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Track by Track Review
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Never Take Sweets from a Stranger I love the fast paced prog riff that opens this cut. It's just so classic in texture. The number works to more of a folk song. The vocals make me think of Bob Dylan. |
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Mellow Moon This ballad has some Island elements to it. It's a bit like Jimmy Buffett does folk prog. |
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The Smile You Left Behind Another balladic tune, this is pretty. It's not the proggiest thing here, but is very effective. In fact, it's one of my favorites of the disc. |
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Calling out My Name More energized and proggy, this still has plenty of folk, and some island sound, built into it. The backing vocals on this work really well, but the whole tune is particularly effective. It's another highlight of the disc. It really feels like a Strawbs song. |
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Mother Luck Crunchy electric guitar opens this with a killer almost metal almost Jethro Tull sound. The number is a hard rocker that works well. This is a big change, and a cool tune. I love the guitar solo on it. |
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Wish You Were Here There is a real playful kind of country folk vibe here. This is definitely not the proggiest thing here, but it does have a definite Strawbs sound. |
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Skip to My Lou
I dig the powered up folk prog vibe on this thing. It's a fun tune. It has some nice guitar work, too. |
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Lonely Days Lonely Nights I really love this smoking hot bonus track. It has some hard rocking sound at the heart of the main song structure. Yet, it wanders out into a rather jazzy, open, mellower movement mid-track. It works through a number of cool changes. It has some great jamming. |
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Bringing in the Harvest More of a pure folky ballad, this is another that definitely feels like The Strawbs. |
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Hellfire Blues
A hard rocking jam, this is (as you would guess) packed with plenty of blues. It's a killer tune that's very effective. I love the piano solo on this, and the meaty riff driving it is classic. There is some killer guitar soloing built into the number, too. |
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Bonus Tracks: |
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Never Take Sweets from a Stranger (live)
Stripped back to a pure folk rock song, the prog angles are lost here. This is a solid tune, though, in either arrangement. |
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Skip to My Lou (live)
Now, this one is proggier than the studio version. It's a real powerhouse in this live performance. I definitely prefer this to the original. I love the killer slide guitar jamming on the tune. The vocals get very impassioned as the track works toward the close. |
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Hellfire Blues (live) While the blues fire of the number remains, they do this more acoustically driven. It's no less a powerhouse, though. This thing is purely incendiary. There is some awesome violin and guitar jamming on the number. I don't know that I can decide whether I prefer this or the studio take. Both are so darned good. The two together are worth the price of admission here without considering any of the rest of the music.
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