Thursday 9th January

One of my all time favourite bands, they emerged in the early seventies and their recording career was over at the end of that decade, but oh what sweet music they made.  The Sutherland Brothers started off as a duo, but formed a band to record their debut eponymous album and the follow up ‘Lifeboat’.  Then they amalgamated with another band who had just lost their songwriter – Quiver, and as the Sutherland Brothers and Quiver released a clutch of brilliant albums until eventually this ‘supergroup’ fell apart and the brothers had one final album under their own name before calling it a day themselves.

They represented that particularly English strand of rock music from the early seventies, epitomized by Gallagher and Lyle and various singer-songwriters, singing in English voices in a fairly acoustic style that sounds as fresh today as it did then.  Brilliant songwriters and wonderful singers I rate them as highly as any of their more famous counterparts.  They had a cult following but never really broke into the mainstream, and they were never really backed by their record companies.  They sprung out of that folk-rock scene of the late sixties and I think were heavily influenced by bands like the Beatles.  I don’t think they ever really wanted fame and fortune, just happy to make music.

Their biggest success incidentally was when Rod Stewart recorded their song ‘Sailing’ and made it a huge hit, and still no-one really bothered to hear the original.  So it goes sometimes.  Mind you Rod must have made a lot of money for them in royalties.

At the time for me they were just one of many, but more and more I am seeking out those hard to find releases on CD.  Time for a re-issue I think, as I am sure there must be many like me who would really appreciate re-mastered originals with maybe just a few live or demo tracks too.