Biography
String Driven Thing formed in Glasgow in 1967 as a three part harmony folk band with the Adamses and guitarist John Mannion. After paying their dues on the Scottish folk circuit they put out an eponymous album on the independent Concord label (copies of which are collectable and difficult to find) although a long way from their later Charisma label output. The group moved to London in 1972 and Chris Adams began to steer the band towards the electric folk-rock genre where his song writing abilities, which often feature hard-bitten and bitter observations capturing the harsher side of life, would be seen to better effect. By 1972 he had recruited classically trained violinist Graham Smith and guitarist Colin Wilson on bass, but soon afterwards Mannion left, citing musical differences. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_Driven_Thing
Album & Cover
The song “Night Club”, was inspired by the cover of their first Charisma album. Recorded while Chris Adams was suffering health problems, including a collapsed lung and depression, the album is on the whole a very dark affair.
Despite its cult status, it did not sell well at the time. The Guardian Review: Every Rock Reviewer has a clutch of bands that he likes a little and he waits and waits until the day they might just produce something very good from their increasing professionalism and the bleak suffering that comes from being a barely successful rock band. It is all the more pleasing when a band one has almost written off as permanently second-rate, suddenly issues an album that is a classic. Where String Driven Thing has nurtured this brilliance, I know not. But it must be acknowledged that “The Machine That Cried” is a staggering achievement. For the first time, Grahame Smith’s electric violin does not seem affected, but strokes and coaxes rhythms from the rest of the band that soar in power and invention. At last, this band is using a rich combination of voices and instruments with sureness and with flexibility. Perhaps it is the time it has now been together, perhaps the sudden flowering of Adam’s song-writing talents, but this band now has a force and passion which makes it a very bright beacon in a somewhat glum musical scene.
Cover Location: c/o Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries, UK
Who Did What: Design [Back Liner] – Helen Pieniek. Photography Oxford Scientific. Photocopied and hand Tinted by Phil Crennel
Label: Charisma FC 6063(US), Charisma CAS 1070(UK)
Source: Vinyl. Album. Cover. Art, The Complete Hipgnosis Catalogue: Aubrey Powell
Tracklist
| Side One Heartfeeder To See You Night Club Sold Down The River |
Side Two Two Timin’ Rama Travelling People On The Street The House The Machine That Cried Going Down |
Credits
Bass – Bill Hatje (tracks: A1, B4, B5), Colin Wilson
Drums, Congas – Billy ‘The Kid’ Fairley
Engineer [1st] – Damon Lyon-Shaw
Engineer [2nd] – Hugh Johns
Producer – Shel Talmy
Violin, Viola – Grahame Smith
Vocals, Guitar – Chris Adams
Vocals, Percussion – Pauline Adams
