Bursting at the Seams [Extra tracks, Import, Original recording remastered]

Strawbs | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 13, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Import, Original recording remastered
• Label: Universal I.S.
• ASIN: B00000AOTL
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #35,878 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #89 in Music > Folk > British & Celtic Folk > British Folk

Editorial Reviews

Digitally remastered 1998 reissue on A&M, and the CD debut of their 1973 album for the label. Features the original cover art & all of the original cuts, plus three bonus tracks: 'Will You Go', 'Backside' and 'Lay Down' (Single Version). 13 tracks total.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The breakthrough album for the old/new Strawbs lineup, February 3, 2001

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Bursting at the Seams (Audio CD)

It is ironic that "Bursting at the Seams" was the break through album for the Strawbs because it marked the last major transformation of the group as Lambert replaced Hudson & Ford as the secondary creative force behind David Cousins. Hudson & Ford provides the diverse offers of the airy "Lady Fuschia" and the pub favorite "Part Of The Union," while Lambert's first offering with the group, "The Winter and the Summer" is his best for my money. Hudson & Ford also team up with Cousins on the Pavan half of "Tears and Pavan," which is a personal favorite (I used it as music for scene changes in a one-act production of Christopher Fry's "The Lady's Not For Burning"). "Down By The Sea" is not only one of the first big hits for the group, but perhaps their biggest as well. One of the DJs in Albuquerque gave the song some serious airplay and as a result the group was able to do a concert in that particular neck of the woods. "Flying," "Stormy Down" and "Lay Down" are the other major Cousins efforts on the album, featuring his diverse vocal stylings, which always tended to remind me of Cat Stevens for some reason, but admittedly not everyone hears the similarities. One interesting retrospective quirk to note: when the Strawbs performed in concert their encore usually consisted of doing "The River" to set up the pounding notes of "Down By The Sea." On the album the songs appear in the reverse order, so just program your CD player accordingly. The bonus tracks are okay, although they do take away from the children singing the last track, "Thank You," one of the more interesting ways to end an album since "Abbey Road."

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Uniquely beautiful, March 19, 2005

By 

David Worthington (Oklahoma City, OK USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bursting at the Seams (Audio CD)

For more than thirty years, I have comtemplated the unusual balance and beauty of this record. No particular concept, but taken as a whole it is the ultimate concept. A combination of folk and so-called progressive rock like all Strawbs records, but somehow the inspiration never flags from start to finish. The combination of David Cousins' poetry with his own voice is always mesmerizing; something seems to have happened with this work which seems rare even by those standards. I could ultimately only describe this record as inspired and uniquely beautiful. My subjective idea of a perfect record.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The folk side of the Strawbs began to diminish as they began to become more of a Prog Rock band, December 29, 2006

By 

Rykre "The Rogue Scholar" (of the vast Western Dystopian Wasteland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bursting at the Seams (Audio CD)

Every single track on the album (well...except for "Thank You", the last track), should have been released as a pop single. Not to say that it as pop music, but because their sound offered some additional diversity to the already variable sound of pop radio. These songs could easily be played beside the songs of Cat Stevens, Elton John, Paul McCartney and Wings, Carpenters, Three Dog Night, The Guess Who, Abba, Harry Nilsson, and the such. Even Cheech and Chong had charted singles in the diversity of Top 40 Pop Radio. So, why not the Strawbs?

"Flying" and "Lady Fuschia" complement each other nicely as the two opening tracks, and "Down By the Sea" and "Tears and Pavan" made for some great dark somber progressive folk rock. "Lay Down" seems to be probably the most radio friendly, but I love the humorous creative writing of "Part of the Union". You don't really know if you're listening to the words of a proud union-protected employee, or you're hearing it in a way that they are making a mockery of how annoying the union truly is to a company that just wants to see everyone get their work done. The union usually serves as a "beacon of restraint" that hinders the work environment and protects an employer's most "proudly useless" people. At least, that's how I see it in the Post Office.

The bonus tracks on this CD are some of the Strawbs best songs. "Will You Go" is a fabulous folk song, and "Backside (Ciggy Barlust and the Whales of Venus)" which sounds like a re-invention of David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars." Anyway, the are great bonus tracks. The single version of "Lay Down" wasn't really necessary.

After "Bursting at the Seams", the Strawbs seem to start of an endless cycle of constantly changing personnel. It almost seemed like a whole new band when "Hero and Heroine" and "Ghosts" came out. I still loved the sound of the Strawbs, but they were beginning to lose their folkie traditions.

After their "Nomadness" album, the Strawbs continued to have band member changes and they drifted further away from both of their Folk and their Progressive influences and started to sound more like a typical pop music group that was already the sound that was saturating the pop music charts. It was all so easily dismissible since the Strawbs were so strong during their A&M days. Only true Strawbs loyalists continued to buy the Strawbs albums (I'm guilty of this too, nowadays) even after A&M gave up on them. Their immediate follow-up albums (from the Oyster label) were "Deep Cuts" and "Burning for You". There are a few good tunes, but these albums are easily and regrettably forgettable.

The album afterwards, called "Deadlines" ended strong. Their songs "Deadly Nightshade" and "Words of Wisdom" are two of Dave Cousins best songs ever.

Strawbs continued to perform and release albums in later years. Dave Cousins still likes to find old band members who probably have nothing better to do, and they've done some shows and released some albums. In 1988, their album "Don't Say Goodbye" and 1991's "Ringing Down the Years" are both pretty good. I think these two albums are better than their albums from the late seventies after "Nomadness".

But, alas, they were running out of creative ideas yet again, and started to lose their appeal once again. What's frustrating about the Strawbs is that Dave Cousins likes to keep re-recording earlier songs, like he thinks he's improving on them. I wish he wouldn't do this. In 2002, Dave Cousins got together with Rick Wakeman and recorded another album together. Rick Wakeman left the Strawbs back in 1971 to join Yes and to do solo projects. And even on this Cousins and Wakeman album, Cousins still did some re-recordings that Rick Wakeman had nothing to do with back in their heyday.

Dave Cousins seems to be the only member of the Strawbs that was on every Strawbs album. All the other members just came and went over the years. But, I'm sure that every Strawbs fan will agree that the Strawbs best albums were the albums of the A&M years (1969-1975). If you can find it, look for their double CD called "Halcyon Days" (the US version). It is the very best of the Strawbs put together all in one great double CD package. In fact, it was done so well that it is very obvious that A&M have no intentions of releasing their albums separately. You'd have to buy their expensive imports as I have.

I hope someday they will release the Hudson-Ford albums on CD. These two guys contributed to what made the folk side of the Strawbs so strong back in their earlier days.

Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, the Strawbs, Yes, Pink Floyd, Triumvirat, King Crimson, The Moody Blues, Rick Wakeman, and Monty Python's Flying Circus. These were the strongest influences in my life as a kid. The Strawbs are still performing shows throughout England. They have a following just like the Grateful Dead had here in America. I'd like to see them come do a show here in California. Perhaps they could do a double billing with maybe Blackmore's Night. That would be a great show where they would actually compliment each other being seen together. What do you think? Strawbs fan's should check out Blackmore's Night.