Just a Collection of Antiques & Curios [Import]

Strawbs | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 12, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Universal
• ASIN: B0000AFOHI
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,440,744 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Martin Luther King's Dream

2. The Antique Suite

3. Temperament of Mind

4. Fingertips

5. Song of a Sad Little Girl

6. Where Is the Dream of Your Youth

7. The Vision of the Lady of the Lake

8. We'll Meet Again Sometime

9. Forever

Editorial Reviews

Japanese limited edition remastered reissue of 1970 album, packaged in a miniature LP gatefold sleeve features 9 tracks including 3 bonus tracks, 'The Vision Of The Lady Of The Lake', 'We'll Meet Again Someday' & 'Forever'. A&M. 1993.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Blend Of Classical Influences & Folk, August 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Just a Collection of Antiques & Curios (Audio CD)

Dark, powerful, raw, majestic & medieval can all be used to sum up this performance. What really makes this cd interesting is the fact that The Strawbs recorded this live, yet they did not compromise their artistic integrity by abandoning the traditional instruments that The Strawbs have become so infamous for using in their studio recordings. "Antique Suite" is very ambitious. Here, we have Tony Hooper and Dave Cousins singing in harmony as well as trading off lead vocals. If you are a Rick Wakeman fan, he is in fine form here, most notably with "Temperament of a Mind." If you enjoy progressive rock and you have never heard of the Strawbs, you are missing out on one of the most non-commercial and artistic acts of our time. Also,please note that I am referring to the import from Japan that I purchased about nine years ago, so I do not have the bonus tracks that are included here, so I can't comment on them.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars LIVE FOLK/ROCK WITH CLASSICAL OVERTONES, March 12, 2001

By 

Scott T Mc Nally (ORLANDO, Fl USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Just a Collection of Antiques & Curios (Audio CD)

This recording is much more for the established fan rather than someone looking to initiate themselves. The Strawbs are best known for their fusion of progressive rock with folk and the mainstream pop stylings of the 70's. Here we see them at a point of transition, begining to move from their folksy roots gradually into a more 70's progressive sound. Rick Wakeman had been doing some session work with the Strawbs prior to this. This was his official entry as a full time member. His playing is in top form without being completely over the top, and is the centerpiece of more than one track here. This is also a primarily accoustic recording. If you like the Strawbs, this is a must if you wish to have a good scope of their evolution over the years. "Song Of a Sad Little Girl", "Where Is This Dream Of Your Youth?", and the live bonus track "The Vision Of The Lady Of The Lake" are absolutely stunning.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strawbs: A legend in the Progressive Folk Rock genre. And this is where they really took off, December 31, 2006

By 

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

This review is from: Just a Collection of Antiques & Curios (Audio CD)

I don't understand why A&M didn't make an effort to put Strawbs songs on pop radio. American Top 40 radio back in the early 1970's had such wonderful diversity that nothing would seem obscure or out of place on the charts. Practically every song their next few albums could have been a Top 40 hit. This album of "Just a Collection of Antiques and Curios" is probably the world's first introduction to the keyboard genius of Rick Wakeman. His incredible extension to the earlier Strawbs classic "Where Is This Dream of Your Youth?" performed live at The Queen Elizabeth Hall is just mind-blowing. And not since the days of Franz Liszt did we ever get to hear a fabulous aggressive piano solo performed live such as we have here with Rick Wakeman's "Temperament of Mind".

What a performance this is. This is where the Strawbs first obtained world recognition. And to categorize this album is practically undefinable. I mean, what do you call it? Folk, Folk Rock, Progressive Rock, Progressive Folk Rock with a hint of Classical? Progressive Folk Rock with a hint of Classical....performed live? This album has way too many contradictive ventures that it is practically amazing that it all works together anyway.

This is one of the two Strawbs albums that Rick Wakeman was best known for while being with the Strawbs. The Strawbs always had great keyboardists (in fact, Dave Cousins always had to search for a keyboardist that could match the talent and appeal of Rick Wakeman), which is what truly offered the Progressive edge to a group whose humble beginnings were that of a traditional folk band.

Back when I was just a few years into buying CD's, even in 1988, not too many obscure bands were yet released on CD. Only currently popular stuff. When I browsed a small CD store in the college town of Davis, California, I found this guy working out of nothing more that a hole in the wall, who was actually selling some expensive, hard to find, German and Japanese import CD's. A&M in Japan was selling CD's through an affiliate known as Canyon Records. If it came from Canyon Records in Japan then they costed almost $[...] for each CD. I bought five very expensive import CD's from Canyon Records in Japan. Can you believe that in one day, I bought Rick Wakeman's "Criminal Record", "Lisztomania" and "Rhapsodies", and then also The Strawbs "From the Witchwood" and this album, "Just a Collection of Antiques and Curios."

I threw caution to the wind and practically spent my whole paycheck buying these few Japanese imports. Tower Records never had these CD's. I guess they wouldn't dare want to take a chance hoping to sell such obscure titles at such an expensive import price.

Later, this CD store got a Canadian import of "Hero and Heroine", but it seemed like forever before "Ghosts" and "Bursting at the Seams" would ever come out on CD. I think Canyon Records was very short lived and never got around to releasing these such albums.

But, that day in 1988 was my most exciting day in the purchasing of CD's. Price wasn't a concern at the time. I had my hands of the first two known Strawbs albums to be released on compact disc. Sure, it doesn't seem like much of a big deal now (with the ability to get practically anything you want through the Internet), but back before the Internet days, a great song or an album on a CD was like a precious piece of jewelry. It was "that" special.

To this day, I still never tire from playing a Strawbs CD from the A&M days. In fact, Strawbs is great music when you're alone on a rainy day. Strawbs, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, The Moody Blues, Rick Wakeman, King Crimson, Triumvirat, Eloy, Nektar, Pink Floyd, and Yes are all still my favorite Progressive Rock groups. Yes, I'm still an old Prog Rock Fossil. I understand that being a Prog Rock fossil isn't very common in California, but this music still reminds me that I'm still a Detroiter in my heart, and in Detroit, we never forget the legends of Progressive Rock and that of the Immortal Rock Gods that they were.