	–	–	–	–	–

Live albums

Year	Album details	Peak chart position						Notes
		UK [1]	US [2]	CH [3]	NOR [4]	NL [5]	SWE [6]
1970	Just a Collection of Antiques and Curios	27	–	–	–	–	–
1993	Greatest Hits Live	–	–	–	–	–	–	Recorded 1990 for a Central TV “Bedrock” show
1995	Strawbs in Concert	–	–	–	–	–	–	Tracks from the BBC “In Concert” shows from 1973 and 1974
1999	Concert Classics	–	–	–	–	–	–	BBC “Sight and Sound” performance from 1977
2000	The Complete Strawbs	–	–	–	–	–	–	30th anniversary concert at Chiswick House
2005	Full Bloom	–	–	–	–	–	–	Acoustic Strawbs
	Live at Nearfest	–	–	–	–	–	–
	Painted Sky	–	–	–	–	–	–	Acoustic Strawbs
2006	Recollection	–	–	–	–	–	–
2007	Strawbs NY ’75	–	–	–	–	–	–
2008	Lay Down with the Strawbs	–	–	–	–	–	–	Double CD recorded at Robin 2, Bilston 5 March 2006

Compilation albums

Year	Album details	Peak chart position						Notes
		UK [1]	US [2]	CH [3]	NOR [4]	NL [5]	SWE [6]
1974	Strawbs by Choice	–	–	–	–	–	–
	Early Strawbs	–	–	–	–	–	–	Canadian-only compilation of Strawbs and Dragonfly[7]
1977	Classic Strawbs	–	–	–	–	–	–	Canadian-only compilation of every A&M LP except Strawbs[8]
1978	The Best of Strawbs	–	–	–	–	–	–
1990	Preserves Uncanned	–	–	–	–	–	–	1960s high-quality demo recordings
1991	Sandy Denny and the Strawbs	–	–	–	–	–	–	a partial repackaging of All Our Own Work
1992	A Choice Selection of Strawbs	–	–	–	–	–	–
1997	Halcyon Days	–	–	–	–	–	–
2002	The Collection	–	–	–	–	–	–
	Tears and Pavan	–	–	–	–	–	–
2003	20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best of Strawbs	–	–	–	–	–	–
2006	A Taste of Strawbs	–	–	–	–	–	–	A box-set of 4 CD’s featuring recordings from 1967 to 2006

(Wikipedia)