BIG STIR RECORDS happily announces the return of SORROWS! The legendary NYC power pop band is back, and we're thrilled to be releasing their all-new single, “Christabelle” (out now at www.bigstirrecords.com/sorrows and www.bigstirrecords.bandcamp.com and streaming everywhere this Friday). It's the song that might have catapulted them up the charts and cemented their place alongside the likes of The Cars, The Plimsouls and The Beat in the power pop pantheon in 1981. One listen to the new recording, from original members ARTHUR ALEXANDER, JOEY COLA and RICKY STREET with next-generation powerhouse LUIS HERRERA on drums, makes it clear why that should have happened... so why are we only hearing it now, forty years later?

Thereby hangs a tale, and one that will unfold over the coming days to the mutual delight of longtime fans and those who've only heard the legends. In the late '70s, SORROWS sprang from the seeds of the equally beloved POPPEES and established themselves as one of the sharpest and most unique melodic rock acts treading the stages of New York clubs like CBGB and Max's Kansas City, with three lead singers, a twin-guitar attack and immediately unforgettable, hook-propelled tunes. By 1981, the band had their rapturously-received debut album TEENAGE HEARTBREAK under their belts and a clutch of world class, stage-tested songs at the ready -- “Christabelle” is only the tip of the iceberg. With catchy guitar-based pop rock back on the charts, SORROWS had everything they needed to take on the world.

What happened instead is down to a familiar story encapsulated by two little words: “label interference”. The followup album, LOVE TOO LATE, wasn't the record Sorrows wanted to make, and it wasn't the record Sorrows fans wanted to hear. In fact, it's barely Sorrows on the original album at all, with the players and singers summarily replaced in the studio in a misguided bid at commercial success, only the songs surviving. The band weren't having any of it and went back to playing the tunes as they were meant to be played, the label wasn't able to sell the results to anyone expecting the true successor to Teenage Heartbreak, and to all intents the story might have ended there.

But after forty years, countless legal battles, and an ever-growing reputation for the band among the underground guitar pop cognoscenti, the band is back, better than ever, to present “Christabelle” as it always should have been. And if you're guessing that that's not the end of the story, you'd be right. There's more to come from SORROWS... proof that you can't keep a superb set of songs in limbo forever, and that it's never too late for LOVE TOO LATE (the real album) to take the world by storm, sounding just like it was always meant to sound.