Al,
I think you mistook my intention (although it's possible that I didn't state it clearly). You cited a bunch of ballads (albeit ballads performed by rock bands) in your post. I wasn't really trying to reference that in my post. Strings are definitely more appropriate for ballads than rock n roll, IMO, but - even there - caution should be exercised lest the schmaltz factor take over.
When posting, I was thinking about real, up-tempo, backbeat, rock n roll. I may have overstated my point a bit, but I'll generally stand by the post. Things like "Orchestral Tommy" generally strike me as very bad ideas. I will also mention again that there are probably exceptions, even there. Some of The Moody Blues' material and snippets of The Wall work well enough, but it's still not an approach that succeeds very often, IMO.
Of course, that says as much about my taste in rock music as it does about the strings idea. As always, YMMV.
