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Thread: Hero and Heroine by the Strawbs. Does it still hold up?

  1. #1
    Member RapidRefresh's Avatar
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    Hero and Heroine by the Strawbs. Does it still hold up?

    I'm an old school symph prog fan and H&H is one of my favorite older albums. A friend of mine recently stated that the album was of it's time and that people no longer view it with any awe. Is that true? Or does Hero and Heroine by the Strawbs still hold up some 40+ years later?
    Last edited by RapidRefresh; 10-08-2015 at 11:23 AM.

  2. #2
    Member rickawakeman's Avatar
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    I still enjoy the original more than the recent version, but both hold up quite well to these ears. Timeless music.

  3. #3
    Jon Neudorf
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    How can one person speak for everyone? It is still an excellent album IMHO.

    Regards,
    Jon

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    Member RapidRefresh's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jlneudorf View Post
    How can one person speak for everyone? It is still an excellent album IMHO.

    Regards,
    Jon
    I've never had much contact with other prog fans except for my friend who is a member of multiple prog forum sites. I got laid up from work after an injury and thought I'd give this site a whirl. Seems like it's pretty cool so far.

  5. #5
    Jon Neudorf
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    This is a great site. Hopefully others will chime in. Now I'm curious to see what others think.

    Regards,
    Jon

  6. #6
    It was never one of my absolute favorites but I still like it. Hearing them play it on C(ruise)ttE II was a blast.

  7. #7
    Geriatric Anomaly progeezer's Avatar
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    YOU BET YOUR ASS IT STILL HOLDS UP!!
    "My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"

    President Harry S. Truman

  8. #8
    I only discovered it a few years ago and I like it.

  9. #9
    "After all, it's just the revolution I despise; the dawn of revelations and the flower power prize... And I pity those poor children with no sunshine in their eyes."

  10. #10
    Still absolutely awesome!
    Sleeping at home is killing the hotel business!

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    'Just Love' aside, which I have never been too fond of, I think it's a great album.

  12. #12
    Member Koreabruce's Avatar
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    Interesting coincidence as I just went on a bit of a Strawbs listening binge myself two nights ago. I put on this album plus Bursting at the Seams and Grave New World. I would have heard Ghosts as well, but I had to go to bed then...

    I think H&H holds up very well indeed. That first track, "Autumn", is so perfect for this time of the year. I can tolerate "It's Just Love" well enough, too, so the whole album is still a special listening experience for me.

  13. #13
    That's Mr. to you, Sir!! Trane's Avatar
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    I'm not a fan of the Chas-Coombe-Lambert line-up

    I much prefer the Hudson-Ford-Hooper era (and rather Wakeman than Weaver, while we're at it)
    my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.

  14. #14
    I like it, but it falls way short of their best ones (IMO); Witchwood, Bursting, Grave New World. And I still have to say that I find Ghosts a far better album from this lineup. Yet I certainly enjoy bits of it big time; "Round & Round" (classic), "Midnight Sun" (one of my fave Cousins acoustic ballads) etc. However, the opening suite is pretty much ruined by that third and final part's resting on an altogether weak melody - IMHO.
    "Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
    "[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM

  15. #15
    Not the best Strawbs record i.m.o. but it still holds well.
    Macht das ohr auf!

    COSMIC EYE RECORDS

  16. #16
    Member Man In The Mountain's Avatar
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    Absolutely a classic. Among the string of great Strawbs albums.

  17. #17
    Member Staun's Avatar
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    Love this album. Always have, always will. A Big influence.
    The older I get, the better I was.

  18. #18
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    Full of great songs (even their best albums have stinkers like "Just Love"), it's right up there with "Ghosts" in my book. Just listened to "Nomadness" last night, which still had a handful of wonderful tracks, but signaled the decline. I like the early albums up to "Grave New World", but I don't share the love for "Bursting...", which has only a few gems IMO.

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    Quote Originally Posted by progeezer View Post
    YOU BET YOUR ASS IT STILL HOLDS UP!!
    Couldn't have said it better. My favorite Strawbs with Ghosts a close second. Didn't care for the new version though.

  20. #20
    Member bigjohnwayne's Avatar
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    This and Ghosts are still great albums.

    I put "Out in the Cold" from this record on every mix cd I made a girl in my collegiate and post college years. Let me tell you, 2007 through 2010 was ground zero for college town Americana/alt.country/etc/etc and the art students I was dating at the time loved them the start of that song. I didn't test it out on my wife until a "let's go camping outside of Montreal for our anniversary and do battle with mosquitos the size of ping pong balls" mixtape, but even she liked Cousins voice.

    Indie rock fans and Dylan-o-philes have a much higher tolerance for outre vocalists than proggers.

    So...yes. In at least one isolated vestige, this album has held up.


  21. #21
    Member since March 2004 mozo-pg's Avatar
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    Ghosts is my favourite - holds up well - but H&H is excellent too.

  22. #22
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    Yes, "Out in the Cold" is a great song, my favorite song about getting old, which seems more and more appropriate as I'm now 62...

  23. #23
    Member RapidRefresh's Avatar
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    Out In the Cold is about getting old? I thought it was about being dumped! I'll have to listen more closely next time.

  24. #24
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    My first Strawbs album. Listened to in incessantly in the 70's along with Ghosts. Enjoyed the bookends of those 2 albums, but didn't explore much further. Saw them live in May of 74 at the Academy of Music in NYC. It was a memorable show. Still gets some love on the ipod.

  25. #25
    The title track blew me away the first time i heard it some 40 years ago...pushed me off the fence and directly into complete love for the band.That being said-I don't think that this era had the magic of the Hudson, Ford, Hooper band; the overall production became slicker AND Dave Lambert's songs generally stop the albums momentum(especially on HH and Ghosts).
    I disagree with the statement about the final melody of Autumn being weak. It's possibly a bit too "anthemic" in a Journey type of way(trite love lyrics) but very memorable and fits well within the structure of the song.

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