SB & Q: Music Download

Sutherland Brothers & Quiver from the Beat of the Street album cover

 

 

Here's the Christmas single that the band made as a flexi-disc in 1972 and gave away free at shows, etc. I wasn't lucky enough to get it then, but - at enormous expense - I got lucky on eBay.

Note: because the track is taken from that flexi-disc and converted to MP3, it contains the inevitable clicks and crackles that are typical of vinyl recordings, although these are minimal. To download, right click on the title and select the option Save Target As... or Save Link As.... Best of luck & enjoy the fun. If you just want to listen to it, left-click the link instead.

Sutherland Brothers 1972 Xmas Song

Last year, I mentioned a recording that Iain and Gavin had made for John Peel's Top Gear when they were called New Direction and Gavin very kindly sent me the recordings he has of the show. With his permission, I've put them on this website for fans to enjoy. They'll give you an impression of how the group sounded back before they became well known. Gavin actually got these recordings from Ian Bannister, who recorded them from a radio onto an old Philips cassette recorder by open microphone. Quality, therefore isn't exactly ideal, but as pieces of history, they're great.

I've also taken the opportunity to upload some tracks by the band that were on singles or US editions of LPs and were never released on  CD, so they are otherwise unavailable. The quality can, at times, be ropey, simply because they are coming from well-played vinyl. However it's the only way you are likely to be able to hear these fine songs performed by this great band. I have lots more that I could put up, including live concert material, stuff recorded for the BBC and solo stuff that's not on CD. I think I'd better get permission before I chuck all that stuff onto the web, though.

Gavin and Iain are happy to waive their copyright on this material, so I'm happy to offer downloaders the chance, through an honesty box, to donate to a charity that has some relationship with the band. I already do this on the Tim Rose website, where money raised goes via JustGiving to the NSPCC.

So if you enjoy the downloads I've listed here, please click on the Honesty Box opposite and donate 65p ($1) per track, of which proceeds will go to the RNLI (fans will understand the significance). If you're a UK taxpayer, you can add Gift Aid to this sum. If you want an acknowledgement, please email me. Meanwhile, here's the tunes:

Honesty Box

  
Honesty Box

New Generation (for Top Gear)

A Brush With Sister Jo Sadie And Her Magic Mr Galahad Eleanor Rigby
Skippy Fair Soldier Boy  
 SB&Q singles not on albums, so not commercially available
Heartbreaker (an early single on the Spark label, under the group name "The Baby" with Christopher Kemp on keyboards & John Wright on drums.
Who's Crying Now? (b-side of Sailing in UK) Silver Sister (b-side of Saviour in the Rain) Annie (single version)
We Get Along (b-side of Arms of Mary) When Will I Be Loved? (1981 single) Love Sick (1981 single)
The US version of Lifeboat had five different tracks. Two, Sailing and You Got Me Anyway have now had CD releases; here's the others.
Have You Had a VisionRock & Roll ShowNot Fade Away
And this is a real find. When the CD releases came out, the brilliant Sorrow was omitted from Lifeboat & replaced by Sailing, so here it is!

And now, as a bit of entertainment (no donation required) have a listen to each of these pairs of audio clips and then answer the question.
Sailing Version 1 Sailing Version 2 Arms of Mary Version 1 Arms of Mary Version 2

Two live versions of Sailing, but who is the performer on each?

Once you have worked it out, hover over (but don't click on)

The Answer to find out.

Two pairs of brothers singing Arms of Mary, but who are they?

Once you have worked it out, hover over (but don't click on)

The Answer to find out

As a bonus, here's the interview that Gavin Sutherland gave to Matt White of BBC Radio Stoke in June 2013. It includes a live version of Nobody Does it Like You, from his CD Tango at the Lost Café. (Duration: 15 min 44 sec.)

 

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