Overview
Grave New World is the fourth studio album by English band Strawbs, their fifth overall. It was the first album to be released after the departure of Rick Wakeman, who was replaced by Blue Weaver, late of Amen Corner.
Background
Tony Visconti influenced Cousins to buy an I Ching book; Cousins used the book to decide what he should do after Wakeman had left the band. The answer was used in the lyrics for the first track on the album, "Benedictus". The songs themselves show the continuation of the movement away from Strawbs' original folk leanings. Founding member Tony Hooper began to be increasingly uncomfortable with this and left after the recording sessions of this album.
The original vinyl album had lavish artwork and included a pamphlet showing the lyrics of each track together with details of instrumentation. The front cover is a reproduction of William Blake's Glad Day.
The album reached number 11 in the UK Albums Chart.
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