Live at Nearfest [Import]

Strawbs | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 1, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Witchwood Records
• ASIN: B0009JDC2K
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #203,140 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Out In The Cold

2. Round & Round

3. Burning For Me

4. New World

5. Autumn

6. Heartbreaker

7. Barren Land

8. River

9. Down By The Sea

10. Hero & Heroine

11. Round & Round (Reprise)

12. Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great album by a wonderful band -- with 2 more songs than shown..., August 9, 2005

By 

R. Lindeboom "theboomer" (Paso Robles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Live at Nearfest (Audio CD)

Strawbs: Live at NEARfest 2004 actually has two more songs than shown in the list above. 'Lay Down' shows up in the #3 spot and down at #7 is 'Remembering/You & I When We Were Young.' This album has all the drama, intensity, majesty and heartache that have made Strawbs one of the great progressive rock bands that simply refuse to call it quits -- this, as their audience will not let them. ;o) This is the classic 'Hero & Heroine' line-up and they are firing into some of their great moments and songs like 'New World' arguably see their most intense, fiery and passionate incarnation. 'New World' reminds me of the drive and intensity of ''The Who's 'I Can See For Miles'-meets-New World'' -- it's played with a drive that is befitting David Cousins' intro in which he describes where he was and what he was doing when September 11th's tragedy broke across the world. When he gets to the intro line of 'There's blood in the dust where the city's heart beats...' it is nothing short of hair raising. Dave Lambert sets 'The Winter Long' (from the Autumn suite) ablaze and the ending is arguably more powerful than the one featured on 'Hero & Heroine.' (You almost need to lay back and have a cigarette or something after it ends -- it is simply scalding and the build to the conclusion is a wonderful musical ride.) John Hawken's keyboards are where they should be in the mix, front and center with the majesty and power you'd expect. Chas's bass thunders and even the fatness of 73's 'Hero & Heroine' mix (which I always felt was one of the best mixes from 1973) is surpassed here and Chas sounds as if a brontosaurus is walking around in your stereo. It's fat. ;o) Rod Coombes' drums stab, jab and drive the band in places but in the subtle passages, you are treated to Rod's incredible sense of cymbal combinations and fills that few drummers can match. Not too loud and not too laid back, but right where it should be in the mix. Many Strawbs fans are already over at the Yahoo Strawbs discussion group commenting that this is the best live Strawbs album ever. I'd agree. (For more on these comments and to find the Strawbs listserv, check at www.strawbsweb.co.uk for directions.) This is a superb live album and is one for the fans, pure and simple. Strawbs have always been, to me, the most dramatic rock band in the history of rock -- almost Shakespearean in their command of language and drama. In this album, they prove that they have lost none of that drama. If it were a double album, I would give it five stars.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Falling in love with Strawbs......again., October 29, 2005

By 

D. Jennings "greeneking" (upstate NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Live at Nearfest (Audio CD)

If you ever loved this band, "Live At Nearfest" will remind you why. If you've seen them live recently, you know that they have lost none of their power and youthful exuberance, and all of this comes through on the CD.

Read Ron Lindeboom's comments below, then go see the band again. And buy the CD. Support our artists.

Play forever, lads!

5.0 out of 5 stars Strawbs that stir the drink, November 30, 2010

By 

pk - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Live at Nearfest (Audio CD)

Let's face it, if you got this far, you are either a Strawbs aficionado or you have been terribly misguided and are irretrievably lost. Assuming the former, by my humble reckoning, this CD really could not be better; the original band (don't nitpick here) is intact, playing the songs one hopes for and with unexpected edge and swagger. The recording is quite good, much more so than some other live offerings both recent and past. Let the other self important, verbose, windbags wax philosophic on the relative merits of every bar and dB of this disc. For me, if you like the Strawbs, do yourself a favor and overnight one to yourself, you will be rewarded.