Iconic STRAWBS Revisit the USA

Strawbs have sold more records in the USA and Canada than anywhere.  In the USA the band had seven consecutive albums in the Billboard Top 200.  Their album, Hero & Heroine, was listed last year by Rolling Stone magazine as “one of the 50 greatest prog rock albums of all time". 

And, founding member Dave Cousins has been described by All Music Guide as: “the most talented Dylan influenced songwriter to come out of England”. He previously released, in December of 2014,  his long awaited, and critically acclaimed, autobiography  Exorcising Ghosts: Strawbs and Other Lives (out via Omnibus Pr & Schirmer Trade Books).   It was listed by influential critic Richie Unterberger in his “Top 10 of 2014 rock books”.

Strawbs are often mentioned in the same breath as progressive rock bands like Yes, King Crimson, and The Moody Blues. It is well known that keyboardist Rick Wakeman left Strawbs for Yes. Rick was followed by Blue Weaver; who left Strawbs to join the Bee Gees, John Hawken; from the original
Renaissance, Don Airey; now with Deep Purple, Adam Wakeman, and Oliver Wakeman, who, like their dad, left Strawbs to join Yes!

The Strawbs emerged out of the British Folk Movement of the mid-1960s, starting their musical life as the Strawberry Hill Boys, playing bluegrass. They moved into the mainstream in 1967 by making the first Strawbs album, All

Rick Wakeman Releases "Starhip Trooper" CD

On April 15th Purple Pyramid records via Cleopatra Records released an out of this world collection of extraordinary performances by legendary YES keyboardist Rick Wakeman!  For more than four decades Rick Wakeman has established himself as a visionary showman without peer, the creator of some of the most extravagant performances, breathtaking soloing and imaginative passages ever preserved on record, or executed on stage.

Aptly titled “Starship Trooper”, this amazing collection contains 2 previously unreleased tracks including a powerful rendition of Tool’s “Sober” plus several more brilliant cover songs of The Who, Pink Floyd, and The Doors including 5 never before heard versions! The compilation also includes performances by Gong’s Steve Hillage, Yes’s Billy Sherwood, Steve Howe and Tony Kaye, William Shatner, Colin Moulding, Jerry Goodman, Nik Turner, Carmine Appice and more!

“Over the last few years I have performed on many tracks as a ‘guest’ but never before has anybody put some of the best of those I played on into a compilation. It’s always challenging to be involved in tracks of other people’s music and other people’s arrangements as it often makes you think and play differently and certainly on many of these tracks I play in quite an unexpected way, but there again, much of my life has been pretty unexpected anyway!” Rick Wakeman said recently.