Work in Progress

Chronique

Dave Lambert is known primarily as a member of the Strawbs, with whom he sang and played guitar for much of the 1970s, joining again in 1998; he's also made some obscure recordings as a solo artist and a member of other bands. This is an odds'n'ends compilation of non-Strawbs tracks spanning 1970-2003, though not a single one of them was done in the years 1979-1997. Mostly these are Lambert solo recordings, though it does have a couple of previously unreleased 1970 songs by Fire and a 1972 "remix" of a folk-bluesy song by another of his pre-Strawbs outfits, the King Earl Boogie Band. It's a pretty inconsequential if unobjectionable collection, of interest mostly to Strawbs buffs. Unsurprisingly, Lambert -- who wrote or co-wrote all of the material -- sounds much like the Strawbs on the songs from 1998-2003 (three of them cut live in 1998): gentle, unassuming British folk-rock, embellished by a Robert Kirby string quintet arrangement on "Live Inside Your Hell Tonight." It doesn't have as much of an edge, however, as the Strawbs songs sung and written by Dave Cousins. The Fire tracks might attract some interest from '60s British rock completists, but "Live to Love" is strained blues-rock, and though "Back There Again" is better, it's unmemorable period rock fare. The sole recording to fall outside the 1970-1972 or 1998-2003 time frames is "Remember Me Always," an alternate mix from Lambert's late-'70s solo album, Framed, with John Entwhistle on bass.

© Richie Unterberger /TiVo