Today, we're spotlighting three recent "Complete" collections from Cherry Red's Grapefruit imprint.

"We played punk before punk was invented!"  That quote by vocalist Don Fardon of The Sorrows opens up Grapefruit's new 4-CD set Pink Purple Yellow and Red: The Complete Sorrows.  The R&B band formed in Coventry in 1963 and became a fixture on the mod scene; later, they were retroactively branded "freakbeat" for their aggressive and edgy style of R&B and rock and roll.  Fardon, lead guitarist Philip "Pip" Whitcher, bassist Philip Packham, rhythm guitarist Terry Jukes, and drummer Bruce Finlay founded the original group, hooking up with famously unconventional producer Joe Meek for their first recordings.  This anthology takes listeners from the Meek recordings - including four tracks never heard before - through all of the band's '60s recordings and subsequent tracks from the '70s and '80s, too.

The first disc has the Meek tracks as well as the Kinks-influenced rockers that were released as singles in 1965-1967 on Pye's Piccadilly imprint as well as album tracks and outtakes.  (Wez Price replaced Jukes in the line-up after the band's first single was released.)  Much of The Sorrows' output was written by Whitcher and Fardon, with other songs coming from the pens of Clive Westlake and Mort Shuman ("Baby"), The Lovin' Spoonful ("My Gal"), and Isaac Hayes, David Porter, and Teenie Hodges ("I Take What I Want," originally recorded by Sam and Dave).  Miki Dallon's "Take a Heart" became the ticket to The Sorrows' success, however.  With its primal bass-and-drums-centric arrangement and Don Fardon's dark, aggressive vocal, it didn't sound like much else on the charts.  (That sound would be aped for Fardon's solo hit "Indian Reservation" and then on Paul Revere and The Raiders' subsequent U.S. smash.)  "Take a Heart" went to No. 21 on the U.K. Singles Chart and remained on the chart for eight weeks, becoming a beat-era classic.   The follow-up "You've Got What I Want" was an even more wild and unhinged spin on the style of "Take a Heart," but failed to register save a top 50 placement on the NME survey.

By the end of 1966, though, Fardon and Packham departed the group.  The remaining three members soldiered on, though, and added Roger Lomas as second guitarist.  Disc 2 rewinds to present the complete stereo Take a Heart album (1965) before addressing the band's German and Italian recordings including the Ennio Morricone collaborations for the Italian film Come Imparai Amare Le Donne, or How I Learned to Love Women.  Italy, in particular, took the band to heart, and this disc has their re-recordings of their U.K. songs in the Italian language.  When Pye at home passed on further recordings, The Sorrows - by now experiencing numerous personnel changes, all detailed in David Wells' comprehensive liner notes - returned to Italy to record for the Miura label.  CD 3 has the band's 1968-1969 Miura output along with originally unreleased demos and non-Sorrows singles by Pip Whitcher and guitarist Roger Lomas; by this time, the rest of the music business had caught up with the psychedelic sound that The Sorrows pioneered.  The fourth and final disc documents more demos (including takes on "We Can Work It Out," "New York Mining Disaster 1941," "Dear Mr. Fantasy," and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood") as well as a 1980 gig from the reunited group featuring Pip Whitcher, Wez Price, Philip Packham, and Bruce Finlay.

The 32-page full-color booklet is loaded with memorabilia and liner notes.  Oli Hemingway has remastered the package; it's candidly noted that the demo album on CD 4 has been mastered from the sole surviving acetate copy of the album and is therefore not up to the set's typical standard of sound quality.  Pink Purple Yellow and Red: The Complete Sorrows is housed in Cherry Red's by-now-familiar clamshell case, with each disc in an individual paper sleeve.  While the story of The Sorrows is, well, a sorrowful one - ahead-of-its-time band fails to attain much in the way of commercial success - the music they've left behind still holds up as some of the most energetic, driving mod rock of the era.

While The Sorrows could be considered proto-psychedelic, Fire embodied the psychedelic sound.  The trio co-founded by future Strawbs member Dave Lambert is the subject of Grapefruit's Father's Name Is Dad: The Complete Fire.  If Fire is known today at all, it's for the 1970 album The Magic Shoemaker.  Once valued as one of the top ten most collectible U.K. LPs, just two copies are for sale on Discogs - both over $1,000.00 USD each.  That whimsical fairy-tale concept album is here on this 3-CD set, along with demos, rehearsal performances, and a 2007 live recording of The Magic Shoemaker.

Fire, originally Hounslow band Friday's Chyld, caught the attention of managers John Turner and Derek Savage who negotiated a deal with Decca for the band (vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Lambert, bassist Dick Dufall, and drummer Bob Voice) as well as a songwriting contract with The Beatles' Apple Publishing for Dave Lambert.  The collection opens with the band's first Decca single.  An original pressing of the Who-meets-bubblegum-esque "Father's Name Is Dad" b/w "Treacle Toffee World" could also set you back nearly a thousand bucks.  The 45 caught the attention of Paul McCartney, who was so impressed with the A-side that he demanded a remix to up its commercial potential.  Both versions are on Grapefruit's set, the second a more muscular mix with additional vocals and guitar.  Yet despite the support of McCartney and Apple, the single went nowhere.  Fire continued to demo Lambert's strong compositions; many of these demos are on the first CD, a couple of which are previously unreleased.  Also featured is Fire's second single, "Round the Gum Tree" b/w "Toothy Ruthie."  Both were outside compositions recorded by the band under duress - the first was penned by Apple Publishing's Mike Berry and the second by Fire's managers.  Lambert was suitably unimpressed, and soon divested the group from both Apple and the Turner/Savage duo.

Lambert turned his attention to crafting a whimsical, pop-prog-psych concept album about a shoemaker who cobbles magic shoes.  Blending spoken-word with soft, folkish balladry and thunderous hard rock, The Magic Shoemaker was stylistically all over the place.  Paul Brett and Lambert's future Strawbs collaborator Dave Cousins joined on guitar and banjo, respectively, and new manager Ray Hammond was enlisted for narration.  While arguably not cohesive or consistent enough, The Magic Shoemaker was another leap forward for Lambert's talents as a composer and lyricist.  When it failed to chart, Lambert disbanded the group.  The complete album and Lambert's 1969 composer demos are featured on CD 2.  He briefly reactivated the Fire name with new members Graham Keedy, Pete Sully, and Dennis Taylor later in 1970; that line-up is represented here by two demos.

In 1972, Lambert joined Strawbs.  He would remain in the group through 1978, rejoining in 2004; he's still in Strawbs today.  But in 2007, Lambert got his other band back together, and the original Fire plus narrator Ray Hammond performed an expanded version of The Magic Shoemaker in concert at Surrey's Windlesham Theatre.  That performance, complete with a new overture and additional material, is presented on CD 3 here.

The three CDs are housed in a cardboard slipcase also containing a 20-page booklet with David Wells' detailed liner notes drawing on new commentary from Dave Lambert.  Simon Murphy has remastered the audio for this compelling chronicle of Lambert's pre-Strawbs collective which anticipated that band's mélange of folk, pop, and progressive rock.

Grapefruit has brought together the oeuvre of another collectible band with the 2-CD release of Beeside: The Complete Recordings from Tintern Abbey.  Don Smith, David MacTavish (later of Big Bertha and Velvet Opera), John Dalton, and Stuart Mackay released just one single in eighteen months of existence.  1967's "Beeside" b/w "Vacuum Cleaner" - both sides written by MacTavish and produced by Jonathan Webber for Decca's contemporary pop-rock arm Deram Records - has fetched over $1,200.00 on the Discogs Marketplace, a testament to both its rarity and its haunting, hashish-inspired psych-rock sound.  Now, Grapefruit has expanded upon that lone release with this 36-song anthology drawn from bassist Stuart Mackay's personal tape archive.

The acid-influenced "Beeside," featuring producer Webber on Mellotron, was selected as the A-side for the irony ("Beeside" - B-side!) but "Vacuum Cleaner" was the more hard-hitting track with pyrotechnic guitar from Don Smith (who reveals in the liner notes that he preferred uppers to any mind-altering substances).  The same week the single was released in November '67, the band was already at work on a follow-up 45 to feature the ethereal ode "Tanya" and the impressionistic "Snowman," the latter with more Mellotron, backward tape, spoken whispers, and spacey effects.  But despite the obvious strength of the latter track, the band members abandoned it.

Don Smith left the group in December.  David Gilmour was courted to replace him but the band found the future Pink Floyd legend's style "too spiky," per Mackay.  Instead, Paul Brett was brought on to fill the lead guitar role for Tintern's busy live schedule.  With Brett firmly ensconced, the band returned to the studio.  "How Do I Feel Today?" b/w "Do What You Must" was earmarked for single release but the A-side never progressed from the demo stage.  John Dalton then left the ranks, replaced by Gilmour's former Bullitt bandmate John "Willie" Wilson.  Deram continued recording the group, and a previously unreleased test acetate including Wilson premieres here.  David Wells' liner notes reveal that a full album was mooted but never recorded, and Deram soon dropped the band.

Tintern persevered for a while, with Paul Brett joining Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera and that band's Colin Forster filling his role in Tintern.  But by February 1969, the group was no more.  Beeside: The Complete Recordings reveals a stylistically diverse band with evocative psychedelia, whimsical pop, poetic musings, and dramatic showstoppers.  This collection debuts many previously unheard songs as well as alternate versions of the two released tracks.  All told, only eight of the 36 tracks have been issued before, making this an indispensable addition to any shelf of 1960s British psych.  Beeside is housed in a six-panel digipak and includes a 24-page booklet with David Wells' definitive chronicle of the band featuring new recollections by Mackay, Smith, and Brett.  Oli Hemingway has remastered from Mackay's original tapes and acetates.

All three titles are available now from Grapefruit and Cherry Red at the links below.

Tintern Abbey, Beeside: The Complete Recordings (Grapefruit Records/Cherry Red, 2021) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Disc 1

1. Beeside (Deram Single)
2. Vacuum Cleaner (Deram Single)
3. Snowman (Master 1)
4. Tanya
5. Black Jack
6. Bodmin Blow
7. My Prayer (Early Version)
8. Let the Wind Blow
9. Stickleback
10. Busy Bee
11. Snowman (Early Acetate Version)
12. Beeside (Acetate Mix)
13. Vacuum Cleaner (Acetate Mix)
14. Do What You Must (Acetate Version 1)
15. How Do I Feel Today? (Acetate Version 1)
16. Hookah
17. People Can't See (Acetate Version 1)
18. Naked Song (aka Seeds of Discord)

Disc 2

1. Nightfall
2. Daisy (Polydor Studios Version)
3. Blue Pants
4. People Can't See (Acetate Version 2)
5. How Do I Feel Today? (Decca Acetate Version)
6. Magic Horsemen
7. My Zoo
8. Dream (aka Song of Despair)
9. My House
10. Life Goes By
11. My Prayer (Version 2)
12. Raspberry Ripple
13. Daisy (Version 2)
14. Reaching for Nothing
15. Witchcraft
16. Something
17. Strange Dame
18. Snowman (Master 2)

Disc 1, Tracks 1-2 Originally released on Deram Single 164, 1967
Disc 1, Tracks 3, 5-9, 11-13, 16 and Disc 2, Tracks 1-18 Previously Unreleased
Disc 1, Track 4 Originally released on Let's Go Down and Blow Our Minds: The British Psychedelic Sounds of 1967, Grapefruit Records/Cherry Red CD CRSEGBOX033, 2016
Disc 1, Track 10 Originally released on Love, Poetry and Revolution (A Journey Through The British Psychedelic and Underground Scenes 1966-1972), Grapefruit Records/Cherry Red CD CRSEGBOX025, 2013
Disc 1, Tracks 14, 15, 17, 18 Originally released on Psychedelic Jumble Volume One: What's The Rush, Time Machine Man?, Rev-Ola CD CR REV 217, 2007

Fire, Father's Name is Dad: The Complete Fire (Grapefruit Records/Cherry Red, 2021) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Disc 1

1. Father's Name Is Dad (Original Single Version)
2. Treacle Toffee World
3. Happy Sound
4. Spare a Copper
5. Will I Find Love?
6. Man in the Teapot
7. It's Just Love
8. I've Still Got Time
9. I Know You Inside Out
10. Alison Wonderland
11. It's Not Easy Falling Out of Love (Friday's Chyld)
12. Boys and Girls Together (Friday's Chyld)
13. I Just Can't Wait (Friday's Chyld)
14. I Didn't Know You (Friday's Chyld)
15. Can't Be So Bad
16. Green-Legged Auntie Sally
17. Oh Johnny
18. Round the Gum Tree
19. Toothy Ruthie
20. Father's Name Is Dad (Remixed Single Version)

Disc 2

1. Children of Imagination
2. Tell You a Story
3. Magic Shoes
4. Reason for Everything
5. Only a Dream
6. Flies Like a Bird
7. Like to Help You if I Can
8. I Can See the Sky
9. Shoemaker
10. Happy Man Am I
11. Children of Imagination (Reprise)
12. Only a Dream (Demo Version)
13. Magic Shoes (Demo Version)
14. Reason for Everything (Demo Version)
15. Mama When Will I Understand
16. Live to Love
17. Back There Again

Disc 3

1. Overture (To a Shoemaker)
2. Children of Imagination
3. Tell You a Story
4. Magic Shoes
5. Reason for Everything
6. Treacle Toffee World
7. Only a Dream
8. Flies Like a Bird
9. It Wouldn't Have Happened in My Day
10. War
11. Like to Help You if I Can
12. I Can See the Sky
13. Father's Name Is Dad
14. It's Just Love
15. Shoemaker
16. Happy Man Am I
17. Mama When Will I Understand

Disc 1, Tracks 1-2 Originally released on Decca Single F 12753, 1968
Disc 1, Tracks 3-10 and Disc 2, Tracks 12-14 Originally released on Underground and Overhead: The Alternate Fire, Tenth Planet LP TP029, 1997
Disc 1, Tracks 11-12 Previously Unreleased
Disc 1, Tracks 13-17 and Disc 2, Track 15 Originally released on Underground and Overhead: The Alternate Fire, Wooden Hill CD WHC010, 2000
Disc 1, Tracks 18-19 Originally released on Decca Single F 12856, 1968
Disc 1, Track 20 Originally released on second version of Decca Single F 12753, 1968
Disc 2, Tracks 1-11 Originally released on The Magic Shoemaker, Pye LP NSPL 18343, 1970
Disc 2, Tracks 16-17 Originally released on Work in Progress, Witchwood Records CD WMCD 2013, 2004
Disc 3, Tracks 1-17 Originally released on The Magic Shoemaker Live!, Angel Air CD  SJPCD286, 2008

The Sorrows, Pink, Purple, Yellow and Red: The Complete Sorrows (Grapefruit Records/Cherry Red, 2021) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Disc 1

1. I Don't Wanna Be Free
2. Come with Me
3. Baby
4. Teenage Letter
5. Take a Heart
6. We Should Get Along Fine
7. You've Got What I Want
8. No, No, No, No
9. Let the Live Live
10. Don't Sing No Sad Songs for Me
11. Let Me In
12. How Love Used to Be
13. Pink, Purple, Yellow and Red
14. My Gal
15. She's Got the Action (Album, Mono)
16. Cara-Lin (Album, Mono)
17. Come with Me (Album, Mono)
18. Gonna Find a Cave
19. I Take What I Want
20. Baby All the Time
21. Baby (1966 Re-Recording)
22. Matchbox
23. Hoochie Coochie Man
24. Don't Start Me Talkin'
25. Georgia on My Mind
26. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

Disc 2

1. Baby (Album Version, Stereo)
2. No, No, No, No (Album Version, Stereo)
3. Take a Heart (Album Version, Stereo)
4. She's Got the Action (Album Version, Stereo)
5. How Love Used to Be (Album Version, Stereo)
6. Teenage Letter (Album Version, Stereo)
7. I Don't Wanna Be Free (Album Version, Stereo)
8. Don't Sing No Sad Songs for Me (Album Version, Stereo)
9. Cara-Lin (Album, Stereo)
10. We Should Get Along Fine (Album Version, Stereo)
11. Come with Me (Album Version, Stereo)
12. Let Me In (Album Version, Stereo)
13. Pioggia Sul Tuo Viso No. 1
14. Pioggia Sul Tuo Viso No. 2
15. Ypotron
16. Zabadak
17. Which Way
18. My Way of Thinking
19. Nimm Mein Herz (Take A Heart, German Language)
20. Sie War Mein Girl (We Should Get Along Fine, German Language)
21. Mi Si Spezza il Cuore (Take A Heart, Italian Language)
22. Vivi (Baby, Italian Language)
23. La Liberta Costa Cara (How Love Used To Be, Italian Language)
24. Verde, Rosso, Giallo, Blu (Pink, Purple, Yellow and Red, Italian Language)
25. No, No, No, No (Italian Language)

Disc 3

1. Same Old Road
2. Hey Mr. Policeman
3. Heaven Is in Your Mind
4. Mary J
5. Hey Hey
6. The Makers
7. Io Amo Te Per Lei (Which Way, Italian Language)
8. Dear Mr. Fantasy
9. Rollin' Over
10. Per Una Donna..No! (Listen To Me, Italian Language)
11. 6 ft 7 1/2 Inch Shark Fishing Blues
12. Old Song New Songs
13. Per Una Donna..No! (Listen To Me, Italian Language, Single Version)
14. Armore Limone (Each and Every Day, Italian Language)
15. Hey Hey (Single Version)
16. 6 ft 7 1/2 Inch Shark Fishing Blues (Single Version)
17. Hookey (Pip Whitcher/Roger Lomas Demo)
18. You're Still Mine (Pip Whitcher/Roger Lomas Demo)
19. Armchair King (Pip Whitcher/Roger Lomas Demo)
20. You're Still Mine - The Eggy
21. Hookey - The Eggy
22. A Little Rock 'n' Roll - Renegade
23. My Revolution - Renegade

Disc 4

1. Hey Hey (Alternative Version)
2. New York Mining Disaster 1941
3. Answer My Questions
4. Dear Mr. Fantasy (Alternative Version)
5. We Can Work it Out
6. The Makers (Alternative Version)
7. Heaven Is in Your Mind (Alternative Version)
8. Dogs and Cats
9. Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
10. Move Da Show
11. Matchbox/Rock and Roll Music
12. Baby What You Want Me to Do
13. Bye Bye Bird
14. Let Me In
15. What'd I Say
16. Dizzy Miss Lizzy
17. No Reply
18. A Little Rock 'n' Roll
19. 5-4-3-2-1
20. Take a Heart

Disc 1, Tracks 1-2 Originally released on Piccadilly Single 7N 35129, 1965
Disc 1, Tracks 3-4 Originally released on Piccadilly Single 7N 35230, 1965
Disc 1, Tracks 5-6 Originally released on Piccadilly Single 7N 35260, 1965
Disc 1, Tracks 7-8 Originally released on Piccadilly Single 7N 35277, 1965
Disc 1, Track 9-10 Originally released on Piccadilly Single 7N 35309, 1966
Disc 1, Tracks 11-12 Originally released on Piccadilly Single 7N 35336, 1966
Disc 1, Tracks 13-14 Originally released on Piccadilly Single 7N 35385, 1967
Disc 1, Tracks 15-17 Originally released on Take A Heart, Piccadilly LP NPL 38023, 1965
Disc 1, Tracks 18-21, 26 and Disc 3, Tracks 17-19 Originally released on Take A Heart, Sequel Records CD NEECD 480, 2000
Disc 1, Tracks 22-25 Previously Unreleased
Disc 2, Tracks 1-12 Originally released on Take A Heart, Piccadilly LP NSPL 38023, 1965
Disc 2, Tracks 13-14 Originally released on Come Impari Ad Amare Le Donne, RCA LP SP 8020, 1967
Disc 2, Tracks 15, 17, 18 and Disc 4, Tracks 1-20 Originally released on Old Songs New Songs, Wooden Hill CD WHCD 026, 2009
Disc 2, Tracks 16, 23 Originally released on Pye Italian Single 45NP 5137, 1967
Disc 2, Tracks 19-20 on Pye German Single DV 14449 P, 1966
Disc 2, Tracks 21-22 Originally released on Pye Italian Single 45NP 5086, 1966
Disc 2, Tracks 24-25 Originally released on Pye Italian Single 5122, 1967
Disc 3, Tracks 1-12 Originally released on Old Songs New Songs Miura LP MIU LP 10011, 1969
Disc 3, Tracks 13-14 Originally released on Miura Italian Single PON NP 40083, 1968
Disc 3, Tracks 15-16 Originally released on Miura Italian Single PON NP 40099, 1969
Disc 3, Tracks 20-21 Originally released on Spark Single SRL 1024, 1969
Disc 3, Tracks 22-23 Originally released on Dawn Single DNS 1067, 1974