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“The Sorrows from Coventry, England released a good handful of singles on the Pye (Piccadilly) label from 1965-67. A few of them were minor hits; best known is “Take a Heart” which was also the name of their first album released in 1965.
The Sorrows had their own hard rhythm`n blues sound with occasional fine ballads. Most of their material was original either written by band members Pip Witcher and Don Fardon of by the songwriter Mike Dallon, who wrote most of their singles. The had the potential of making it big, but like many others they never really broke through.
The 1965 album is actually pretty stong, containing several of their singles. Lead singer Don Fardon left the band in 1966 and the others continued a few years more with some succes in some European countries like Italy and Germany. This later line-up released one more album ( uneven) on a new label and also some more singles. The best of these post Fardon singles “Pink, Purple, Yellow and Red” / “My Gal” showed a new more psychedelic side of the band and these two tracks are among the very best of this compilation. Unfortunately they never continued in this direction, and after that single it was downwards, both musically and commercially and they split up in the late 1960`s.”
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“The Sorrows were the raunchiest, hard-edged, most agressive band in England in 1965. Their brand of thumping R & B/Blues/Garage-Rock at the time was groundbreaking and way ahead of it’s time.
Their music made The Stones sound like easy listening, which was no mean feat. The musicianship is excellent for the era, the lead guitar breaks by Pip Witcher are lightning fast and raw. The drumming of Bruce Finley is frantic yet still tight. The pounding, booming vocals by Don Maughn(Fardon) literally take your breath away.
Formed in 1963, they were from the gloomy industrial city of Coventry, which is close to Birmingham and not all that far from where Ozzy Osbourne grew up, although by their sound, you could easily mistake them for being from NYC or Detroit. All songs rock with extreme intensity and literally beat away any other claims to the Freakbeat crown.”
“If it weren’t for The Creation, The Sorrows might just claim the biggest gap between quality of catalog and dearth of fame. Unlike The Creation, who had a small measure of acclaim in their native UK (and bona fide stardom in Germany), the beat-era Sorrows barely even dented their home chart. In place of The Creation’s brashness, The Sorrows were pure beat era, mixing the danceable modness of the Kinks with the R&B muscle of The Pretty Things and Who.
The band’s catalog is filled with great R&B-tinged stompers and ballads, with start/stop rhythms, riffing guitars, pounding drums, strong harmonies and Don Maughn’s gritty vocals. Maughn would later change his name to Fardon and hit in the UK with “Indian Reservation” before The Raiders got to it.
This two disc set includes the band’s one and only LP, “Take a Heart” (in both mono and stereo) along with bonus singles, previously unreleased tracks, alternate takes, and a handful of sides from their latter-day residency in Italy. The Italian tracks translate the lyrics of a few songs from the album, and stretch into heavier freakbeat/psych sounds. Like The Creation, it’s hard to imagine this band not having been major players at the time; luckily this CD set revisits the hits that should’ve been! [©2007 hyperbolium com]”
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SURFADELIC 