Track Listing

1. SF Sorrow Is Born
2. Bracelets Of Fingers
3. She Says Good Morning
4. Private Sorrow
5. Balloon Burning
6. Death
7. Baron Saturday
8. Journey
9. I See You
10. Well Of Destiny
11. Trust
12. Old Man Going
13. Loneliest Person
14. Defecting Grey
15. Mr Evasion
16. Talkin' About The Good Times
17. Walking Through My Dreams

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17723 in Music
• Released on: 2003-02-03
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .19 pounds

CD Description
One of the great lost classics of the psychedelic rock era,S.F. SORROW was recorded at the same time (and in the same studio with the same engineer) as SGT. PEPPER and PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN, and is on par with both. Unfortunately, the commercial fate of the album (and the group) wasn't as rosy as that of its peers, but that doesn't diminish S.F. SORROW'S quality or historical importance. The record marked an important turning point for the Pretty Things, who began as aStones-ish R&B band, but by this time were ready to take the leap that a sudden personnel change made easier.
The band launched itself whole-heartedly into a more sophisticatedstyle, both musically and lyrically. S.F. SORROW was even more of a concept album than SGT. PEPPER; in fact, thematically the songs hold together a lot better here. The theme concerns the life and times of a British everyman, and the songsare very much in the SGT. PEPPER mold, with production touches and vocal harmonies (not to mention song structures) very much in the Beatles vein, but it was a sound the Pretty Things arrived at more or less independently. Adding to the import of this release is the addition of some excellent, previously unreleased tracks.

Customer Reviews

A lost treasure, one of the top ten albums of the sixties.
Highly recommended. Make sure you buy the STEREO LIMITED EDITION GOLD CD VERSION (Snapper SDPCD 109)released 2000, not the mono one released 1998 on Original Masters.It's only a pound more and well worth it. It's been a personal favourite since I bought the original vinyl in 1968 and played it constantly, alongside Sgt.Pepper, Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Axis Bold as Love and Music in a Dolls House(Family). It's been excellently remastered from the original tapes, sounding as fresh and dynamic as it did way back then.

Fantastic!
Let's talk about concept albums. No, better still, let's talk about narrative concept albums, where having a theme isn't enough, the whole album has to read like a musical book. There are tons to choose from - Home's The Alchemist, Pink Floyd's The Wall, Genesis's The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, Jon Anderson's Olias Of Sunhillow, Frank Zappa's Joe's Garage...and so on and so on (nausea prevents me from mentioning Jeff Wayne or Rick Wakeman). The best known is probably The Who's Tommy, but which was the first?

Sgt Pepper doesn't really count (unless you think of it as a performance from entrance to encore, in which case it's really no more than a mock live album, is it?), neither does The Moody Blues' Days Of Future Passed (a whole day from midnight to midnight). So the answer is probably Nirvana's The Story Of Simon Simopath, the story of a boy who grows up dreaming of flying, then finally takes a trip into space where he has various adventures. Without anything to call the style, Nirvana plumped for "pantomime", which devalues the idea somewhat, but "rock opera" is no less misleading. Anyway, by the time Simopath was released (late 1967) the Pretty Things were already hard at work on S F Sorrow.

Here's the plot. Sebastian F Sorrow is born, grows up, falls in love, goes off to war and fights, then when peace is declared goes to live in America, sending his sweetheart a zeppelin ticket to come join him. She dies when the balloon explodes on landing. Traumatised, Sorrow wanders New York, meeting the mysterious Baron Saturday who takes him on a bizarre nightmarish journey ending with Sorrow being presented with himself in a hall of mirrors. Shocked out of his trauma, Sorrow is released to grow old in a world which doesn't understand him.

If it sounds like Tommy, you're right. This debate is so stupid it hardly needs repeating, but Tommy was based on Sorrow. No messing about. No historical reinterpretation. No contest. Bits of Tommy even sound like Sorrow - "Christmas" is a dead ringer for "Trust", for example. But whereas Tommy laboured the whole thing over four sides with endless instrumentals, throw away songs, constant padding (how many times can you say the same thing, as side four of Tommy does?) and ill-considered humour, Sorrow is tightly plotted, extraordinarily powerful and beautifully concise.

Historically, Sorrow sits firmly in the "psychedelic" phase the Pretties enjoyed between 1967 and 1970. Previous album "Emotions" saw them nudging toward the sound, but it was only when they hooked up with Abbey Road producer Norman Smith (ex-Beatles, and just having finished producing Pink Floyd's Piper At The Gates of Dawn) that things gelled. Smith worked wonders on the band. The first product of the union, included here, was the monumental "Defecting Grey", the most psychedelic thing the band did, and its dazzling B-side "Mr Evasion". Then came the album. As the sessions dragged, they released a second extraordinary psychedelic single - "Talkin' About The Good Times"/"Walking Through My Dreams", also included here - did some session work as Electric Banana to pay the bills (including a version of "I See You" - check out the Electric Banana album, it's great!), and underwent sundry personnel changes. On its eventual release in 1968, Sorrow was hardly promoted and did badly, but the follow-up "Parachute" (1970), another concept album (but not narrative) was an absolute triumph and is essential listening. They were really that good.

But "rock opera" gimmicks aside - is Sorrow worth getting? First, it's not very psychedelic in terms of mind-melting acid overload, it's not like the Small Faces' "Happiness Stan" say, so don't expect it to be one hell of a trip. There's only one brief out-of-body experience, the superb "Well of Destiny", but we're talking SONGS here, tightly written, perfectly arranged songs. Second, though the mono version has a lot more power, you really need the stereo (limited edition digipack) version for the full "psychedelic" effect. Both are available on Snapper, so make sure you know which one you're getting before you click on that Confirm button. The bonus tracks are in mono in both editions.

As for the music itself, it cooks throughout. Great tunes, played brilliantly, with sophisticated enough arrangements and clean enough production to stand up to anything released since. It's a period piece, but it really rocks. Guitars all over the place, a bit of mellotron, lots of phasing/panning/ADT etc. Embarrassing? Oh yes, the concept is really rather silly, and there are songs like "Bracelets of Fingers" (about masturbation!) which will make you crawl up the wall or run off to your nearest Who collection (they made tons of songs on the subject, must have been an obsession). Side two is the better side, from the superb "Baron Saturday" on, a devastating suite as Sorrow descends into his pit of nightmare.

It's time the narrative concept album made a return to popularity. There are few better ways to spend forty minutes than immerse yourself in the story of S F Sorrow. It's a film for your head, essentially. Close your eyes and give it the full-on Hollywood production job if you like, or make it gritty urban drama with plenty of blood and gore. No, really. This album is absolutely recommended.

Lost psychedelic classic from 1968...
'SF Sorrow', as many have noted is one of the great lost-albums of the era - it deserves to be ranked alongside such albums as 'Piper at the Gates of Dawn' & 'Sgt Pepper'- & belongs to a wider range of psychedelic-classics such as 'Odessey & Oracle' (The Zombies),'Surrealistic Pillow' (Jefferson Airplane)& 'Younger Than Yesterday' (The Byrds). It's also one of the first concept-albums - without it, I'm not sure if any of the following would exist: 'Tommy', 'The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway', 'The Dark Side of the Moon', 'Diamond Dogs', 'The Wall' etc (this may or may not be a good thing for some...).

'SF Sorrow' seems to completely define that British-take on psychedelia - producer Norman Smith ('Arnold Layne', 'See Emily Play') perfectly captures these perfect songs as The Pretty Things psych'd-out!!! The original-thirteen tracks are remastered & blend together wonderfully; while the four-bonus tracks include the bizarre see-sawing-schizo-epic 'Defecting Grey' (drifting from raga to psych to full-on lo-fi punk & off into sinister drones that the Floyd would borrow heavily from) & 'Talkin' About the Good Times'- which sounds like a mellowier-Who...

The album itself is perfect, every track a killer- I wonder why it hasn't been sampled to death by some pioneering electronicartist? It sounds even better than the post-modern sixties stylings of The Dukes of Stratosphear & The Wondermints- possibly as it was the real thing (...just sadly overlooked at the time). 'Baron Saturday' is probably my favourite- having loops that remind me of M83 & DJ Shadow, a percussive-middle that reminds me of Can's 'Halleluwah' & a Lennonesque-vocal that cuts across the Sydesque one! 'I See You' predicts Ride of 'Going Blank Again', while 'She Says Good Morning' offers up a groovy-alternative to The Small Faces (sounding like a blissed-out 'Song of the Baker').

'SF Sorrow' is a complete cult-classic, one that is perfect in this budget-price, remastered edition (replete with great pics, lyrics & sleevenotes). A highlight of my retro-take on the sixties and of its time and timeless; a lost psychedelic classic from 1968-