#Strawbs #Dave Cousins #Rick Wakeman #progressive rock #folk rock #progressive folk #British folk rock #symphonic prog #1970s
The Hangman and the Papist by Strawbs - a track from their album From the Witchwood, released in 1971. From an article I dedicated to Rick Wakeman's recording sessions between 1969 and 1971: As a full member, Wakeman played with the Strawbs on one studio album only, From the Witchwood, recorded early in 1971 and released in July that year. While the album has lovely acoustic interludes in the best tradition of the Strawbs, it is markedly more rock-oriented than anything the band attempted beforehand, and Rick Wakeman’s contributions give it that symphonic layer that made the album a favorite with progressive rock fans. A good example is The Shepherd’s Song, a great combination of acoustic guitars with virtuosic piano runs and Mellotron textures. Cousins: “The instrumental sections over Mellotron strings were inspired by the mariachi trumpets on Love’s Alone Again Or, and were played by Rick on a prototype Moog synthesizer that was kept in the studio. It was one of the first times that a Moog was used for this purpose on a record, and it encouraged Rick towards his multi-keyboard setup.” As progressive as the album was compared to the band’s previous records, Wakeman was already in a much more ambitious musical mind set than the rest of the band. Cousins: “He was great fun on stage and not at all difficult to control. He was more difficult in the studio when he didn’t like particular songs. It was also difficult to incorporate his own material into our own as it had so many chords – especially for me!” The crowning achievement of the album is The Hangman and the Papist. Dave Cousins: “The most important song on the album is The Hangman and the Papist. It’s written about two brothers who grew up on opposite sides of the religious fence, and it related to the outbreak of the troubles in Northern Ireland. One of the brothers grows up as a Catholic and the other as a Protestant, which is an exact parallel of my own life: I’m a Catholic and my brother’s a Protestant, due to the fact that my mother married again after my dad died when I was eight months old. We were booked to play the song on the first album spot on Top of the Pops, and it undoubtedly exposed the band to a much bigger audience. The only negative was that Rick was spotted playing the organ with a paint roller, but that’s our Rick!” From: https://www.facebook.com/musicaficionadoblog/posts/2589036991241623/?paipv=0&eav=AfZWW_At8o26LUelPzH1L59UcRWoJZAEDXLVrbwAIdk5_CN_zg9Zwe6VL9HwISMtdjc&_rdr
