Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Medium Wave Link , 25 Feb 2007
The Sutherland Brothers Band debut album from 1971 was played over and over again in my Central London bed-sit on my Ultra record player. They played live at the Marquee in those days when I became a fan and at that time the band comprised of Iain and Gavin on vocals, steel, piano and harmonica with Kim Ludman on bass and Neil Hopwood on drums. Produced by the brilliant Muff Winwood, ten of the eleven tracks were written by Gavin and only one by Iain. That one track, however, was the lead off track, half vocal, half instrumental, 'The Pie' which featured so heavily on Radio Luxembourg (medium wave 208) at the time and should have been a much bigger hit than it ever was.
Originally on Island, this folk/rock album, re-released CD by Sony is a welcome addition to the almost complete Sutherland Brothers back catalogue, still one album (Down To Earth) unreleased on CD at this time. Other tracks of note here, are I Was In Chains covered by Paul Young, the 5 minute long, War Of The Roses and Long Long Day.
The follow-up Lifeboat album was in my opinion overall a stronger set, but for any true SB+Q fans, this debut album is a must. In 1973 Tim Renwick's Quiver joined forces and his brilliant guitar playing gave the band a welcome added dimension which is clearly heard on the fab Dream Kid album (last on Island) which I bought in March 1974 (unsure of actual release date). Most of the songwriting was shared on future albums and release dates for the SBQ albums on CBS are as follows :-
Reach For The Sky 7/11/75
Slipstream 17/9/76
Down To Earth 2/9/77
When The Night Come Down 25/5/79 (SB only)
Iain Sutherland had 2 solo albums released on Avatar and Metronome and are both highly recommended. Mixed Emotions was released in 1983 and Fandango (on cover) or Learning To Dance (on LP) released in 1985 with both Gavin and Tim featuring. Gavin also had a solo album Beat of My Heart in 1982 which I must have missed. He has also had a more recent album release on Corazong in 2000 with Diamonds and Gold and is still making music with My World a recent excellent available download.
In conclusion, this welcome re-release would have been even better if additional tracks had been made available. She's A Soldier, Digger, Mr.Sir Galahad, Smokey Blues Away from the bands previous New Generation days and Have You Had A Vision and Rock n Roll Show from the Bargain Bin Brothers LP would have definitely elevated this to a 5 star release.
Tried writing to Sony with no response so, Come on someone else, get those missing tracks and Down to Earth released on CD, we fans deserve a new Best Of SBQ Volume 2.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
melancholy folk, 25 Mar 2008
I just love this band I saw them for the first time in 1975 and I became hooked. This album was their first and I think probably their best. The stand out track is the magnificent "Pie," why this was not a hit I don't know. But the rest are also very good, Long Long Day is probably the track I would like to be played at my funeral. Midnight Avenue is another classic, there is not a bad song on the whole album. Why the songs on this and their other albums have not been covered by other musicians is anyones guest. There is a treasure trove of wonderful music here waiting to be discovered.
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