Despite having a quintessentially British folk background and notching up their most notable singles success with the quaintly 70s Part Of The Union (the almost obligatory ‘not what we’re really about’ mainstream pleaser), Strawbs actually enjoyed a greater recognition Stateside than they did at home.
Their homogenous blend of progressive and folk-rock with a mid-Atlantic overtone, layered here with a light sheen of Californian haze, removed them from the regionally challenged aura of some of their contemporaries and led them to a string of Billboard Top 200 albums. Actually recorded in Holland in 1977, Burning For You came at the tail-end of their US adventure. It’s a mix of gentle nostalgic yearnings for old familiar things: the factory, the pint of beer in the local, Match Of The Day and the callings of home, contrasted with anthemic, but largely MOR, evocations of storms and passions.
There’s nothing to set the beacons alight, but between the drifting wash of I Feel Your Loving Coming On, the mournful harmonies of Barcarole (For The Death Of Venice) and the cranked up rock of Cut Like A Diamond there’s enough variation to please.
