S.F. Sorrow

Amazingly, this is the first time I've listened to this album. It sounds like so many other late 60s albums - but I suspect this was the album that invented that sound.

S.F. sorrow and Old Man Going are great tracks but overall it was a bit boring. I get its one of the first rock operas but it didn't suit well for me

Odd. Very odd. Story / lyrics interesting (which does not mean good), music varies with the story. Concept albums have come a long way!

This album was average, nothing really stood out to me and I didn't like some of the songs at all.

Sounds like The Beatles and Beach Boys Like the psyadelic stuff V.good

Imagine if the Beatles, Syd Barret-era Floyd, Wall-era Floyd, and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard got together to drop acid and make a concept album. Loved it.

okish 60s wurble.

they honestly sounded a lot like the Beatles to me. i was excited for a ROCK opera but it really wasn’t and it didn’t tell a story. it was fine, just nothing incredible.

The so-called "first rock opera?" - I thought I'd be down for this but....ehh? So I didn't want to leave a lame review like the above but so why is, say, "Tommy" (which apparently these guys thought was at least somewhat cribbed from them...ok...) so much better? Not really fair of me to compare the two since I've heard Tommy about 400 times in my life and this exactly once, today. If I had to hazard a guess, there's no anchor - there's no obvious central musical theme, and/or no "killer single" - just a bunch of very psychedelic-sounding nice enough songs, some have some really nice harmonies (e.g. "The Journey"), but it's honestly hard to really remember any of them. i.e. where's the album's "Pinball Wizard" or "Tommy Can You Hear Me?" I might need a few more listens to fully digest the story/opera part and I suppose I could since I didn't dislike it...but I kinda don't want to. Just a touch above boring as an album. Maybe a good long 17 minute epic would have tied everything together, but to be fair that's not so easily well-done. Speaking of which, I'll head over to my copy of "Supper's Ready..." 5/10 2 stars.

Absolutely blown away by this phenomenal album I had not heard of until today. A blend of Sgt peppers, Early Who, Pink Floyd, the Kinks and many other bands I can't think of right now. Definitely peak 60s psychedelia. It reminds of a less pretentious Tommy with a big focus on sound.

3.8 - Definitely defied my expectations - I was feeling a little burnt out on music from 1968. At 17 tracks, this album is long but doesn't drag. Most songs feel composed but there's enough slack to give a sense of spontaneity. This one's stronger as a unified piece than as a vehicle to deliver hits, which probably explains why it came to be wholly unfamiliar. Worth a second listen down the road.

Rimelig god psychedelic. Rock-opera. Vildt lyddesign!

godkendt psychrockalbum

Psykedelisk 60’er rock, stemningsfyldt, svingende

First Listen. I am sure back in the 60's this might have been something. but, to hear it now in 2021 for the first time. It kind of loses something. It does have some good sounds, so I'll give it a chance again in the future. 2/5 for now.

A bit too beatlesy and i'm not a beatles person to begin with.

As a whole, I found the album to be a pleasant listen but looking back, I can’t really recall any individual song.

Started off strong, but it got old 3 songs in and it was just irritatingly Beatlesy after that

Once you get past the far too blatant influences—there's an unfathomable amount of irony knowing their lead singer accused the Who of ripping off their record when they LITERALLY recorded "Baron Saturday" at Abbey Road—S.F. Sorrow has his moments. It wasn't gripping enough for me to really follow the overarching narrative beyond the inevitable "he's sad about a girl," and the stereo mix of the album is so distractingly terrible with its excessive panning and artifacts that the band themselves prefer the mono mix (there are parts in "I See You" that made me think my headphones were being jostled loose), but there were a handful of energetic tracks that made me take notice. Another one for the "more historically relevant than entertaining" file, but at least the Key Tracks are especially key this time. Just make sure you go out of your way and find the mono version. Key Tracks: Bracelets of Fingers, Balloon Burning, Old Man Going

this album sounds like a deepfake trained on all the rock music from 1968. it sounds the part but is just meandering and halfhearted. get paid I guess

Interesting from a history kind of thing, but no real stand out songs for me, all just good.

an unexpected gem. Sounds like the Beatles.

Not a bad album. Felt like it had a lot of different elements from the 60s in this between the psychedelic/guitar riffs/trippy lyrics. Feel like this was a pretty underrated album. 7.4/10

Very Beatles-y, but not in a bad mimicking way. They tip strength in the psychedelic rock better than the fab 4, albeit not as catchy

decent rock album, the fact it tells a story is noticeable even when you don't pay attention and overal its an alright gimmick

Not my cup of tea.

Noice as

Thought I was listening to lost Beatles songs! Great musical journey.

Träger Hippie-Harlekin 68er Psych Rock. Es schimmert etwas die Kaputtheit der späteren Olivia Tremor Control durch. Malo gibt weniger als 1.6

Had no idea what this was when I loaded it up to stream, but I guess this was out around the same time as The Who’s Tommy. That one is a classic. I’d never heard of this one before which suggests it was overshadowed by Tommy then as well as now

Apparently this is the first rock opera and tells the story of a person (S.F. Sorrow) from birth to death. This sounds an interesting concept, but not one I would have noticed had I not read it on wikipedia. I'm sure it would emerge on repeated listens with and/or with closer attention, but I didn't enjoy the music enough to be motivated to do that. Basically this is an just-about-ok 1960s/70s psychedelic rock album. It starts in a fairly accessible way (I like the opening track, 'S.F. Sorrow is born') but becomes harder work later on. I didn't hate it, but didn't really like it much either. 2/5.

Like a watered-down Stones, which not watered-down is cringe enough

pretty decent.

Nice rock opera. Reminds me of the late Beatles and even Pink Floyd sometimes. Will definitely listen to it again!

To me, this is the definition of an album "you must hear before you die". This album was just fun... And, although I'm going to pre-empt the significant number of people who will mention the similarities and idea taken from The Beatles, once you delve into the history of the members the album takes on a life of its own. One of the more interesting links being the members' connections to The Rolling Stones for example. I just had heaps of fun listening to this album and managed a good 3 listens over the past 24 hours with each listen becoming more and more enjoyable. Added to my ever-growing high rotation playlist!

I thought I was a sucker for sunshine pop; turns out I'm a sucker for good sunshine pop. Stick to Tommy. Choice Cuts: Bracelets Of Fingers, Defecting Grey

Very much of its time, sounds like Beatles. Some funky tracks but overall not my bag. 2/5

Importanti

Rock setentista sem empolgar.

Solid, trippy psychedelic sounds from the 60s. I will listen again. I liked it 3.5 stars

Pretty cool concept album. I definitely hear The Beatles and The Who in here. Apparently one of the first concept rock operas. "Tommy" emerged from this? "Baron Saturday" "Mr Evasion" "Private Sorrow" "S.F. Sorrow is Born" are standouts.

Is it reductive to compare every British rock group to the Beatles? Probably. But that is the chief sound I'm getting from the first two songs. Some take a significantly stronger slant towards psychedelic rock, not complaining. Good record to set a specific "vibe" - think it works well to listen in the background versus needing rapt attention from the audience.

Meh not great but not bad

60's Psychedelia. These guys wish they were the Beatles, but they really aren't. Not actually awful, but I'm surprised this has made a top 1000 list.

Meh not bad but not good

Rating: 8/10 Best songs: She says good morning, Balloon burning, Baron Saturday,

this is good the segues are immaculate balance is a little weird though sometimes I can’t hear what the lyrics are

A curious album. I enjoyed the opening tracks but there were too many silly voices and meandering psychedelic moments for me to truly get into. An album of its time - not one to revisit.

How have I never heard of them? Wonderful.

El día de la bicicleta. No mucho más para agregar. Está bueno pero para una única pasada. 5/10 ludomatics.

Los coros de Trust me hicieron acordar a algunas cosas de los Beatles. Estuvo bien 3/5

Very cool, similar to The Wall. Need another listen

One song in, had to look to Wikipedia to learn more about this. It feels like it should be on a special list of, say, 100 weird albums that were hugely influential or otherwise served as turning points in music". Honestly, much of what I'm hearing feels like it was done elsewhere and I don't know whether the other stuff references this or the other way around. There's a quality of pastiche that is interesting. It feels like it's probably not a widely know album for good reasons, but it's still an interesting one to learn about. But, yeah, the more I listen.. it's good. Not one I'd necessarily turn to, but not one I'd turn off either.

I'm not big on psychedelic music. It was ok.

Defecting Grey is fucking hilarious. I See You is great. Trust is my favorite. Second half much better than the first. Outro of Talkin About the Good Times is nasty perfect. Excessive use of stereo hurts it, but those were the times.

This was a new band and new music for me. "S.F. Sorrow Is Born" was my favorite track, which I'd listen to again. I heard hints of the Beatles, the Kinks and Pink Floyd in a few of songs. "Old Man Going" reminded me of some of the psychodelic music I'm familiar with from the 60s. The album was okay.

Meh.

Rock opera. Great lyrics. Interesting to read how this album influenced future, more popular rock operas.

lots of beatles vibes but still stands on its own. classic late 60s psych vibes

Have to keep forgetting that it sounds so much like a slightly more murderous Beatles.

As a long-time fan of what some categorize as "hippie music," I find it interesting that quite consistently I dislike this kind of music, which I understand is often labelled "psychedelic rock." Nothing wrong with it, and the musicians on this album are great, but I just never seem to enjoy this style of rock. It grates on me.

More perfectly adequate mush for the white man mill.

"Through dark forrrests of my myyyind" sings Phil May on I See You, attempting to enter a higher plane via excruciating vocal affect. Truly bottom of the barrel stuff and another flabbergasting inclusion on the list. I feel like I'm being deliberately tested.

deffo not my type of music. I'm three songs down and I know. However I can tell its good music. like although its not my type of music I can acknowledge its good music. so props to it!!!

Not bad but is there anything remarkable?

Very enjoyable psych rock album! Had not heard of this before so it was a great discovery.

Album estilo rock clásico/psicodélico de los '60. Interesante y agradable de escuchar, pero no es algo que haya enganchado en exceso.

Good vibe but also kinda feels like a knock off beetles

Surprised I haven't heard of the band before, great album. Better than a lot of more popular rock/pysch rock from the 60s that's more famous imo

Het heeft wel iets, maar ik werd er niet warm van. Het concept van een rock opera spreekt me duidelijk meer aan dan de uitvoering.

Weinig speciaals. In vergelijking is Tommy van The Who, het soortgelijke conceptalbum dat al eerder passeerde, nog net iets beter

.

who doesnt love dire straights

Enjoyed it. Not normally a fan of the ‘concept’ album per se but this works for me, I guess because the songs stand out in their own right. A Beatlesy vibe to it too which is fine by me

It was alright but I wouldn’t seek them out. ***

60s.fine.

Ihan ok brittirokkia. Wikipedian mukaan tämä oli pioneeri rock-oopperoiden alalla. Ei tullut kuitenkaan tarinaa kuunneltua sillä korvalla. Peruskolmonen riittänee tälle.

Mooie rock! Misschien zelfs 5 sterren waard.

You probably need to be on acid to really enjoy this album. It's got a few decent tracks, the others are too far out there for my taste.

Who could ever have thought, going back to the Pretty Things' first recording session in 1965 -- which started out so disastrously that their original producer quit in frustration -- that it would come to this? The Pretty Things' early history in the studio featured the band with its amps seemingly turned up to 11, but for much of S.F. Sorrow the band is turned down to seven or four, or even two, or not amplified at all (except for Wally Allen's bass -- natch), and they're doing all kinds of folkish things here that are still bluesy enough so you never forget who they are, amid weird little digressions on percussion and chorus; harmony vocals that are spooky, trippy, strange, and delightful; sitars included in the array of stringed instruments; and an organ trying hard to sound like a Mellotron. Sometimes one gets an echo of Pink Floyd's Piper at the Gates of Dawn or A Saucerful of Secrets, and it all straddles the worlds of British blues and British psychedelia better than almost any record you can name. The album, for those unfamiliar, tells the story of \"S.F. Sorrow,\" a sort of British Everyman -- think of a working-class, luckless equivalent to the Kinks' Arthur, from cradle to grave. The tale and the songs are a bit downbeat and no amount of scrutiny can disguise the fact that the rock opera S.F. Sorrow is ultimately a bit of a confusing effort -- these boys were musicians, not authors or dramatists. Although it may have helped inspire Tommy, it is, simply, not nearly as good. That said, it was first and has quite a few nifty ideas and production touches. And it does show a pathway between blues and psychedelia that the Rolling Stones, somewhere between Satanic Majesties, \"We Love You,\" \"Child of the Moon,\" and Beggars Banquet, missed entirely. [This CD reissue on Snapper adds four valuable songs from their 1967-1968 singles (\"Defecting Grey,\" \"Mr. Evasion,\" \"Talkin' About the Good Times,\" and \"Walking Through My Dreams\"). This version of \"Defecting Grey\" is the original, long, uncut five-minute rendition, and not of trivial importance; it's superior to the shorter one used on the official single.]

2/5

There are a few tracks I liked esp at the beginning, but this somehow felt like it just dragged on even though it wasn’t that long , and as is standard for rock operas, the mixing is just awful. 6/10

Weird and good!! Beatles vibes. Low 9

Reminded me of The Beatles at times, pretty easy to listen to, though nothing that exciting or special. Some of the audio mixing at the beginning was distractingly bad, but it got better over time.

Oh yeah, SF Sorrow... SF Sorrow is the kind of dippy hippy bullshit I think about when I think about dippy hippy bullshit that I'm actually completely unfamiliar with. It felt like it took heavy influence from earlier psychedelic works, but I wasn't really sold on the narrative, mostly because I didn't know what the fuck was going on. Apparently The Pretty Things think that The Who stole the format of rock-opera for Tommy, but that's lame. A rock opera was an inevitability; I think they are sore only because The Who did it better.

Beatles-esque concept album. not my fav.

The concept was better than the execution. Feel a bit mean to only give it two stars as I felt like they reached for the stars but frankly I wouldn't rush to listen again.

8/10. I can see why people think this inspired Tommy. Certainly the albums start similarly enough, but this one manages to be even more depressing, which is an achievement in itself. I'm never as much a fan of Rock Operas that can't tell their stories too well with lyrics alone, but that doesn't entirely apply here because I am pretty sure the story is more just a series of unfortunate events with no strong connective tissue.

Sounds good but that's not my cup of tea.

obra maestra

De stereo mix is heel afleidend. Verder wel mooi rustige rock.

Has the grandiose story of all rock operas along with all the quirks in production and music that tends to follow with it. There were certainly compelling musical moments on this album but overall the production was too inconsistent and the vocals were too dubious to keep me from wanting to return to this. 7

A good back up in case the Beatles don’t show

I too have listened to the Beatles

1968 Rock, eine der ersten Rockopern, nicht ganz mein geschmack

What if the Beatles were from Kent? But they still wrote Sgt. Peppers? But nobody cared and they never got famous?

Rock

Meh

really dig this group, some nice classic rock sounds with some beatles-like psychedelic nature

Yeah, ok, the first rock opera! Pretty psychedelic sounding, some obvious proggy elements - I enjoyed it, especially on a second listen. Would like to hear a version with Arthur Brown reciting the chunks of text between tracks - that'd be great! Fave track - "Death", I think? "Private Sorrow" was great too...

It was ok.

boring

Eh

Very psychedelic and 60s-esque. Clearly heavily influenced by Pet Sounds and the Beatles - but not quite as good! Reminds me of Tommy a little bit in that there is clearly a story, but the music all sort of blends together for me.

decent psychadelic rock

I'm happy to have listened to what's considered the first concept album, but this is some lesser 60's pop rock and this list is chock full of lots of the same. My burnout of more of the same from this era is definitely affecting my rating here.

1.5 meh

It might be my mood, my foot injury, or just all around exhaustion from this existence - but the album of the day is not landing at all. It's a concept album, or like a rock opera that apparently inspired Roger Daltrey of The Who to write Tommy. It feels a bit meandering to me right now and I'm trying to appreciate it's place in the British invasion and psychedelia. It's like this band put together the entire blueprint for something very familiar, and all the music is here and accounted for. But other bands (The Stones, The Who, et al) came and took this music and made it better and more accessible. But the music is here and the purists know.

Nice pleasant rock. 3.5

First rock opera and it's fine. A little long, has it's moments but also quite a bit of filler making it just fine.

Un mix entre les Beatles et les Who. Parfois inégal sur le long de l'album.

Some of it was very good, just dragged on a bit

Cooler than I expected. Very fun listen. Lots of noises. Very sensory. Definitely one of the most creative albums I’ve listened to thus far. They really go all over the place with instrumentation

4

Most of it just sounds like a Beatles facsimile, but a couple of these rock pretty hard.

Beatles vibes

1.5

This is very Beatles-esque, but they do it very well. I assume in the late 60s there were probably a bunch of bands with a similar sound. This is supposedly the first rock opera album, and that aspect of the album works really well, there's a nice progression throughout. I don't understand how I haven't heard this before, there are some great tunes here, and lots of unique and new sounds. I really enjoyed this.

Interesting rock opera that apparently beat Tommy to the punch. Deserves a more extended listen on my part.

Love this album, and relish the excuse to listen to it this evening.

"Mom can we get some Tommy?" "We have Tommy at home." Tommy at home: [Yes I know this came out first, I still prefer Tommy]

VERY 60's. Kinda Beatles like

How quickly we forget our influences, dammed to a corner, walled off from the universal march toward rapture. How wonderful it must be to experience it all at all, just for a little while.

boring

Very enjoyable. A bit different but I like it

Pretty cool

Fun diverse album

Beat and easy psych vibes. This feels like pre-Beatles and doors weirdness. Very good stuff here

5/5

At the time I’m sure this must’ve been compared to The Beatles but it holds up

Nope, nope, nope.

Pretty decent for chilling and listening to while working.

- initially reminded me of The Beatles - later gave me Rolling Stones type vibes - overall very classic rock sounding - I didn't hate listening to this album, but I do not see myself reaching for it anytime soon - it just didn't speak to me

Psychedelic rock opera that sounds like it was recorded at Abbey Road Studios during the Summer of Love (because it was). Some of the distortion-based experiments didn't work, but this is a great album that was a joy for me to discover. Best track: Bracelets of Fingers

Some small twinges of late stage Beatles in here

Ambitious, you can definitely tell how influential this album was

1968: I See You, Bracelets of Fingers

3.5/5. I liked this album, nothing really stuck out to me though.

Great Album and Band.

I AM LOVING THIS. So-so start. But She says good morning, private sorrow, absolute bops! Guitar riffs are superb.

lol yet another album from the late 60s. Sounds exactly like British rock of the time, goes for an hour. No surprises, no reason to include it in the list. 2/5.

really good rock opera, comparable to the beatles

Big too hippy dippy that one.. didn’t quite have the melodies to cut through.