Talk:Strawbs/Archive 1

Additional info please
This article could do with a lot more info on the albums, musical direction, etc. Also the CD info needs to mention remastering, bonus tracks, etc. Lee M 02:52, 13 January 2006 (UTC)

Hudson-Ford/Monks
A very large section of the article seems to be about Hudson-Ford/Monks. Couldn't it be in its own rather than being in this one? Smeggysmeg 22:56, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

POV concerns

 * "...these do not adequately reflect the outstanding quality of musicianship and songwriting for which they are known by their loyal fan base."


 * Isn't that sentence a bit subjective and biased?

Ruthfulbarbarity 04:18, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

Yes, and the situation has not improved. For just one example - "This lineup produced what many feel to be the archetypal Strawbs album". I have added both {Refimprove} and {POV} tags - can someone with a knowledge of the subject matter, and Wiki editing skills, try to improve the material. Thank you,

Derek R Bullamore (talk) 17:31, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

Life on Mars
The annotation to a mention of "Lay Down", "recently spotted in one episode of the BBC’s Life On Mars", describes the reason I visited this article (that episode has just been shown on BBC4 and for the first time in some decades I remembered Dave Cousins). But in a couple of months time the reference will be an anachronism and the song is really only used as incidental music to give the end of the episode a jolly play-out. So I've removed that reference as unencyclopedic. Whoever put it in, thanks, and please restore it if you think I'm seriously wrong about this. --Tony Sidaway 23:03, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

Band Name
I have several albums by this band and the definite article is not used on any of the covers in the band's name. I am suggesting the band be referred to as Strawbs not The Strawbs. -- Mickraus 18:22, 13 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Agreed and am starting to change references that I come across. Regards, --Technopat 23:17, 13 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Excellent. Presumably the article will have to be renamed and the old name, The Strawbs, disambiguated to the renamed article? -- Mickraus 07:20, 14 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Agreed again, and I'm sure all this can be done by a bot, but in the meantime ..., regs. --Technopat 08:44, 14 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Just to explain the phenomenon of the The bit, given the antecedents of many other groups (The Beatles. etc.) it was often easier for the music press and punters to add on the definite article to all band names and many other bands of the period were automatically referred to as The ..., e.g. The Small Faces or The If s . I don't know if anyone actually said The Led Zeppelin or The Cream, but that's more or less the equivalent.
 * Hope this isn't considered original research - and if it is, as it's on the discussion page, I don't think anyone can really object, it's just explanatory. Regards, Technopat 09:18, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Funnily enough, I remember reading somewhere that even though the band name does seem to be Pink Floyd, even Dave Gilmour has been known to refer to it as The Pink Floyd. I'm sure I've heard Cream referred to as The Cream --Mickraus 12:48, 15 September 2007 (UTC)
 * I too remember refs. to The Pink Floyd - am off to their article page to see if any mention is made. Regs., --Technopat 16:05, 15 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Talk 'bout coincidences - yesterday came across a reference - in a '70s interview with Alvin Lee - to ... The Cream. Regs., --Technopat 15:11, 18 September 2007 (UTC)
 * There's always someone who likes to add The! RIP Jimi Hendrix 37 years ago today. There was no problem with The Jimi Hendrix Experience, although it was often shortened to The Experience. -- Mickraus 15:34, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

Part of the Union
In the article (and some other sources), "Part of the Union" is attributed to Ford and Hudson. However, it is surely just their adaptation of Woody Guthrie's "Union Maid". Did they actually claim it as their own composition? Bluewave 14:26, 17 September 2007 (UTC)


 * It has always been credited to Hudson and Ford on record labels. I agree it is a very thinly disguised adaptation of Gutrhrie's work. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.27.171.120 (talk) 17:00, 15 February 2009 (UTC)


 * As a long time Strawbs fan I have never heard this accusation before. I listened to the Woody Guthrie song on YouTube and I have to agree that - in particularly the words of the second verse - there is a striking similarity, and it would be almost impossible to defend it as wholly original work. However, I strongly object to the terms "adaptation" and "cover" being bandied around here. Whatever the background to the song, I feel that those who are pointing out the similarity are weakening their argument by seemingly having an axe to grind. In the world of music, it is well known that influences can be absorbed and recylcled without the composers and writers ever realising where they came from. If this is an issue, it is not one for an encyclopedia entry, in my opinion. I suggest that the accusatory references are removed as unhelpful and inappropriate in this context. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.56.188.118 (talk) 20:26, 23 October 2014 (UTC)


 * I think we'd need to see a WP:RS which claimed there was "adaptation", "cover", "inspiration", or anything else, before we could add anything to the article. We'd have to consider both lyrics and tune. Martinevans123 (talk) 21:10, 23 October 2014 (UTC)


 * N.B. see also comments at Talk:Part of the Union. Martinevans123 (talk) 21:16, 23 October 2014 (UTC)

Categorisation of Albums
Where do albums like All Our Own Work (credited to "Sandy Denny and the Strawbs" fit in to the discography? It is certainly not a compilation album and arguably Strawbs first studio album - yet it was not released until 1973. The same sort of question occurs for the Heartbreak Hill album and Sandy and the Strawbs. Any thought anyone? Witchwooder 12:37, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Discography article?
The discography seems to be getting rather large and unwieldy. Anyone want to try hiving this off into a separate article?

Also I noticed that Two Weeks Last Summer and Old School Songs have found their way here. I propose removing them because they're not Strawbs albums (otherwise all Dave Cousins's other albums would be listed here as well). Best Witchwooder (talk) 08:34, 9 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Agree with both. Martinevans123 (talk) 12:06, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Strawbs = progressive?
I notice that this article has now been assigned the category of progressive rock groups. Are Strawbs progressive? I think not. Most Strawbs songs are conventional in terms of their structure and rarely feature long instrumental passages or changing time signatures. I've just had a quick glance at the progressive rock article - I don't see that Strawbs satisfy many (or any) of the criteria listed there. Anyone any thoughts? Best Witchwooder (talk) 08:46, 15 January 2009 (UTC)


 * It is my understanding that what is written in wiki is a representation of the information available to the writers, ie: not our opinions. Having looked at different sources, I find they all say the Strawbs are progressive rock, eg: Allmusic.com and their own website.
 * As for opinion, I find their music to be related to prog. Tears And Pavan, which I am listening to now, is, in my opinion, prog.

POV & references
I rather like this article. It has a quality about it that many rock band articles lack. However there are still some issues that may need tidying up. I know from my own experience from editing (and being  edited!) that  some editors are very  sensitive to  the (even unintentional) use of weasel words and what can be construed as POV. Some examples in the text are: history/early days: highly influential and critically acclaimed; pop sucesss: (and highly lucrative) Also, there are too few external verifiable references for an article of its size and scope. I am not one to spoil an otherwise nice article by placing additional ugly banners on it, but these items probably need looking at before someone else does. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about the subject matter to help out by researching the needed references and doing  the necessary  edits.--Kudpung (talk) 03:41, 2 June 2009 (UTC)

Supporting Musicians?
Robert Kirby and John Mealing were listed as additional musicians on the Deep Cuts album cover but surely they were full members for Burning for You and Deadlines? best --Witchwooder (talk) 08:01, 1 October 2012 (UTC)