Sorrows

Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow

Big Stir Records

The material on this album was recorded in 1981, but never released, kept tucked away in Arthur Alexander's closet. Sorrows were a NYC new wave/punk band whose 1980 debut album, Teenage Heartbreak, was critically acclaimed. The follow up, Love Too Late, was shelved by all kinds of label problems until its triumphant release by Big Stir in 2021.

Maybe because Parting has been unheard until now, it sounds so new and fresh, a lot better than much of what I’ve heard of today’s punk. Maybe that’s because it’s grounded in the blues, 60s garage rock, and British invasion bands, while not sounding third hand.

The album includes terrific originals like “What A Good Boy” and “You Don’t Own Me.” “Cricket Man” is a great John Lennon homage. There's an inspired cover of the Stones’ “Have You Seen Your Mother Baby, Standing In the Shadow?” 

I’d venture a guess that if this had been released in 1981, it would’ve taken them places, as everything was so much more open to this kind of music then than now. So if you want to hear the past without nostalgia, just a good album, this is it. One from the vaults that was worth the wait.

Andrea Weiss