From The Witchwood - STRAWBS****

Glimpse Of Heaven/Witchwood/Thirty Days/Flight/The Hangman & The Papist/Sheep/Cannon Dale/The Shepherd's Song/In Amongst The Roses/I'll Carry On Beside You

From The Witchwood was the sole Strawbs studio album to feature keyboards wizard Rick Wakeman before he jumped ship to join the more prestigious and musically compatible group Yes. (UK:39)

“The sole studio album featuring Rick Wakeman it enjoys a wide range of moods, from the bleak and oppressive subject matter of religious persecution in The Hangman & The Papist to the hopeful and uplifting final song I'll Carry On Beside You. Although Wakeman gets a few opportunities to break loose on the keyboards, he's here mainly for support and texture rather than as a soloist, so it's no surprise that he'd jump ship for Yes. The material here is sufficiently engaging and wellperformed by the other Strawbs to be of interest to progressive folk fans.”

“Easily the best Strawbs LP, From The Witchwood is one of the greatest English folk-rock albums every recorded. It's full of amazingly well written and played gems helped along by the brilliance of Rick Wakeman's keyboards.”

“After a strong live album the band went into the recording studio and made their masterpiece. It is interesting to note that all Hudson & Ford’s contributions are very strong and fit very well with Dave Cousins well crafted tunes.”

“This was the final Strawbs album before they turned towards straightforward progressive rock. Although this is first-and-foremost a folk-rock record, there's just enough instrumental flair and compositional variety here to keep a proghead interested throughout. Wakeman is fantastic when he is allowed to shine, but his role is extremely supplementary throughout much of the album.”

“This was the first Strawbs album to feature the Mellotron and synthesizers. It's starting to show the band was looking to move in to a prog-rock direction, but most of the time remaining a folk-rock band.”

“A wonderful, not to say unique, blend of acoustic and light electric folk rock, yet quite different from its contemporaries. The lyrics of Dave Cousins are pure poetry, and the modest orchestrations, together with a church like vocal harmonies, make this album a true glimpse of heaven.”

“This album is a fine mix of English folk-rock containing many religious overtones. Rick Wakeman plays keys and, of course, his playing is awesome.”