The Sorrows 1965

 

The Sorrows 1965

by Pete Clemons

A lot of people will remember the Song "Take a Heart". It was Released as a single in August 1965 by Coventry group The Sorrows and became a UK chart hit, reaching the Top 30.

“Take a Heart” is known for its hard-edged R&B sound and "tribal" drumming. It was written by Miki Dallon but was originally recorded as a B-side by a band called The Boys Blue before The Sorrows' version became famous.

Chart success led to The Sorrows gaining a modi-come of national press interest, tours etc. Here is one such article that came on the back of the bands time in the limelight................

It used to be the fashion to say 'We don't want a hit record' . Now The Sorrows have come up with a new complaint - they think their current Pop 50 entry 'Take a Heart' projected the wrong image.

'Of course we feel happy that the record got us off the ground and brought us to the money earning bracket where we always wanted to be' says 6 ft 7 inch lead singer Don Maughn. 'But we don't in fact play this sort of thing all the time'.

'Our music is far wilder, louder and more distorted. Our new one 'You Got What I Want' is far more us, with lots more noise. The thing about The Sorrows is you either like us or hate us. We appeal to the deaf set'.

Don agrees that 'Take a Heart' has made a big difference. 'They are working us ten days out of seven' he said 'The theory seems to be that we have been sleeping for the last 18 months so we can get through the next 18 without any'.

'Take a Heart' was probably also responsible for the battle of West Hartlepool - The Sorrows' first experience of fan fever.

'I'd never seen anything like it' recalled Don. 'Our lead guitarist, Pip Witcher, walked to the edge of the stage to shake hands with a girl. That was the last we saw of him for 10 minutes !'.

'He came back with one leg of his trousers gone, minus a sleeve of his jumper and cuts on his face. Then they charged the stage 300 strong'.

'I was on the floor with all these girls piled on top of me. A bouncer joined in. He was a nice quiet type - probably a probation officer or something like that during the day. But he started trying to get these women off me. I was in total agony for a week'.

'All of a sudden everything went up. Chairs were flying about. They finally locked us in the dressing room'.

'When we came out for the second half there seemed to be more bouncers than people - all standing in front of the stage. It was like playing to the back of somebody's head'.

Still, what are a few bruises when all that lovely loot is starting to roll in?.

You Got What I Want - The Sorrows

Take a Heart live The Sorrows

David Bowie - Lanchester Arts Festival 1972

 

David Bowie - Lanchester Arts Festival 1972

By Pete Clemons

David Bowie, it seems, was scheduled to appear at the now legendary 1972 Lanchester Arts Festival in Coventry but withdrew at very short notice. Festival organiser Ted Little indicated Bowie pulled out because his management felt he wasn't a good fit for the bill topped by jazz saxophonist Rahsaan Roland Kirk on the polytechnic site. (The festival was spread across different venues including the Locarno).

And this was at a time when David's record 'Hunky Dory' had just been released - an album that today - is still highly praised. And close to that scheduled appearance in Coventry, as part of the 1972 festival, David was even interviewed.....................

Since the very early precociously talented releases of 'Rubber Band' and 'Love You Till Tuesday' way back in the mid 60s David Bowie hasn't exactly been swamped with instant recognition.

His kind of wierd tongue in cheek material and half Newley voice didn't quite fit, it seems, into the kind of things that were going down then. It wasn't really until 'Space Oddity' that his name got around, and even then it didn't fore-run a massive trail of success. It was always a very jerky passage for Bowie. Half recognised, half buried not helped by the fact that he apparently was not too keen to do live appearances, didn't see himself as part of the rock and roll circus, and every so often just disappeared off the scene.

He did, however, record. And the result of these sorties into the studio presented us - after 'Oddity' - with a rather ragged album 'David Bowie' which gave a pointer to the way he was going to move musically but never quite gelled, but then the massive peculiar and neurotic 'Man Who Sold the World' and finally 'Hunky Dory'.

And although 'Man Who Sold the World' got Bowie off finally in the States, it wasn't until 'Hunky Dory' came out earlier this month that the cluster of British critics who had 'poo-poohed' Bowie as a rather boring freak they couldn't put into a musical compartment, sat up and took notice.

'Hunky' - a tight melodic collection of rock on tracks - has been backed up with Bowie's own imagery of prancing and capering and giving outrageous quotes when he feels like having a bit of fun with someone. It's his first album with a new record company and its success, backed with new management, has given him a whole new approach not only to his recorded work but to live gigs in general.

'We've really been swamped with work - turning down bookings every day. Lanchester happened to coincide at just the right time and looked like a good place to play. Certainly I've changed my whole outlook about live appearances. We're not going to go flogging around the country every night, but we'll do much more live work than we have in the past. I think really what's happened to my approach to work is having a new enthusiastic people around me makes life so much easier and it's made me more enthusiastic myself, plus we did this gig in Aylesbury before Christmas and got such a great reception it got us off'.

For Lanchester Bowie will be backed up by his usual three-piece line up of Mick Ronson, 'Woody' Woodmansey and Trevor Bolder who replaces Tony Visconti on bass.

It will, he says, be a composite show with only a few numbers from 'Hunky Dory' - and inevitably - 'Space Oddity' because 'it's a good little tune and you can't really ignore it can you?'. The mainstay of the material he'll be using will be from past albums - stuff like 'Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud' - and from the new album he's just laid down in the studio's.
'I feel that a lot of the material from the two previous albums really didn't get much of an airing - certainly not on stage - so they'll be nice to do for people. At the time neither got much attention over here, probably they just weren't right for the time and had more empathy with what was going on in America.

'On the new album we've tried to capture the sound we had going for us on stage. A sort of phonographic representation of the stage act with a few strings added. It's such a harder sound than 'Hunky Dory' but certainly not as paranoic as 'Man Who Sold the World '.

After his Lanchester gig Bowie has his first real British tour since the very early days with Humble Pie two years back. A tour which should finally get him off the ground with British audiences before he goes back to the States, which has always reserved a special place for his talents.

'I don't know why it is but they certainly got into the music faster than they did here so really I can't help thinking of the British dates as something of a 'rehearsal' before we go to the States'.

Rubber Band

David Bowie - Space Oddity (Rare & Unreleased 1969 demo version)

Memory Of A Free Festival-by David Bowie

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