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Written by Mike Maxfield lead guitarist of The Dakotas....from Middleton, Manchester....not Liverpool, despite Brian Epstein and Billy J Kramer....minor hit in the early 60's...

I think he used a Guild Starfire with a Bigsby......he had a very distinctive lead sound on all his recordings with the D's....good player and a nice bloke....met him in Barratts Music shop once....

anyway here's my efforts....hope it doesn't make you sick...or sea sick...


https://soundcloud.com/goingdownslow/the-cruel-sea

Hi Paul
Jolly good job! Nice playing of the octaving and the fast bits were great. Good BT too. Waited for that nice Kerang major chord at the end but it faded out.
Being a Manc too I always rated the Daks too and thought they were underrated stuck behind BJK.
One of those musical urban myths has been that Mike recorded it slower to get the fast bits to work and the Parlophone then speeded it up. Nonsense of course IMO as he was a competent player and in those days it would have significantly changed the key AND The Daks played it Live when touring. I believe Mike had a stroke and doesnt play anymore. Can anyone confirm that?
Barratts? Who didn't we meet in there? I once met Tony Hicks (one of my guitar hero's) in there.
Keep em coming Paul.
Cheers
Ian

Not nonsense Sixpack, google it. I couldn't understand why I couldn't do it when it came out. I'm as fast a player as the next man.
Only many years later did discover why. The are many BTs about that are miles too slow. The original was very fast.

Stratpicker wrote:Hi Paul
Jolly good job! Nice playing of the octaving and the fast bits were great. Good BT too. Waited for that nice Kerang major chord at the end but it faded out.
Being a Manc too I always rated the Daks too and thought they were underrated stuck behind BJK.
One of those musical urban myths has been that Mike recorded it slower to get the fast bits to work and the Parlophone then speeded it up. Nonsense of course IMO as he was a competent player and in those days it would have significantly changed the key AND The Daks played it Live when touring. I believe Mike had a stroke and doesnt play anymore. Can anyone confirm that?
Barratts? Who didn't we meet in there? I once met Tony Hicks (one of my guitar hero's) in there.
Keep em coming Paul.
Cheers
Ian

Hi Ian....thanks for the compliments....the fast bits are tricky but I played them at the same speed as the BT which is as it is....BT is all me as well....no computer machine generated used at all.....I'm sure MM could play it live at the right speed....
I did hear that MM was quite poorly ...might have been a stroke.....I think he lives on Anglesley nowadays....
Paul

ecca wrote:Not nonsense Sixpack, google it. I couldn't understand why I couldn't do it when it came out. I'm as fast a player as the next man.
Only many years later did discover why. The are many BTs about that are miles too slow. The original was very fast.

I stand corrected, Ecca. But what a ball ache to have to record it slower and therefore in a different key to Am just so they could get that George Martin / Mike Maxfield piano effect in. In those days speeding up the tape would fundamentally change the key. Noiwadays in the digital age you can do almost anything. Seemed pretty quick when I saw The Daks play this Live c1964 but maybe "Live" they could cheat on the speed.
Cheers
Ian

First Paul thanks for a great rendition of this classic. Well done. I don't know if Ian or Ecca remember a a very good player who used to be a member here but sadly passed away some years ago now. His name was Ron Williams also known as "Drifter" to all of us old timers that remember him. To my knowledge he was the only other person I ever heard play this tune (I could be wrong, Dieder would know). It is not easy to play and he did a great unspeeded version as I recall. Dave Robinson knew him quite well I believe.

Cheers

Nels

The Ventures also did a cover of this and not a bad cover either.

Nels

Interesting subject! I don't play The Cruel Sea very often, but when I do, it isn't 'the fast bit' that I find difficult but the little filler riff that comes between each line of the verse. It's not the riff itself but the physical effort of getting from the headstock end of the fretboard up to the seventh fret in time when you are playing the verse in octaves.

Now here's a contentious observation: whether you find this number easy, hard or impossible to play at the speed of the original, does it actually sound a better piece of music when played a little more slowly? My personal opinion is that it does.

Having said all that I must, of course, say 'well played again, Paul'! Excellent backing too.