GRAVE NEW WORLD
Grave New World is a studio album by English band Strawbs. It was the first album to be released after the departure of Rick Wakeman. Blue Weaver, late of Amen Corner, was recruited and considered by most fans to be a more than adequate replacement for Wakeman. The album depicts the story of one man’s life. For instance, the track “Hey Little Man” represents an older man giving advice to his young son. The songs themselves show the continuation of the movement away from Strawbs’ original folk leanings. Founding member Tony Hooper began to be increasingly uncomfortable with this and left after the recording sessions of this album. The album reached number 11 in the UK Album Charts. (More from Wikipedia)
“Benedictus” is considered to be one of the signature songs of Strawbs and is included on their 1973 album, Grave New World. My copy of the song is on a double-LP called Best of Strawbs that sounds better every time I play it.
(July 2014)
