STRING DRIVEN THING – The Machine That Cried

(Esoteric)

Signing to act-breakers Charisma should have assured better fortune for this electric violin-driven four-piece but in the notes of Esoteric’s reissue guitarist Chris Adams, band co-founder with wife Pauline, grumbles over the label’s preoccupation with Genesis as neglectful of their cause.

It’s an explanation that does not quite chime with the experiences of stable mates Lindisfarne and Van der Graaf Generator, both of which found their own kind of success. But then they stuck to their respective genres.

This 1973 follow-up to STT’s debut (hard strumming folk rock charged with Graham Smith’s electric violin to the patter and rattle of congas and tambourine and bass from Colin Wilson) saw the posts move as label boss Tony Stratton-Smith added drummer Bill Fairley to the line-up.

A more progressive interpretation of Adam’s material works well where exploited but the leavening of these longer tracks with briefer, light excursions into soft-focus folk and Americana make for uneasy bed fellows.

When the Adams’s left the band the following year, Stratton-Smith promoted the violinist to head up proceedings for another two releases before the Thing folded, Smith’s potential next realised in the deeply progressive arms of a reformed Van der Graaf.

Amongst increasingly glam-sounding bonus single A and B sides lies plodding ‘It’s A Game’, a huge success for tartan teen charters Bay City Rollers. Something of a curio then, yet this does maintain sufficient narrative to engage and retain the listener, and lifts up its skirts and flies when Smith strikes up.

***
Review by Peter Muir

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Power Plays w/c 28 October 2024

THE RASMUS Rest In Pieces (Better Noise Music)
THE PLAGUE What Else Can I Do (FiXT)
STAR CIRCUS Turn The Tide (indie)
DEFENCES Breathe It In (Long Branch Records)

Featured Albums w/c 28 October 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)