February, time flies, 1/12 of the year is gone. What do I have to show for it? I have a new turntable and speakers. I cleaned my office desk and moved things around a bit. I volunteered for a couple of hours at RCP and took 2 new CDs home. I was happy to find a sealed copy of the LSU album Wakin’ Up The Dead. The other was a near-mint copy of the Van Der Graaf Generator album Still Life on CD. I have continued my odyssey through our vinyl collection and have nearly made it out of the letter L. I’ve also received some good music from Big Stir Records, Shameless Promotions, BARK and Mystic Sons PR to review. Yeah, it’s been a good start to the year.

What follows is a blend of my writing and the press release from Big Stir Records for the album Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow by the band Sorrows

From Big Stir Records, I have been listening to the album Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow by the band Sorrows. This album was recorded in one night back in 1981. There is an interesting backstory to this album. Feeling angry and alienated by their label and the label’s lack of support and empathy for their work, the band took those emotions into the studio and recorded this album in one all-night session. The raw emotions come pulsating from the speakers as the band vents and rage with their voices and music. While the album certainly has a 1981 vibe to the punk and post/punk era it was created in, the new mixing brings a fresh appeal to an already exciting recording session.

From the opening salvo of the song Never Mind with the power of the lyrics, “Never mind, never mind, never mind, just leave me alone!” we get a taste of the energy in that recording studio. From the Rolling Stones, Sorrows, borrow “Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?” and give an already great song a fresh energy boost.

This is not the only song with a retro vibe and shows the influence of other bands from that era. Ricky Street tells us that “What A Good Boy” is clearly inspired by my love of early Who records. I did my best to craft a lyric that felt in keeping with the kind of modtastic feeling their records possessed at the time. While the music is all mine, I also owe a lot to Joe and Arthur for channelling Pete Townshend and really bringing it home.”

The story of Sorrows – Arthur Alexander (vocals, guitar), Joey Cola (vocals, guitar), Ricky Street (vocals, bass) and Jet Harris (drums) – is breathtakingly brief. Still, it has taken nearly five decades to play out. Rising from the ashes of the revered Popees in the late ’70s, they were blending hooks and harmonies with punk rock energy on stages like CBGB and Max’s Kansas City just as the new wave and power pop sounds were about to break through to the mainstream. Their 1980 debut, Teenage Heartbreak, showed what they could do, and the timing was right for a follow-up to catapult them to the same stages as The Cars, The Knack, and Cheap Trick or earn a place among the genre-defining likes of 20/20 and The Plimsouls. History and the band’s label had other ideas, and the 1981 debacle of their overproduced-against-the-band’s-will second album nearly ended the band. A wave of defiant anger and an undimmed gift for pop songcraft fueled the band’s writing and onstage energy for a time before their ultimate breakup. Still, that final phase of Sorrows and a clutch of terrific unreleased songs seemed lost to the back pages of rock history.

Things began to change forty years later as, on the opposite coast in LA, the band’s Arthur Alexander found himself back in the game as a solo performer with his acclaimed albums One Bar Left and … Steppin’ Out! (and his relentless live shows with Arthur Alexander Band) picking up right where he’d left off. But Arthur and his Sorrows bandmates had been pursuing the rights to the material on the ill-fated Love Too Late album all along, and finally, having secured them (as well as the session masters), recreated the album as they had envisioned it, leading to the surprise 2021 release of Love Too Late… the real album. Much to the delight of fans old and new (and critics worldwide), it was a revelation. The record was set straight, and it was clear to everyone who listened that Sorrows should have been huge.

But the story wasn’t complete then, any more than it had been in 1981, and we flashback to that year to tell the tale of the final chapter, now soon to be heard in all its raucous splendour on the aptly-titled Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow. Because our heroes, stung by the label interference that had tried (and failed) to remake their music into bland Top 40 fodder, had retrenched to a sound that was, if anything, a more raw and powerful brand of rock and roll than ever before. It’s crystal clear that the experience had given them something to prove, and you can hear that immediately when the lead track “Never Mind” comes blasting out of your speakers, with Alexander defiantly declaring, “Never mind, never mind, never mind, just leave me alone! Never mind, never mind, never mind, I’ll work it out on my own!” It’s well-earned fury at the music industry’s machinations and thus as relevant now as then. Still, as the album progresses, you can hear that same fire fueling all of Arthur’s originals. There are seven undiscovered gems from his pen, including the single “Out Of My Head,” the heartfelt, in-the-moment elegy for John Lennon’s “Cricket Man,” the rockabilly-infused scorcher “Let Me Know,” the revved-up Buddy Holly tribute “Kiss You Later” and the intense drivin’ song, “Too Much Love” which he describes as “classic Sorrows.”

But Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow is the band’s album and a singular and cohesive record. Far from a posthumous collection of outtakes or leftovers, it’s a document of its time and was created on purpose in one night in 1981. The band, still stalking the stages of NYC while smarting from their treatment on the Love Too Late album and feeling a need to reclaim their identity, reconnected with Mark Milchman, who’d co-produced their debut, and booked into the iconic Mediasound Studios where their initial magic was born, for an all-night marathon session. “We just wanted to play a bunch of new songs we had been working on and rock the demons out of our system,” recalls Arthur. “We went in late in the evening, set up our amps, drums and mics in the middle of Studio A – ‘The Church’ – all out in the open as if we were on stage, then we plugged in and just let ‘er rip! By the time we left the studio, the sun was up, and we had our next album!”

In addition to capturing the band firing on all cylinders as a performing unit, the session yielded terrific new originals from Ricky Street (“What A Good Boy,” “Just One Fool To Blame,” and “Love Ain’t Nothing (Without You)”) and Joey Cola (“That’s Your Problem”), heard here for the first time. And the covers show the band uniting in their mutual love for the music that inspired them. Their takes on classics by The Rolling Stones and Eddie Cochran are jaw-dropping one-take wonders that could only be delivered by a band with something to prove. The closing cover of The Pirate’s “You Don’t Own Me” is absolutely blistering (and, given what Sorrows had just been through, perhaps the record’s definitive statement of purpose).

Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow is a miracle on more than one level. It’s too inspired and rambunctious to be bittersweet, but it might be the album the band was meant to create from the beginning. “When I started this band, part of my musical vision was of a band juxtaposing a bit of a ‘down,’ melancholic vibe, with an uplifting, relentless, kick-your-teeth-in drive, energy and aggression,” recalls Arthur. And while he, Joey, Ricky and Jett might have wished the tale would end differently, the magic preserved here is a pure realization of that vision. It’s a monster of a swan song, and Arthur’s 21st-century mix of this nothing-to-lose, go-for-broke 1981 session packs more punch than any record label would have countenanced at the time of its recording. It’s sweet indeed, and at long last, Sorrows can lay claim to a trilogy of albums worthy of their talents and a legacy that will resonate for many, many years to come.

The album sees release at last on February 28 on Vinyl, CD and Streaming and is up for pre-order/pre-save now:

BIG STIR RECORDS

Burbank, CA / Distributed Worldwide

Copyright © 2024 Big Stir Records

All Rights Reserved.

Design © Big Stir Records

Next up, we have the UK synthpop duo Dragon Welding presents ‘We Dance Among You,’ the second offering from ‘The Naughty Step’ album, out February 28 via Dimple Discs. This insanity is captured in a dynamic ‘stop-start’ animation. Dragon Welding was founded by Andrew Golding of UK indie noise-pop legends The Wolfhounds, who shares, “The next generations of people will look back at our generation in absolute horror. It’s about those hiding amongst us in plain sight. Profit over the planet every time with a complete disregard for the next generations…” 

Bandcamp  https://dimplediscdragonwelding.bandcamp.com/track/we-dance-among-you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waTKLSwzfMA

I watched the video, which is rare for me. I am not an alumnus of early MTV. I was captivated by the video and the music. So, I listened to the whole album. It is good, and I can see why it might encourage us to dance.

‘We Dance Among You’ is out now via  Bandcamp.  ‘The Naughty Step’ album, set for release on February 28, is now available for pre-order. Vinyl and CDs will be available from Rough Trade, Amazon and Resident Records.

‘The Naughty Step’ album pre-order  https://orcd.co/dragonweldingnaughtystep
Vinyl & CD pre-order  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Naughty-Step-Dragon-Welding/dp/B0DSPH4N5N
Get tickets  https://wegottickets.com/event/645621

Publicity by Shameless Promotion PR

On My Turntable

Spacemen 3 – A Perfect Prescription

A Perfect Prescription is a perfect trance/psychedelic/drone music album. I found Spacemen 3 through the band Spiritualized, started by band member Peter Kember after Spacemen 3 disbanded. I listened to this album twice a couple of days apart, and each listen revealed more details to me. They only recorded four albums over the space of five years while they were a band. I also have Playing With Fire and their live album, Performance. I will start shopping for their other two studio albums. I also have the Spiritualized album, And Nothing Hurt, which is also an excellent album that we will experience when we reach “S.”

Lulu Belle and Scotty – Down Memory Lane

Down Memory Lane is what Country & Western music sounded like before it got gentrified and became pop music in 4/4 time. I grew up listening to my Dad play music like this with nothing but his voice and his guitar. We lost his voice in 1999. I have his guitar hanging on the wall in my office.

Jimmie Lunceford Blues In The Night Vol. 4

Vintage jazz/blues/swing fusion album. Jimmie Lunceford was active in the music scene in the 1930s and 40s. While only attaining modest sales of his records and a reputation for underpaying his band, Jimmie Lunceford never broke through to the level of success of other bands like Duke Ellington and Tommy Dorsey. This album is still a good listen and a history lesson on what the big bands played 100 years ago.

Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti

I have tried several times over the years to really ‘get’ Led Zeppelin. To this day, it has not happened. I listened to this in my car for about a month. It is two discs, and I still don’t get LeZep. Moving on…

Corb Lund Losin’ Lately Gambler

Corb Lund Cabin Fever

Corb Lund Counterfeit Blues

Corb Lund Things That Can’t Be Undone

Where to begin writing about Corb Lund and his music? I was introduced to the man and his music when he did a couple of live shows as part of a free festival downtown. I was working in the Herb Jamieson and a couple of my co-workers got excited about it and went to watch him. I had the next day off, so I went downtown with my family to catch his show. I immediately heard why my co-workers liked him. He played music that resonated with my “Hurtin’ Albertan” core. I have been to numerous shows featuring Corb Lund since then.

Corb Lund started his music career fresh out of Grant MacEwan College, studying jazz guitar and bass. Lund and three of his classmates formed the hard rock/metal band The Smalls in 1989. They toured hard and released four albums plus one compilation over their time together. Noted for technical ability, speed guitar attack of Dug Bevansand arching vocal style of lead singer Mike Caldwell, whose wide vocal range is well showcased in the band’s cover of Natural Woman as it appeared on their last release, My Dear Little Angle. Caldwell was known for his considerable vocal skills, unassuming stage manner, and refusal to banter with audiences. Corb Lund is more recently known for his work with his roots and country project Corb Lund and the Hurtin’ Albertans. Lund formed his country trio, the Corb Lund Band, in 1995. He focused exclusively on Country and Western music when The Smallsbroke up in 2001. Digging into his roots in the farming communities of Taber, famous for their corn, Cardston and Rosemary, Lund found a voice in C/W that suited his voice and lyrics better than heavy metal had. He spends his downtime on his ranches between extensive tours and recording a dozen albums. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the four vinyl albums that I have at hand. I have a couple more on CD that I will savour another day. I don’t want to overdose on Corb Lund’s music; I want to savour it.

All his albums are good in my world, but I mostly gravitated to Counterfeit Blues by Corb Lund and the Hurtin’ Albertans. Ranging from the sly humour of “Five Dollar Bill” and “Truck Got Stuck” to the redneck anthem “Roughest Neck Around,” Corb Lund hits the C/W sweet spot in his songs. There is no mistaking his country roots and his love of the rodeo life on songs like “Buckin’ Horse Rider” and “(Gonna) Shine Up My Boots.” It’s good music that even non-cowboys could enjoy, but the cowboy in me relishes music like Corb Lunds.