Strawbs

★★★ Settlement CHERRY RED. CD/DL/LP

The folk-prog stalwarts welcome back old friends from their ’70s heyday.

On the title track, backed by ominous mellotron, Dave Cousins sings of the fracturing of democracy (“the chaos in the system”) with the barely reined-in anger he displayed on songs like 1972’s New World. The reflective Strange Times, with its acoustic guitars and piano, lowers the heat, but although they’ve already celebrated their 50th birthday, Strawbs are clearly not intent on coasting. The album was produced by keyboard player Blue Weaver, who left the band in 1973, while John Ford, who quit shortly after but has guested with the group live, co-wrote Each Manner Of Man with Cousins and sings lead over Dave Bainbridge’s baroque harpsichord. It’s a group effort and guitarist Dave Lambert and bass player Chas Cronk also contribute, the latter’s Liberty another of the album’s highlights with its haunting, descending chord sequence, and organ and guitar flourishes adding splashes of colour.