 Restored and remastered release of rare 1994 "long-lost Strawbs album" with bonus tracks!
Format: CD / Cat No: WITCHR001 / PRE-ORDER Release Date: 28/11/2025
Track Listing: 1. You Never Needed Water / 2. Further Down The Road / 3. Strange Day Over The Hill / 4. Heat Of The Street / 5. Morning Glory / 6. Cry No More / 7. Do You Remember / 8. The Plain / 9. Oh So Sleepy / 10. Song For Alex / Bonus tracks: 11. Desert Song / 12. Ways And Means / 13. David Talks About Sandy Denny / 14. Ringing Down The Years / 15. Beat The Retreat
More information: 1994's obscure recording The Bridge, by Strawbs leader Dave Cousins and his guitarist friend and sometime Strawbs member, Brian Willoughby, is reissued on CD in remastered form. Only 1000 copies of the album, the second collaboration between Cousins and Willoughby, were produced, making it a real rarity in Strawbs circles. The new 2025 version has been remastered with the late Cousins' consent, by his former Strawbs colleague Blue Weaver.
"With the help of Kenny Denton and Vic Keary, two of our favourite sound engineers, Dave and I produced ""The Bridge"", featuring ten new tracks. We invited guest artists to join us and we were both thrilled that Beatles' protegee Mary Hopkin agreed to sing with Dave on four of the songs. Our core band included Blue Weaver on keyboards, Tony Fernandez on drums and Chas Cronk on bass guitar, while Dave and I handled the guitar duties. Richard Hudson and Rod Demick joined us on drums and bass for a couple of tracks and Rod also played harmonica, on 'Strange Day Over The Hill'. We both liked to think of it as a "long-lost Strawbs album", given our choice of musicians. The American songwriter Jana Heller, Poormouth lead singer Tommy Lundy and one-time Strawbs frontman Roy Hill, sang backing vocas. The recording sessions were really enjoyable and Dave and I were very happy with the finished product, edited and compiled by Blue at Blue Weaver Studios. We found a great 'live' recording from one of our many tours, so we added four 'bonus tracks', including Dave's spoken introductions on 'Desert Song' and 'Ringing Down The Years'. 'Beat The Retreat' was always one of our favourites to perform. During the solo on 'Ways & Means', I dropped a stitch and Dave's laugh at this, is priceless!" (Brian Willoughby)
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