Hard to say why some Brit bands that really started to break in the early to mid-sixties—such as the Stones, the Who and to a lesser extent (at least in terms of widespread popularity and overall recognition) the Yardbirds and the Kinks—captured the imagination of so many of us in the States while some of their contemporaries aren't even given also-ran status on today's classic rock stations.*
But such is the fate of the Pretty Things (their earliest incarnation as Little Boy Blue and Blue Boys actually included Mick and Keith until Brian Jones recruited them away for his project). Vocalist Phil May joined forces with Dick Taylor (who earlier had played bass with the nascent Stones) and thus was born the Pretty Things. No cuddly, clean-cut Liverpudlians they, with Taylor now on lead guitar and May singing and blowing harmonica, they were a bluesy, rudely noisy, deliberately provocative looking, acting and sounding quintent of London boys (early press on the band included May's boast of having longer hair of any other Brit rocker of the day). They never had a single that did anything in the USA, although two of their first three were in the UK top twenty. Most people are far more familiar with those ("Rosalyn" and "Don't Bring Me Down") from David Bowie's tribute to music from this era on his '73 LP Pin Ups.
If you're not familiar with the Pretty Things, they're well worth a listen. Their eponymous debut features a dozen competent if simple songs, mostly covers of blues standards with a few of the groups earliest attempts at composition (the most fully formed example probably being Dick Taylor's "Honey I Need"). Their early sound really gels on their second LP, Get the Picture, released in '65. Ten of the 18 tracks on the expanded and remastered CD version are original compositions and all of the tracks easily stand with the early Stones' or Who's material as a no fop zone of straight from the hip rock and roll with treatments of R&B covers like "Come See Me"
or the alternately sly and manic "Can't Stand the Pain" written by May, Taylor and session drummer Bobby Graham.
Following the transitional and ill-fated '67 LP Emotions and roster changes that left only May and Taylor from the original line-up, the Pretty Things released one of the late sixties forgotten—and many have said "first"—concept albums, S.F. Sorrow.
Evolving into a psychedelic style that often sounds like Ray Davies meets early Pink Floyd, the album is based on a short story May had written and follows the narrative arc of one Sebastian F. Sorrow from his arrival in the world with the song "S.F. Sorrow is Born"
all the way to "Old Man Going" (performed here by the 21st century version of the band, featuring May and Taylor and with a David Gilmour cameo), the song showing Sorrow near death's door where he's empty, angry and—
in the album's coda—"Loneliest Person"—bleakly disappointed and alone.
After S.F. Sorrow, the Pretty Things released Parachute in 1970. Although the tracks run an interesting range of songwriting from the wispy "The Letter"
to the muscular "Rain," founding member Dick Taylor had left and the absence of his expressive guitar playing is sorely missed.
The Pretty Things soldiered on through the last three decades of the 20th century in different variations revolving around May and, later, Taylor, too. They gig to this day and still go largely ignored here in the states. Phil May celebrates his birthday today, turning 66 years old.
*Please note that I've omitted the Beatles from this list because even though the Stones are often characterized as the yang to their yin, I think it seems fair, if only for reasons of sheer popularity and commercial success, to put the fab four in a class of their own.
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