Robert Christgau: Dean of American Rock Critics

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String Driven Thing

  • String Driven Thing [Charisma, 1972] B

Consumer Guide Reviews:

String Driven Thing [Charisma, 1972]
This English quartet features a violinist, but stay where you are--no resemblance to Ian Anderson or David LaFlamme. Well, maybe a little--I could do without the mytholyric "Jack Diamond" and find the beat stiff at times. Still, they have one, not bad for a group driven by an electric bass and such ordinary peripheral percussion devices as congas and tambourines. In fact, they get pretty wild, with the violin exploited for dementia. Yet the lyrics are sane an dwell-observed. In my favorite, God doesn't play in a rock and roll band. B