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![]() Of all the original British Invasion groups, perhaps none are as underappreciated in the United States as the Pretty Things. Featuring the hoarse vocals of Mick Jagger-lookalike Phil May and the stinging leads of guitarist ~censored~ Taylor (who actually played in early versions of the Rolling Stones with Jagger and Keith Richards), the Pretties recorded a clutch of raunchy R&B rockers in the mid-'60s that offer a punkier, rawer version of the early Stones sound. Their first two albums, as well as a brace of fine major and minor British hits (of which "Don't Bring Me Down" and "Honey I Need" were the biggest), feature first-rate original material and covers, and remain the group's most exciting and influential recordings. Unfortunately, the band remained virtually unknown to American audiences, most of whom would first hear "Don't Bring Me Down" on David Bowie's Pin Ups album (which also included a version of the Pretties' "Rosalyn").
After their initial run of success, the group took a sharp left turn into psychedelia with the orchestrated album Emotions (1967), impressive singles that owed more to Pink Floyd than Bo Diddley, and, most significantly, S.F. Sorrow (1968). The first rock opera, S.F. Sorrow was a major influence on Pete Townshend, who released his much more successful opera, Tommy, with the Who the following year. Founding member Taylor left shortly after S.F. Sorrow, and the group continued to record progressive rock and hard rock with less impressive results through the mid-'70s, although Parachute (1970) was named album of the year by Rolling Stone. The group reunited sporadically for occasional gigs and recordings in their early R&B vein before officially reforming to release Rage...Before Beauty in 1999. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide |
Get The Picture
The band's second album (released Dec. 1965) has not only been remastered from original session tapes, so the group sound like their amps are practically right in your lap, but it's also been expanded to 18 songs with the addition of tracks cut for singles and EP releases from the same sessions. That's enough to recommend it even to casual fans -- this is now a record that's just a few notches short of Rolling Stones level in the charisma department and pretty tough any way you want to look at it. On "Rainin' in My Heart," they sound exactly like the Stones from the same era, missing only the little harmonica flourish that might have been added on the break. The notes go into the history of the group during this period in delightful detail, and the histories of various songs, most particularly "L.S.D.," which, amazingly, was cut as a demo and never re-done for release, just put out that way. In their good moments here, the Pretty Things approach Rolling Stones territory, and even in their off moments they're flying at the same level as the Kinks' album tracks. The real enhancement, alas, only concerns those fans with CD-ROM drives (PC Windows 3.1 or later, minimum 486 66Mhz or Mac 68040 or better, running system 7.1 or later) -- they get to see the Pretty Things playing the 100 Club in London from 1965, looking wilder and scruffier than the Stones or almost any other benchmark band. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
256kbps MP3
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| http://rapidshare.com/files/87326155/PT_Get-Picture_1965.rar |
Emotions
Review by Richie Unterberger
In accordance with their label's (and not the band's) wishes, the Pretties were teamed with a middle-aged orchestra directed by Reg Tilsley on this album, which saw the Phil May-~censored~ Taylor songwriting team making an effort to move beyond R&B knockoffs into more sophisticated territory. Sometimes the arrangements (dubbed onto tracks without much involvement from the group) worked; more often, they were an unnecessary hindrance. An interesting failure, it contained some genuinely top-rank originals that saw the group expanding their vision into social observation and tentative psychedelia, including "My Time," "The Sun," and especially the moody, folk-rock-ish "Death of a Socialite."
VBR MP3 (avg ~192kbps)
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| http://rapidshare.com/files/87315666/PT_Emotions_1967.rar |
S.F. Sorrow
Review by Bruce Eder & Richie Unterberger
Who could ever have thought, going back to the Pretty Things' first recording session in 1965 � which started out so disastrously that their original producer quit in frustration � that it would come to this? The Pretty Things' early history in the studio featured the band with its amps seemingly turned up to 11, but for much of S.F. Sorrow the band is turned down to seven or four, or even two, or not amplified at all (except for Wally Allen's bass � natch), and they're doing all kinds of folkish things here that are still bluesy enough so you never forget who they are, amid weird little digressions on percussion and chorus; harmony vocals that are spooky, trippy, strange, and delightful; sitars included in the array of stringed instruments; and an organ trying hard to sound like a Mellotron. Sometimes one gets an echo of Pink Floyd's Piper at the Gates of Dawn or A Saucerful of Secrets, and it all straddles the worlds of British blues and British psychedelia better than almost any record you can name. The album, for those unfamiliar, tells the story of "S.F. Sorrow," a sort of British Everyman � think of a working-class, luckless equivalent to the Kinks' Arthur, from cradle to grave. The tale and the songs are a bit downbeat and no amount of scrutiny can disguise the fact that the rock opera S.F. Sorrow is ultimately a bit of a confusing effort � these boys were musicians, not authors or dramatists. Although it may have helped inspire Tommy, it is, simply, not nearly as good. That said, it was first and has quite a few nifty ideas and production touches. And it does show a pathway between blues and psychedelia that the Rolling Stones, somewhere between Satanic Majesties, "We Love You," "Child of the Moon," and Beggars Banquet, missed entirely. [This CD reissue on Snapper adds four valuable songs from their 1967-1968 singles ("Defecting Grey," "Mr. Evasion," "Talkin' About the Good Times," and "Walking Through My Dreams"). This version of "Defecting Grey" is the original, long, uncut five-minute rendition, and not of trivial importance; it's superior to the shorter one used on the official single.]
160kbps MP3 Mono
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| http://rapidshare.com/files/87330442/PT_SFSorrow_1967.rar |
UPDATE: Stereo remaster of S.F. Sorrow in 320kbps mp3
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http://rapidshare.com/files/121400522/Pretty.Things.S.F.Sorrow.Stereo.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/121402501/Pretty.Things.S.F.Sorrow.Stereo.part2.rar |
Link checked on Fri Jan 09, 2009 5:51 pm [WBB_Linkchecker_Bot]