I was more than a little surprised when I came across this release, as I remember Stray from years ago and had not realised they were still going. I did wonder if Del Bromham was still at the helm given he originally formed the band all the way back in 1966, but he is still providing all the material as well as guitar and vocals. He is joined on their release by Colin Kempster (bass, backing vocals), Karl Randall (drums, percussion, backing vocals), Pete Dyer (guitar, backing vocals – who originally joined the band all the way back in 1975) and Simon Rinaldo (organ, piano, synthesizer, keyboards). I don’t know how long this line-up has been together as while this is their 20th album it is their first in thirteen years, but they certainly sound as if they have been playing together for some time.

Stray have always been built around Bromham’s guitar, and a hard rock approach based loosely on the blues, similar to so many other bands in the early Seventies. They never achieved the acclaim they expected and broke up in 1977 before Del started performing under the name again with various musicians. This is a real throwback album in that the keyboard sounds and arrangements allows one to believe this was actually recorded the best part of 50 years ago and has now been cleaned up and made available as opposed to a brand new recording. The more I played this the more I smiled, with songs such as “Blood From A Stone” being just pure fun. This is an album which those of us who remember the band will enjoy, but that is also very true of those coming across Stray for the first time as this is Seventies hard rock which is somehow commercial and a joy to play.

Rating: 7/10

Links:
http://www.straytheband.co.uk/
https://www.talkingelephant.co.uk/