ee j SETS The Pretty Things!‘on Septender Beh, 1965, the Pretty ‘ning played a thow at tho Canada Club $2 Begin at_2+30\sn the afteraoon, When 1 fot there, at quareer co tvor Rick wae atrendy Ductite the group's equipaont in position. fan eerie Light, and a weird Teteloesy and ore of that Hind of ahice T te, 30 T'vent weteies and asked if they Coulante play Pretty Things records tog veryone in tbe right ood, but they had to Sis kind of strange because, after alt, the Peecey Things vere playing that day! (CTI never Bee the people I ow, in ee bright Tighe aay.") ‘Abother ching emt wee unugual was chat tthe Preteies vere notorious for alvaye Se lng late, and on this occasion they vere on tinal Two einutes after 2:30 they cane on ‘ist came Dick Taylor and Sonn Po- hey tuned theie tastranence T felt chills san down ay spine, Fail announced *L rnd the sone began Dick Taylor, smiling by Robert Gerritsen ovcasionatly to Wally or Phil, played ox Erenely poverfuliy. During the bon, John tot tp fron behind his organ, and Cook over fhe deum sticks fron Twine, giving Twink he opportunity to stare hie crapese acts fie balanced on several different. speaker cabinets, and displayed his incredible mie ‘ict, sccomanted by 4 Rattle deus, The um ber’ finished this vay, sd Twink ceturne tenis druss, ani John found hs organ ‘iow Walty announced the Things? sost anaaing Tive song, "Teltin" About The Good ‘Hine’, John's organ playing was breath Taking, ant ail bell was breaking Toores Dick Taylor sounded at ie very bores Phil's characteristic hoarse volce was sem rational, sad together with Dlsk's rippine Guisar solo gave a fertastic eftect. In Enis sore the organ was the dominan tne Struonne, snd that's how T'2ike ie the Beste They stopped playing for a moment to lve Twink the opporcunicy £0 give his ‘Grune a couple of hire, amd then the save of fabulou ineerunenta? combinations eon ‘lnued. Then suddenty, dead silence, [After two vote the seher Freteles joined iny slower. Blowerssssrstloweteseessumeli Twink coi lapsed, ‘Thon lout applause, applause they had veatiy earnedt PRL tonoued the next sunber, “Prom ‘enotions' = "There Wilt Hever Be Another bayrot On recordy this is fot aueh a strone ote, but live an oueseanding and powerful ieee of musle wnion tasted about Pen Einitess ater five minutes of the song the row Aid three drumerss Phil on an ampli Soha on the dru kity and Tvink play~ Date of bongoss! Just before the end of she gong hit was looking for Ala aieren hone, and sald very slowly ‘itt Sever beveersvaother day." For a while af Tenward there wae dead eLience, and thenees deatening applause, Phil annourced that there would be a break. A iteele Tater, ‘Jona cane to the sletophone apd said his Mocophone had disappesred. The boys heeatened not to play on after the bres Unless che nike yaa cwturned, Soba eize la- ter, somebody found he microphone in che roller! After the break, the Things appeared onstage, and seemed refreshed. "Mr. ES Sion we announced, the amplifiers wore Euened op all ehe way, and the Patties ben Gan at 2 crashing Volume, On ehis cunber, Malty vas the leed singer, and Phil was the [Becond voice, Alek, uho was etanting Sehind ‘Twink, didn't seem to know what he was dom ng. atyaore, ant he jolned the grep on stage, and gtavtod £0 eps Twink ony eno Tasing hin to hit his drum even harder, then Pail aw thie be started to get into ie nore as well. Suidenly there waa ai- soundoffece" (Mell Of Destiny"), after Sone tine this floved gradially buck into the mire Evasion" chords ‘The'aong "ny", which the Pretty Things noemaliy seated withy was lasts A specter Said, "Thank you, "etl next cima”, and che Pretty Things disappeaced fon the stage. Cin tlaht snapping of sparrows’ wines sued aia heads") = ROBERT GERRITSEH ‘Translated fom Dutch by RoW SUAR. Rapeineed (com "WIRTEE BUAD: THE PRETTY ‘ets, Thanks to Robert Gereicaes andGELS THINGS 405 W. WASHINGTON. SUITE 237 SAN DIEGO, CA. 92103. U.S.A. Editors MIKE stax Gonteibutares BLI1 Shute Terry Gibson Sohn Wanrattie Paul. bayley on Rineite Robert Gerritsen Chris Larehe Steve Garris Invaluable Assistance: Ron de Bruyn, Scott Curren, ‘Frlan Woge, Tin Harren, Dave Morton, SJoe Zletzeny Glenn Renee, Dan Burr, Mark Neil, Audrey Moorhead, Ron Swart, Jean-Luc Valdant, Chip Lion, Erwin Bock, Mare Richter, Greg Shay Juin Heralds del Llano, ‘Mena Tuchsehers Artworks Seth Winpfhoimer, Jerry Cornelius. ‘ALT layout and additional artwork by Mike Stax. Dedicated to Alena. ALL contents are copyright Mike Stax/Usly Things. $4 U.S. $5 OVERSEAS HL, welcome to UGLY THINGS VI - the firet LY THNGS £0 feature the lunry of page munberst (Of course, there's no contents page or iniex, but what the hell, you can't expect everyehing, can you?!) It's been nore than a year since the last issue, T Imow, but T hope you can appreciate that it takes little while to pur these chings Coperher , Many hours of hard work have fone into this issue, and not Just fron me, I'd tke to thank allay contribucors for their efforts, especially Bill Shute, who has done an amazing Job (on "THE DOMWLINERS SECT STORY". Part One was very well=re~ ceived and T ERIa you'll agree that Pert Two is even nore fascinating, This tine we cover the peried fron “Little Egypt" wp until the release of "The Sect Sing Sick Songs." ‘As prouised, this issue features ton of PRETTY THINS stuff, incluting che long-avaited second part of the PHIL HAY interview! This tine ['ve concentrated on their T5EI=TE period, T tow this will be hard on some of you punks" (Sie) ant "Rub puciste™ (sic) uho chink the band vas finished after "Cone See Me" ~ well, tough. People Who've never poked their thick heads far enough our of the Garage Co hear music like "SP, Sorros™ and "Parachute™ are ‘Bissing out on more than they probably realisa. Of course, to most intelligent UGLY THINGS readers--che vast majority, T'suspect—this is old nevs. Sut some still refuse to hear ‘Anyways T hope this issue will shake a fev people into a ore openninied {rane of thought, ‘Aside from the Sect ant the Pretty Things, this ieaue has a revealing interview with the great WALLY TAX and ar~ ticles on everyching from THE TH CROO to the greatest TV ‘sho of all titer THUWDERSTROST Also, Terxy Gibson has done fan Interesting interview with" Showbis"ere Sect’ drummer PAUL WoL. In the sixties, Paul played with Bobby Rio s the Revelles, the Syndicate and Bluesolesy, and he had some fantastic stories co tell. Afficionsdos of Joe Meek will find the article particularly worthy of attention, as two BY MAIL: Pines out of three of these bans were produced by the Kine of Compression. ‘As for the rest of the mag, I"11 leave it to you, the reader, to discover what surprises are lurking foe page to pages T hope you'li find plenty of itens of interest, Moving onto other subjects, the Tell-Tale Hearts broke tp in February, We felt it wae tine to-do sonezhing Gifferent and nore exciting, so Bill and T forte’ THE BARONS, featuring che return of Eric Bacher on gultary Paul Carsota on drums) BiIL handling lead vocsle, harp a sone ‘organ; and myself on tase and backing voeals, Look out for four ficst record (s five song 12" E.7,) soon! ‘The Tine since ULY THINGS V has sven sone Dig changes in my personal Life, Moving tn with ay girlfriend ‘Alana has certainly changed ay 1ifeatyle an! ay outlook a reat deal and its during periods of change Lite this that you find out who your resl friends are, That said, in che ast year or 20 I've had sone of the best tines of ny life, But you didn't buy UGLY THINGS to read about Hike Stax, 60 turn the page and start digeing the things inside. ‘Any coments, criticisms or contributions are always velcone, 20 please write ani let ne iow your thowshts, Hope you dig UGLY THINGS VI! "TLL nexe cine, ‘ALL the best,Tales From The Sett... Hello againt Well, quite a lot hae happened since I last ‘trove, The Sect have a nev LP released on Garagelant Re- Cords, Sueden, The LP ia titted "Live Tn the 80s", and fea Cures material recorded in Norvay and London. It contains basically what is a typical Live Downliners Sect show Gehion,. in ieself, haan't changed eae mich since 1966!!), Lots of Chuck Berey, Jimy Reed, and Bo Diddley songs, visten Le shat ye a1 still love to play! There is over 40 Minutes of music on this LP, Be sure co CRANK UP the volune ‘uae your neighbours are sanglag on your walltt! Well, T guess if you can't plug your ovm records in your on column, something must be wot, right? So forgive fhe if T ranble ona while lorger, ‘cos I've gotta tell Yessesestive Just coopleted ny ovm goto Lt titled TERRY Grado spomurveR”. ‘After many yeacs of half Jokingly saying, *r've real- ty got to get ay solo LP copether soneday..." Littie did T realize that ay oluéf would be called by ay good friend, Tecording engineer (and fine susictan) MICK DEMING. He said Scone and Go it ae ay place", "Gulp", T ehowghe, mihat the frex am I gonna do now??™ T did a rough deso of Chuck's “Let Te Rock", thinking thar if it tumed out too bad at Least Tid have an excuse for bottling out!! As it happened, iewmen’e £09 bad, and for the First time I actually heard hyself singing on’ record. ‘Soy it was decided, I vould give it a shot. The prob= tem var T didn't have any new songs 0 record! T chose four noneoriginals to dor "You Sezter Kove On”, "Soaetis Good Guys Don't Wear White", "Get Our Of Denver, and a ‘mascer" version of "Let Tt Rock", The originl sores were a'bie of a headache, a5 T vas writing them Like the day be~ fore the session, and trying to arrange them as we wont a~ ong! Ae you can imagine, Lt was a ole hitvandwaise I'mist sayy I an quite tappy with the finished results, My ‘thanle fo MICK DEMING for a fantastic engineering. Job, and for help above and beyond the call of duty. Thanks else to NIKE STAC and BILL SHUTE, without vhose support and good ‘shes f probably wouldn't nave Sochered in the First lace! Thanks too, to great friends and misiclans uno play- Gi so wells Sectatians, IEITH GAANT (bass and backing vo Gals), PAUL TILLER (blues harp)} and mates, LES BATLEY (Grune), LOU MARTIN (piano and organ), TOY HUSKY Ceaxo~ hones)» and ALAW BROOKS (eins) ‘The abun 1s due out soon in Sweden and Germany. T hope you'ti Like it! ff anyone out there in any far Flue ‘corners of the globe is interested in helping me get sone other releases on my LF, I'd be pleased to hear from you. Write c/o VINTAGE WINE MiSIC AND PRODUCTIONS, 11, Lilac Gardens, Croydon, CRO SR, England. Ny thanks to everyone who has written to ae as a dic rect result of my pages in WLY THINS. 1 have aade sone ood lends, not only misiclans, but fans too! Keep those Tetters coming, and I'1l try eo reply to everyone. To's nice £0 know that there are 0 sary good people out there Feeding U.r.s! TReneaber me telling you about BILL SHUTE and KATH teen's! wedding Lat tine out in ULY THINGS? Welly chat was ‘June 1985, and in July 1986 chere were THREE! Corgratula~ ‘Hone on the Birth of eheir sonyERIC ATEANIAL. Runour has ie thar BALL has equipped gic with his very om Walken, and ia, a# I write, grooming him for stardon in the 1990s. Atzeady, Erle has Learned ali che songe on "The Sect™ LP, Snd is now working his say through "The Rook Sects Ta" ‘Garageland Records, sweden, have Just released 2 aineie from ay upcoming Le! Tracks ave "Tell Zale Heart” and "het Te Reck". ("Let Te feck” Ig not on the LP.) Record fhunber is BF £16, and the initial pressing is in biue vinyl. My thanke'co Lars and Tomy for their friendship, snd the faith they have shown in ay music, ‘A new Sect LP is on the Rorizon tool Well, not ex~ actly & "new" record, but 4 codpilation of tracks froa che Chree Columbia LPs and che "Sick Songs" EP. The citle of the LP is "Cross Section” (geddit77!!) and’was compiled by ohm Plate for Decal Records. They claim to have fount a Zolour picture for she sleevel I-cam't wait co see it! T hope i ign" che sane one that appeared on the German Line Records LP, "Be A Sect Maniac". That, in itself, was Steat photo, but Lt would be great to see different one, Ss the Sect’ were mainly known for their Black and site photo sleeves, KEITH GRANT, Legendary Sect bassist and vosalist, has been recording sane nev songs vith some friends. The ses~ sion sounds great, although I've yet to hear the final fixes! Algo on the recordings 1s Dick Heckstall-smith (sax phones), T hadn't Seen Dick for years, it was nice to see him again. A long say from the Grahan Bond Organteation dayst! ‘The Sect are not a working band as such at the ao ent, Dut a5 friends we are alwys there to do sone sige Should we wane, So, we all have our different projects. Z fn, at the monent, playing in s SOs-6Oe band called the We play around five nights a week on the London pub tuhten {2 good fun, The band menbers ares Terry (bass), Joon Blunt (Aruna and vocals) Crohn was feaber of the Searchers im the late 1960s), Noel Brown (guitar and vocals) (lool wrote "Readers? Wives" for Dave Ednunds, plua songs for the Searchers) ~ oh yeah, and ne on 1 Tf you ever see us billed sonexhere, ‘Sone along and say hello. ‘Sad to hear of the break-up of che Tell-Tale flearts, ‘Te G0cD news is we now have evo Dande!! Mike and S111 cal~ hou Rave teaned up again wich Eric Bacher (jd now drunser Paul Carsola M.S.) £0 form THE BAROIS (Look out for cheix new £,P, SOOM#!)} and Ray Brandes, David Klovden, ard Tater This" guicariec, Pecer Meisner, have forned a band called ‘THE TOME CRIERS, Wy bese wishes to all concerned. There's Sone great muske ‘coming ot of Scotland toot Lenny Hel~ Sings Green Telescope, now called THE THANES. ‘Did you Inow that Sect harp player, PAUL TILLER, sas ‘ wander of 60g R'n'B bend, THE BLACK CAT BOMES, wich Paul Kossoff and Sinon Kirke, who later vent on to form Logond= sty 19703 "swperecoup" REE??? I've mown Paul nov since bout 1976 ston DOW CRAINE first incrodueed hin to me and Ketth, and ouggested Past for the harp Job in the ceforaed Sect (nore about this in the "Sect Story", at a tater face.) Not only 4s Paula fine musician, but 1 consider him 2'ie Friend foo, We don't see 4 great’ desl of each other, Gacept on Sect Dusiness, a ve Live quite a ways aparc. 4" oniy regret with Paul ig thar T dlan'e mow him in the 60s. TE tould have been great Lf he'a been in the band then, and then t would nave been friands with him for sore chan twen- Epiyeacs instead of tenli t's anazing that se, Don, Keith, fd Paul all get on go ell cogacher, after so sany” years. {nts a pity we don't seen, ae the sonent, to oe able to Find & persanent drumer to complete ehig circle of frtends! This issue of UGLY THIMGS contains Part Tyo of the sect Story", We would Like fo ehank BILL SHUTE and MIKE STAK for all thelr haed work gatting i together, Thanks flee to TIM WARREN for supplying cone of the photos, etc. for che articles. can't wait to see the final book, wen it gets that far, as Nill and Vike are threatening Co make iE (ven FORE DETAILED ~ what dedication! Think that's about all for this tine around, est wishes from your "Downliner friend, ti! ‘onenced by amy Pa sBurqa Ape4g5 AL uenuesgid OdWIHOff The Record specializes in alternative music. ‘We stock, thousands of Out of Print and Used Lps. ‘We have a great selection of new and used Blues, Reggae, (50's, 60's, 70's Oldies), Punk, Rock, Underground, Metal, and lots of very cool Rock&Roll music. ‘We also have T-Shirts, Posters, and Postcards from all over the world!!! WE ARE CASH PAID FOR RECORDS, TAPES, CDS, VIDEO, AND ROCK & ROLL MEMORABILIA rs"Walking Through My Dreams At Night THE PRETTY THINGS 1967-71 Tor nost of the grovps that had risen vith the Hide of Beatlemania, nineteen sixty seven was to prove fo be a crucial ani’ decisive years The Beat Boum was Tong over, the'Rab craze had subsided and big changes tere fakite place, Hew dinensions were constancy Deine Sided to the "grou sound, The beat and Red muevclans and ehete fans had ali grow a Little older and'a lictle Misery novone could rensin unchanged after the tumultir ous events of the previour years; and now things were hanging even faster ae bands. Fought to de sonethine original and aiffesent and establish an iaeacity fot hetselves in the highty competitive pop world. Crows had to play or say something new with their music or they were to longer sin. Experinentation and originali~ Ey were presrequisives for the nev direction. Crowe wie left with two real options = ove with the eines Shi go for a nev sound, or take their chances in the world of s1i-round entéreaimtent and the workingoen's club clreuit, 196? waa to be a test that only the Strongest and poet Gedicated would be allowed £0 eur vive Atxaye one of the nost adventurous and uncomro~ alsing groupe, the Pretty Things tronioally found thes Selver st the beginning ef 196) with the olde stacked sesinee then. Fiset chey lost yates guiter gad, Brian Pendleton, so disappeared one day ‘nto the night’ and fog and never Fecumes, Tois Lote four Pretty Things, wmeereain of Shei austaal cireseion, Iasking Boney, and with thet Sspidiy eqpizing Fontana contract demanding one sore L. Tor sone feason Foneane decided that the pretties sugnented with serings and brass vould be a bold and contemporary nove. Anxious £0 get the thing out of the way snd pur cheie Fontana years behind thes the band sae iting fo comiy. and a0 *eaotSone" was. borne» arly into che recording, bassist Jom stax, dis satisfied artistically and financially, decided he'd had rough and announced he was a Pretty Thine no sore. TE tae iefe to Phil, Dick and Ship to finish che ill-fated Jena the record neared completion they enlisted the assistance of two eld friends fron thelr neighbourhood, March 1967, Joh Stax fading into the backeround, by MIKE STAX Fenmen Wally Allen (a-ket, Alan Wales) and John Povey. Initially the two were necded for background harnonies fon a few sessions, but Povey also probably contributed iano, and Wally sone bass and rhythe guitar, Wally sie Govwrote evo of the albun's best songa, vith Phil. and Dick = "There'Il Never Be Another Day” and "Bright Lights of The city", ‘The “notions sessions yielded plenty of strong songs, but by the tine producer Steve Rowland and or= chestra leader Reg Tilstey had added ‘their contributions buch of the iapact of the material was mashed by busy and flatulent horn arrangenents, ridiculous stereo Seperation and effects, and a frequently flat produc tions Suffice to say, che finished prodvct was far from classic Pretty Things (or classic aryening) and, not Surprisingly, it's Pelesse set with a unamaously cold Fesponse, noe least fron the Pretty Thinge thenselves. Today, with the advantage of vetrospection, we can ook at “Emotions” in a different Light. Repeated 1is~ Cenigs reveal it's nherene strengths, in perticwar Phi May's vocals. His voice has all the old dynamien and individuality of previow years, but with a new Fange and diversity of colour that sas only hinted at before, Sone songs, Tike "the Sun" and “Growing La My Mind, ne sings vith a Cenderness and fragilicy, almost Volapering into your eary whilst on others, like "Death Of A Socialite” and “Bright Lights Of The city" there's 4 sharper edge of irony and a bitterness that you can ‘ttost tastes On the nore up-tempo numbers Like the ex cetient “My Tine” and "Out Tn The Night" he his the perfect balance of soul and aggression. Every song is Changed with a different mood and shade of expression, nd it's'a shane Phil's brilliane performance is over un by the "Tilsley Treataent™, "The songwriting on che album is also very good, and it's notable that thir is the first albua of Sil-original Pretty Things material. Tragically, it's the overall sound chat lets the album down, and £0 the casual Listener it's that hich counts the moet. ‘So when “Enotions" cane out in May 1967, it must have appeared to many that the Pretty Things, "Like so any other grows at thet point in time, vere a spent force and had dreathed their last. Norone could have fRuessed just hoy far from the truch that assumption vas. ‘With "Enotions” and their Fontana contract out of the way, the revitalised Line-up was free to explore sole new direction. A new dawn was breaking for the Pretty Things ‘The official new Line-wp was Phil May (vocals), Dick Taylor (guitar), Skip alan Céruis) plus new mon” bers, Wally Allen (bass) and John Povey (keyboards). Even before the release of “Eaotions™ the grou? had begun to experiment with a heavily psychedelic ap~ roach. But the Pretty Things weren't just Jumping on the Flower-power bantvagon, they were busy Contry, up vith soneening that was all thelr om. ‘The nev Pretty Things sound war heard all over che ‘Flourishing London underground scene, where psychedelia had taken over in full force at clubs like the UFO» the Speakeasy and Middle Earth. They vere also participants in the first big psychedelic festival, "The 16 Hour Technicolour Dream" at the Roundhoure’ in front of 10,000 Deopie. About forty bands took part in the event, in- luting the Pink Floyd, the Creation, the Soft Machine, SJonn's children, the Move, the Flies and Grehaa Bond. ur although the Pretties were still popularNEW_PRETTY THINGS: Clociarise from bottom left: PDA May, ‘ohh Povey, Dick Taylor, Wally Allen, Skip Alan, live act everywhere and were highty visible on the Lon on underground they wore now vithout a record contract. Nost record campanies, on hearing the band's new ideas, considered chen too my-out and steered clear, afraid £0 take a risk. Finally the Pink Floyd's producer, Norman “turricane” Smith at EMI, Listened to denor of two new Pretty Things songs, "Defecting Grey and "Talking AbOUE The Good Tines™, and sms bouled over by what he heard, Subsequently the group was signed co BAI'e Coluabia di~ ‘The original version of "Detecting Grey” vas twelve ainutes long, for the single ic was re-recorded and cut dow to around five, It as Teleased in Noves ber “1967. Even in it's shortened form it's a cotally bisarre fang brilliant record, and utterly unlike anyzhing heard before. Bullt around a series of clever and unexpected changes, "Defecting Grey" is nore like several different Songs joined together Into a sore of "mini-opers Te starts with pleasant molodic sequence, Phil, with a very proper English voloe, singing "sitting alone fon a bench vith you/tirrored above in the sky..." But ALL the Cine there's dark undercurrents aking the baie fo the back of your neck stand on end. The record has this Incredible tension renning all the way through 1c, Suidenty the band crashes in out of nowhere, Dick Taylor owing on a fatal fusz/wan tiff and Phil snarling can erously vith blackness all around, After 2 few moments She storm is over and the original melody cones back in, ‘but you're not safe for long... It"s impossible to de~ seribe the song or to try and analyse it's comlexity, and it would be foolish to ery here. it's really just Sonething that everyone should hear for themelves. With all ite changes, splices and different instruc nents ant effects, "Detecting Grey” really could have Turned out to be a tangled an disoriented piece of mu~ ssicy but the Fretty Things: and Norman Smith actually suc~ ceed in creating what is possibly the finest psychedelic record of the whole era, ‘The Beside, "Ur. Evasion", is almost as psyonece- Ley but here with a nore rocking approach ~ lots of great guitarwork fron tvo Dick Taylors, Wally sLiding w Snd.down the bass strings, the organ fading in and out ‘of focus and Skip bashing asay with Lote of drum fille. Beeiting sturt. ‘Although the single went nothere commercially, on an underground level 1 sterscted a Lot of ateantion ‘The Pretty Things haa proved hey were to be taken seri- ‘The next single was released three months later, in February 1968, and ae another two-sided Idler. "Talking About The Good Tines™ vas the A-side, 1ike both UFO UFO UFO UFO UFO AT THE ROUNDHOUSE FRIDAY, AUG. 25th 10.30 p.m-Down THE PRETTY THINGS PAPER BLITZ TISSUE FUMS © UGHTS © SUBVERSION Members 0/6 Svemn 20/6 DEFECTING GREY PRETTY THINGS: ~ Defect. Fae PRET Tinos Eo agele, (ouumBiay Soe Sr Shier, “packard” guitar, Strona ae ape iotaped,Togeiner,. you fan 'pear a rosking gap Bithing” away. "You ‘hove ‘Toe Pretty Things nave Sine "beck we now promising unage. "The Gunint woals have ingiant ME tye yore Sel eat Ee a tte Eyres’ are hard tov heat 2 hart sien cem es fdfect’in the ‘vacegrouns | BU gine tbe soe ee mages EL PaE wor - 2 te eharts tT omemee sides of the previous release it vas a Nay/Taylor/Matler Composition. This is an incredible number, set roa ‘lerce marching beat it features unusual’ and compli ted hareonising, nore effects and ¢ ninddlowing tine change into the instrunantal break. Tt is also the first Pretty Things song to heavily feature mellotton. John Povey vas the true aaster of the mellotron, never vas St lused so effectively as in his hands, It's acary and ethereal tones dominate the vhole song here, giving it a real Eastern feel, enhanced further by the use of sitar in the opening bars (Povey again). ‘The other side, ‘Walking Through My Dreams" (a way/tayler/Wslier/Povey cospesition) never fails to make ny heart iss a few beats, This tine based around simple elodie harsonies, with only plano, guitar, bese and runs providing the backing. Tn the siddle the nellotren is brought in for a brief solo, folloved by a fantasti~ cally dissonant guiar solo that works perfectly. The Song” builds and falls and builds and falls with such en Baging subelety that even the uninitiated and uneuspect= fing, sho find "Defecting Grey" too far out to handle, are caught under the spell of "Walking Taroush Hy Deans”. A perfect pop record. Early in 1968 Skip Alan decided to Leave the group co settle down with a girl ne'd net on a Prench tout. For his replacement the band brought in John Alder alias Twink. ‘Twink had been good friends with the group for years, ever since he vas in the Fairies and had shared 2'fiat weh John stax, The Fairier and the Pretty Things were close drinking partners, and Twink had #at in for Viv Prince on several occasions when Viv vat too out of it'to find the club or the recording studio! Twink's Le~ end as a loon was equal to chat of Viv (well, maybe Boe Vivi, Skip and Keith toon, and he previous band, To- orrow, had only recently broken up, so he was eho ob- vious choice to take the vacant drum stool in the Pretty. ‘Things. Originally he agreed £0 deputise for a aonth or So, DUE Ne ended up staying auch Longer By the tine Twink Joined the group, they had al- ready Started york on the biggest and most. challenging Droject of their carecr. Originally "S.P, Sorrov" had Bogan as a short story written by Phil, it documented the loneliness and tragedy of one man's Life ~ Sebastian F, Sorrow, The band decided co expand the idea into a whole usical drana in which the songs on the LP would tach tell chapters of the tale, "e.P, Sorrow" is a fantastically anbitious ant complex ausieal work, and those readers faaitler only with the bani's raw early releases should really en~ Geavour to seek out a copy) it vill shock the ears into a state of stumed and glorious disbelief. Although thePRETTY THINGS Talking About The Good Times: rong. song, pecially tr the back ing''tounds.” Team say, ‘band es Peart tat tt WILL make I bet tL faust’ bes te "with “fair ‘chamces. ‘Hebtly overcompler, though. FUP: In some ways a slraager member. ary Lp Ae far vesoved from their REB roots 1 is just as vital a Pretty Things record as “Hosdrumer" or "Cone See Me", and equally stimulating listening ‘The album was made at the prestigiou—and sone hat over-reverod—Abbey Koad Stutios. By this cine Ab- bey Road had begun wing four track equipaent, bat ap~ parently the Pretty Things only had access toa couple Of two track mchines, 2 fact that maker the record even Bore impressive, as producer Norman Smith had to conei~ nally mix down to one track as each layer of scund was added. Phit May reports that there were a5 many as thit= fy two overdube on certain outer voices, electric and acoustic guitars, bass, organ, piano, mllotron, sitar, Woodwind, drums and percussion, plus all aanner’ of spe cial effacts, many whlon vere sed for the first time on this albun. Texturally this is one of the richest album the Listener is Likely to hear. ‘By this point Norman Smith was working so closely with the group on the project that he had become vireo ally a bent peaber himel®, The production is obviously 4 labour of love, considering all the different over~ dubs, the sound could easily have becone a ee of muldi~ hess’ and distortion; miaculously, quite the opposite effect 1s achieved, each component is there with the Clarity and purenese that only true genius can create, As-an album, "S.F, Sorrow" is totally flaviess apd beil~ "S.F, Sorrow Te Born opene the album in Uright and exhilerating style, setting the scene for the story that follows. As it reaohes the instrumental break ‘ayers and layers of acoustic guitar and ellotron wash over and engulf you, Iike & save of warm sound = incre ‘ible! The song dutids to an uplifting finale as the band's voices rise in harmony, bouyed along by some striking keyboard work and the melodic descending base Tine. "pracelets Of Fingers” has a splendid symphonic ave T sayy almost operatiowopening, with te magnifi- ‘cent choir of Pretty Things voices, It then segues into 2 great arrangoaen: where aubeely wah-vah-ed guitar, Ailiteryretyle drune and sone starcling special effects unite effectively with the fantastic Hay/Povey/ialler harmonies that by now were an integral feature of a good portion of the band's material, Alshough the sone deals with the innocent fantasies ani games of Sorrow's ohild~ hood itis tinted with an ever-present unlertone of sad loneliness: “Hearing the Laughter that turns into tears evtey day". Te is a tint that will grow nore Livid as the s1bun progresses. Sorrow grovs older ant more dispirited as he goes to work in "the factory of misery", Then he loses bis his heart to the gil next door. “She Says Good Horne ing" with {te Beatle-ian vooals, hard hitting beat, slashing guitar chords and Nally Ailen's masterful erumahing tase is one of ay favourites, Dick Taylor di Einguishes Binsel/ wich « nagnificent solo, spitting fe- ‘roctous fuzz-box notes in ingenious cousterpoint to the Belodic chiming of the other guitars. This track vould have been a wise choice to be pulled as a single, Dut this was not to be, it was passed over in favour of the following track, Wer is declared, the factory closes dom, and Sor~ row goes off to fight, "Private Sorrow" has an unusual ‘and disarming combination of sountet sone bold ant SKALLFuL druming lays dovn a strong marching beat,0 while Keyboards, flute and acoustic guitar provide tune {Eul accompaninenc. However, it Ls the poetcy of Pail Way's Iyrics that really snatch at your attention: "Heaven's rain falls ion Faces of the children uho look skyward, Twisting aetal through the air Sears ant screams So you aight ‘mow hie fury" Te is evident that PALT was really growing a oe a writer, ant ite unfortinare that he has been sore 1y overlooked in this field, ‘The drums at the ond of "Private Sorrov" segue perfectly into the next number—an interesting feat when you consider that Skip Alan plays on "Private Sorrov" {ed the drumer en "Balloon Burning” ts Twinld “palloon Burning” is the albuats sost blistering rocker, but it's also so such nore than his. The song Fecounts che flery death of Sebastian's childhood sweet= heart in a dramatic batloon disaster (the ‘Windenbure', natch) witnessed by the hapless Sorrow. The tragedy Le effectively rendered in the powerful music and words of the song. The odd droning haraonies, svisling fuzz gui~ tara and frantic tempo in the first balf of the sons can't even prepare you for the instrumental aaeletros of the break, The thytha guitar scratches out + furious ‘chord sequence in one chanel, az in the other channel Dick plays probably the most turning fuse guitar solo of alt tine, while the base guitar counters with perfect Acrobatic Tims, it's runbling figures tusbling ecstati- ally with the crashing drums, Just when it sounds Like evoryching Le about to burst into flanae—BLAMI—they Snap back into the original riff! The whole thing leaves ‘ne awestruck and gasping for breath ‘Next cone the dark clouds of “Death's "As your loved ones they place Heavy stones on your Face Your sonnets of life They are filling the case High wintows inside me Look down on your face. 4 hopeless tone of despair descents vith the toll~ ing notes of the bass, mournful sitar, and the beautiful ‘and noving words, as they grieve for the tragic oss of 3 loved one, Solem and powerful stuff indeed, Side Two opens jarringly, with the evil and aale= fic maron Saturday", ite brooding jungle beat, dackward ellotron, sinister vocal and denoniaosl perewslon break conjuring up inages of black magic, voodoo, and ental confusion, ‘This gives way to the utterly umbelievable “he Journey", atother song that really needs to be heard end swperienced rather thin read abovt. In the context of The album, At Le one of the nose overuhelaing and tnvol- vying pieces on here. Baron Saturday leads Sorrow on a nightmare Journey whore fractured and Jagged ploces of his life stare back at bin = laughing, crying, and tor- Curing his sind uncil ne is forced finally to’ look upon "the Rost painful sight yet..." "The Journey" becoses the fragile and hauntingly beautiful "I See You" as Sorrow saree upon the face of the love he had and lost. The sore builds in its hypno- ‘ie Intensity, until the nightnare reaches its alareing climax in the "Well Of Destinys" ‘There is a Long pause before the three conclusive chapters of the story resume, “Trust reflects the thoughts of & man who has ose his faien in the vorld: “Excuse ne please as T wipe a tear ‘Away fron an eye that sees there's nothing eft to erate Finding that their mints are grey And there's no sorrov in the world that's ‘eee co trust” With its tremendous vocal harmonies and piano, itts one of the most menorable ani melodic songs on the alee "Old Man Going” continues the mood of hopelessness, and despair, as the ageing Sorrow ant the world around hhim Live out their enpty ani meaningless Lives} Lives hat can only Lead eventually to one places 3 cold and lonely graver wfeaffic thins as you drive slowly by A frlent vipes a Flover from an eve Streets filted with bouquets from s clowty sky ‘They"Ii soon forget the Field in which you Iie This’ all sung by Phit with imonsé caustio Dieter ness over an incredibly intense arrangenent of riffing slecerie and fast struming acoustic guitare, The sone is certainly anong the Finest the Prettles ever record ate As if the sentiments of the previous songs weren't depressing enough, "SF. Sorrow" signs off with "Loneli= fest Person", which is, without exzeption, the Sone, I have ever heard: ‘you might be the loneliest person in he world You'll never be as lonely as ne Yes you mignt be the loneLiest person in the world Your nane it vould have to be m To concluse, °S.F. Sorrow" is not an album that Leaves you with any great feelings of hope or Jor for Living. Sut anyone who has sat ami Listened to the albu ‘all the vay through, couldn't help but to feel affected by the amazing intensity of the ausic and the story ie Cells, °S.P, Sorrow’ is a vork of tremendous imagination ant intelligence, and one that will stand the test of Tine; a hundred years fron now he impact of its music— fon those wise enowh to Listen—will be unfininiahed. ‘The elbum completed, the group went down to EME to lay them the capes and read the story to then. The big, Gizectors, executives and record company staff’ sat ehrough i ail In stunned silence. They were completely ‘convinced that the Preteler were mai! Subsequentty, ute sure of how to progote "S.F. Sorrow", ant unconvinced of iets worth, the label never realiy got behind the record to push it’ into the Limelight. ‘Anazingly, whon *S.F, Sorrov" was released, n No~ venber. 1968, it vasn't widely recognised as the master= piece it so obviously was (and is.) The tragedy was that the record var £0 god, and such incense Listening, that people weren't Feady for it; and even taday, ven it is ‘auch nore widely lauied, nary people stilt aren't ready. ‘Avsingie was relessed atthe sane tine as the al- bun, "Private Sorrow" b/w "Balloon Burning”, bur te went novbere. Dise jockays varen't particularly eager to play 4 record abot the horrors of war and hunirede dyine ‘Screaming. in agony. Tf "S.F. Sortov" wasn't gelling enough to make the charts, if wes very influeneial on a cult level, Fete Tomshend had worn out his copy in lese than a week and told Phil May that the Who were going to record eheir own "S.F, Sorrow", Dut that if would sell pore, because fe wouiahre be so depress ing Ray Davies must have had a copy of "SF, Sorrow" too, because within a year both the Kinks and the Who had cone out with thelr own "rock operae"™=—"arthat™ and “Tomay"--both of which owed much to "S;F, Sorrow". Thiswas particularly true of "Tommy", in hich Townshend had Sctually gone as far as Lifting the opening chords of “old wan Goine™ for his infinitely inferior "pinball Mi- Naturally, beth “Tonny" and, to a lesser extent, cacthuct, wore hailed as mascerpieces, and the "cock opera” concept all of a sudden decane’ a valid. new musi~ eal form. Tt was as if "S.F. Sorrow" had never existed! The grow signed a desi with Motown's Rare Earth subsidiary for a US. release of the albus, Ironically, it was not released until 1970, when it vas mercilessly criticised as being a "Tomy" tiproft! It vas yet ano- ther example of how the Pretty Things never seened to receive the credit due to them. ‘66 and featured the Pretty Thines gongs. The chene song is standard singalorg fare, Due he other four songs are really sonething special. You can see Norsan dance inthe evinging nightclub accnes. a5 the group crashes chrowgh "Te'11 Never Be He" se Mind", and the brilliant "Al Even’ enough they're only Lip-synching, the flim provides ws with a rare and exciting glimpse of the band in ac~ tion = positively god-like! ‘ALL the songs in the novie aze available on the electric Banana” series. Ie wae early "67 when the Pretty Things first became involved with the Deelfe company, who provided soundtrack records for use as in Cidental or background music In aovies, The Prettiea would go into the studio ami record some tracks, and the Tapes would de sold to Defolfe, who would then press them a5 records, givire the group the "Electric Banana" alias. one side of the albun would feature vocals, the other side instrumental versions of the sane songs. 2 43 fila company needes sone Tock music to be comine out Of car radio or a jukabox during a seene, one of the “etectric Banane” records could be ued. These record ings were never to be officially released and were only pressed in very smal1 quantities, so when bootlegged Copies started appearing in record stores later on the Pretty Things were not amined, ‘The first "Electric Sanina™ record is basically chrovavay material fron the "Eaotions™ period = it's sixties discotheque soul stuff, harmless and inoffensive enough but nechisg to set the houre on fires Rep f41~ Sley's horns are featured prosinenely and the Pretty Things stamp Little of thelr persorality on che proceed ines Too bedThe second record in the series, "More Electric Banana”, is uch nore Laterest ing at che band searced using Duvolfe’e stutio tine to work on sone of thelr new songs. The session probably dates fron early 1968, just after Skip left the group but before the arrival of Twink, as the band is juse 2 four-piece, with John Povey hhandting the drunming chores, With the exception of one song the keyboards ate abrent, the Zecord hes a rather Sparse sound, being after all. just rough demos with next fo no overdubs. The material though is really fabslouss There's an alternate version of "T See You" (from "5. Sorrow") with sone different words ani a ghostly piano} plis five other songs, including. the fantastic "Grey. Skies", With taybosrds anda Normn Saith production “urey Skies" would have been a Teal classic, aithowh here it's still excellent, with ehe orunth of its ine credible throbbing bassline and lots of great lead gui~ The songs from "what's Good For The Googe” are all this mtorfal wasn't just for anonymous incidental music this tim, so they really let tooeel iets a shame these, Songs were never released in any other fora, "Alexander" in particular would have mde a strong single, ‘The vocal versions of the songs on "More..." and ‘ven Nore..." are collected together on the easy to find putt Records albua, “Electric Banana ~ The $x- Ignore the hideous pactasing and buy it ‘Twink's arrival Inco the group ad quite an influ eres on certain aspects of their direction, He brought “with him many {doas chat Tomorrow hed been wine. One ‘as the involvement of mine in cheir live presentation, uibich ia fact Twink and Junter Wood Tanorrox's bass player) had originally developed se an extension of ubat Viv Prince haa been doing in the early Pretty Things. ‘The culmination of this vas cwo show at the Roundhouse in Jamary 1969, when the band and friends presented "SF. Sortow" ag 2 aine performance, directed oy Twink. Twink also brought the Byrds’ "Why", which both the Ta Crowd and Tonorroy had’ done ag an extended ravenup, The Pretties began opening thelr set with ty and Live tapes reveal they did a raucous bur explosive version, The Byrds* sount as obviously 2 big, influence during this period, as they also did an amazing version fof "Renaissance Fair", any Pretty Thies live perfor- mance during these tines way sure to be az rhcilLing and unpredictable a5 ever. Although their sound had changed mained intact. over the years, their onstage Loonie During 1969 the group released no new records at all, probably because they were frequently tourite, But 1150 due co their somewhat disorienred Lifestyle. A reat deal of tine vas spent hanging around "The Pink Fairies tocoreyele Club & All Star Rock and oll Band”, whieh rather than being any Kind of musical aggregation vas in fact a drinking club comprised of seabers of the Pretty Things, Deviants and Tyrannceaurus Rex, ‘Aside froz extreme alcohol consumption and mch voniting, one thing that caso out of all this aecry~ aking was a Tvink solo album, recorded in the sumer ot 1969 (aithough tt was not released une‘ the follow ing year). Twink enlisted the help of his frienda for the Tecording, ineluding moat of the Pink Fairtes Nor Eoreyele Club's All Star Rock and oli Band, and even viv Prince! "Think Pink", as one might expect, is'2 ‘rather strange albun, the work of a truly inepired ec- ‘centric! The record is comprised 1 jamming ant. stoned /drunken ve irdne sone inaginitive songe and ideas, and the whole thing has a wonderful atnosphere. Tes vell worth Looking in gocooecocescccocaecog MIDDLE EARTH prensa the ROUNDHOUSE CHALK FARM 229 1438 = PRETTY THINGS IN MIME ANew Pedection “S.. F, SORROW IS BORN” THE EGG MELANIE GLASS MENAGERIE a» EXPLOSIVE SPECTRUM LIGHT SHOW $ ~ FANTASIA LIGHT CIRCUS: AVE BROCK & PETE JUDD: = JEFF DEXTER NEXT WEEK. Aak someone { JOGOGOOGGOGGOSG000S toy if you can find a copy. Not long after “Think Pink” sar recorded Twink an- nounced he vas Leaving the Pretty Things to pursue other Drojects, this ted eventually to che Pink Fairies ~ but that's another story. ‘As 1969 drew to a close Dick Taylor decided he'd had enough of the Pretey Things lifestyle and the maic Dusiness as a shole, His parc in the band's direction had begun to diainish scamhat after "SF, Sorrow’, and by now he had a wife to look after, He entered first ine to production vork--produsing Hawketnd, amongst others—— before leaving music altogether, at least for awhile. ‘The band found a replacement for Dick in Victor ct, who'd previously been with che Edgar Broughton it, For a drunmer, sho shovld return Sut Skip Alan? So the Fretties were five once more, and ready for some ehlng new, jOOGOOGOdGECdEG00000CERC00R% adGddEEDEECEECaCCOGECECESCEDO jobooo. us pause, for at ‘recor Ligvsise for the band as haa generally been asguned, for although few people know of ts existence, there is an Sneive unreleased album thac dates from scoun! September: 1968, ‘The abun is actually by "Phillippe Deparges and ‘the Pretty Things, Phillippe DeBarges vas a French guy iho sms friends with Wally and Phil, he singe lead vo" als on the record and the Pretty Things provide sil chebacking. The alhum is profwed by Phil and Kelly, ant S11 che songs are May/Maller comositions. Aside fron versions of "Alexander", *Te'll Never Be Me” and "a le's Son there are eight nev songs that mover appeared leeshere! The overall standard of the songs te very igh in deed, particularly "You Might Even, "Running You snd Mom and "iw Day", waich are all quite exceptional. As Whole, the record has gentler soot and a nore acouscie Sound than the sizzling electricity of thelr 1967-68 rex cordings, but mellotron, harpsichord and some fiery Guitar solos are all there to spike the proceedings with the Kind of edge and exeizenent Ehat one expects from regular Pretty Things relewse, Te's. interesting 0 speculate whether versions of al these songs exist with Phil May singing ead vocals, Yecause auch of the tine DeBarges, despite soae obviow guage difficulties, sounts as if bers trying to imi tate Phil's style. Certain clues and observations lead nme to believe there is good probability of a Phil May-sumg versions For instance, sometine in early 1969 the Pretty Things recorded a BBC session which, accord= ing to prasencer Brian Matthews, was preview of songs fron their "fortheosing™ and "yet=ro-be-raleased LP" Tho songs performed on the session vere "Marilya", sspring”, "Alemander" and "Send You With Loving, ‘che ‘ast to’ of which shoved wp, in somewhat different ver~ sions, on the Phillippe Debarges project. ‘Wy theory is that the Phillippe DeBarges albus is in actual fact duly overdubbed demos and partially com pleted tracks that were to have made ip the Prettles" followup LP to "S.F, Sorrov". So the basic backing tracks feature the "S.F, Sorrow" Linewup but with vari- fous changes and overdubs added later featuring Vietor Unict on toad guitar, and of course Phillippe DeBarzes’ ‘vocals. ‘Anyway, the tapes only ever mde it as far a5 the acetate stage, ant for sone reason the record was never Feleased, Toiay the whereabouts of the aysteriour Pril- Lippe Debarges are unknown (perhaps French UOLY THINGS readers can help’). Hopefully in the future someone will jee fit to give this slum, in some fora, an official {nd legal release, ‘In April 1970 the band celessed their firet record in voll over a year, "The Good Mr. square” b/w "Blue Serge Blues" on EMI's nowy formed progressive outlet, vest, Both songs were recorded with the nev Line-w BE Abbey Road studios. : ‘The Aside was 4 laid-back comercial-sounting munber vith lots of haraonies and a slow but strore eats The song has a very “late Beatle-ish feel, with PRIL singing rather Tike John Lennon, untit the umber Seques into "She Was Tail, she Was High" witch has a inuch nore eerie sound and gives a taste of the things to ome on the next album, ‘The flipside, "Blue Serge Blues" is a Povey/May/ Waller song bullt around a sonorable piano riff and sone Great tasaplaying, It also shovoases Some razer-sharp {leeds from new maa, Unite, The words are ail about che British police force, sums in one of Phil's most biting vocals. ‘The "Parachute" albus folloved in June 1970, again Pecorded at Abbey Road with Norman Saith praducing. The 1970 Pretty Things had aoved away fron payehedeli *varachuce" ls a new and differemt sound for the nodulating between gentle melancholy moods and heavier and noce sinister numbers. Itt an inepired and stirring Fecord, in many ways ag Mich of a msterplece as °S.F, Sorrow", This is especialiy impressive when one consi- ders the generally abysmal quality of just about every- thing else released that year. “parachute” has a such looser concept than its predecessor, rather than following a strict storyline the songs explore che contrasts between Life in the city and in the coutry. Each track paints a scenario of ei- ther the city or country environaent, the chowhefully structured songs ant richly textured production provi Ging a vivid backdrop for Phil's imginitive and ce~ narkabiy poverful words, The curtain opens with “Scene Ones throbbing bass, jagged guitar chords, tense piano, wild drumize, ant feapnented, disorientite harnonies paint the scene fy for the brief verses that introduce the LP and set the tone for the album's unique atmosphere: "stone spires rise high, lacerate warmer skies Tron laced populations, beneath nolten fields" This leads ight into "The Gool Mr. Square” and ‘she Was Tell, She Was Wigh", which vas Glecussed & short walle back. Following this is a suite of three songs that sake up the centerpiece of the fiet eide, The wonder ful an desolate "In The Square" is first] acoustic, and electri guitars, clavichord, sitar and the Dante super harmonies all weave @ gentle and shismer~ ing magic that tates the 1 atener under ite fantastic, spell, The vords deat vith a loved one Leaving the 2ife Gf the city behind to head for the couttryside, Leaving her partner behint - vulnerable and alone. This segues into the thoughtfully arranged "the Leteer"y here each instrument is played vith a subtlety snd restraint that never intruies unecessarily on Phil's delicate voos1. This ear for precision and detail is part of what made the Pretty Things" music so special during this period, they displayed a deep sensitivity in their arrangements ami playing that waa a fine ant tare art by this tine, ‘the Letter builds with sone great bass and dramwork to the crushing despeir of "Rain", vhere it seems the irl has now left hin deserted, and lonoliness and an fuish have set in, again, a gceat performance by the row, particularly the strom thythe guitar, ard Phil's characteristic howls. iss Fay Regrets” seens co be one of the Pret— ties’ most’ loved songs, and certainly sets the albu fnost rocking track. Ie shines, thanks to a convincing vocal, and sose well-executed leads, The sone 10 aDpe~ rently a true story, dealing with a Liason vith an ‘ageing Hollywood star, whose days of wealthy Elanow, nd Beauty have all but slipped ausy. The Iyrics ere treat, on one level they appear to be a put~down, but ‘om anocher they succeed in invoking # sympathy for the Yaay's unfortunate fate. ‘Next we enter the shadowy and violent world of cries From The Midnight Circus” with its dark ant s1i- thering, baseline and deadly lyrica ‘You Lie in the alley, with blood on your clothes, ‘As fingers round your throat they close, Your cries of murder, splash on the vali Ant a5" you dhe ‘You think of all the injustice of ie a11 The song is a terrifying portrait of the vicious ant ugly unfervortd of the city; lyrically ani musically AE'E an extrenety poverful piece. ‘Side Two opens with what ig undoubeedly the a bunts Finest song, and one of the best the band ever wrote, “Grage"? "As silver tears they weave and lace Sea patterns upon her face, She waits for youre.” Wich its sensitive arrangesent and playing, and Phil's breathtaking vocals, its nood of melancholic resret and beauty is unequalled. A very special song, and one of fy absolute favourites. ‘Sickle Clone” tells that the country can show & side ag dark and violent as that of the city. it drawe fren ineidente in the aovie "Easy Rider” for the hate ful and frightening inages of its lyrics (reaenber when Jack Wicholson gets beaten to death in ehe woods’). The song rolls along to a weird sidevindlne tine signaturt and features sone menorable lead guiter fron Unitt ant ‘scary hissing percuseion break Teniniscent of the Sinilecly evil "Baron Saturday" from "S,F, Sorrow. ‘she's A Lover" is one of the record's mort oxel- ‘ing tracks and really ought €o be reparded a9 sone kind fof classic. Tes a sensational uptempo rocker with sone Ingenious chord sequences and tempo changes, thote per= fect harmonies, a dual lead guitar solo and sone crisp and dynamic drunning fron Skip. At a time when just a= dour every oener drunser hed begun to tune his drum co Something akin to the damp that of # lavishly uphole- fered couch, the vibrant Tattle and crash of Skip's kit is sheer joy to the ears. Aso notable is the brief “What's The Use", ite precise harsonies and ringing 12-etring guitars Dring back sviriing nepories of the early Byrds) but wichin the infinitely lonelier and more chilly comext of "Parachute" the effect is altogether different. ‘The conclusive title track is nothing short of ave-inspicing, Te beging with an iey choral intonine 2FILL YOUR HE EAD WITH ITH PRET Q 2 5 ej § tWords that sonevhar recall 7,5. Eliot's "The waste Land With its evocative imges of people fleeing the cold fant decaying cities ani headite towards the ocean. The song builds and resouis, soaring to a climactic sym- phonde finish. Tt sounds like nothing anybody recorded before or since ~ just overvhelaing! With the "Parachuce" albun the Pretty Things had fereated anoeher exceptional record. This tine its re~ ease oet with sone glowing reviews fron critics, most sting Stone, who went on Co ake it “Alban OF Unf tunately the enthusiasm of the critics rectad in the sales of the record and, Like "S.F. Sorrow", "Parachure” was erisinally ignored by the ‘Victor Unitt left the grow to rejoin the Edgar Broughton Band just before "Parachute" vas released. te as replaced by young Peter Tolson, a long-time Precties fan who'd been the guitarist for Eire Apparent. ‘The by now disillusioned Precty Things carried on for just one nore year, purting all their effort into touring and recording a cowle of sinles, in the hope of making @ lorg-avaited breakthrourhs Peter Tolson's guitar style wat very different fron Victor Unite's, be was flashier and more into. of fects; Unitt, it seems, had a better grasp of dynamics fam algo the cocasional use of restrainr in his play- ing. But Af Tolson perhaps bad less sensitivity in his style than Unite he was nevertheless eechnically eu- Derb, and, nove importantly, he had a genuine dedica~ Elon to the Turure of the band, By nov the Precty ‘Things vere Roving tovard a lesa exoteric and nore hard rocking style, for which the eighteen year old Peter was just perfect ‘The fist tecord with the new guitarist, "october 26" b/w "Cold Stone” was released in Noveaber 1970, The Avside™ is a slow but powerful munber with characteriee tic Pretty Things 3-pare harmonies, a haunting harpei- chord and Peter Tolson playing sone distinctive wah-van effects, Tr was 2 strong sore ani the band felt confi dent it vould be a hit, but by nov they were appealing to a nev progressive “albumorences" auiience, these being seriou folks that didn't buy Little 7-iach Te cords, s0 the single didn't come close to charting. ‘The Beside, "Cold Stone", ia a loud headbanging hard rocker that sounds like «real crow 3) ‘though not really ay ow of tea at alle ‘The next single, "Stone Hearted Ma As7l, reatly had chert potenti oll stomper wich a swinging oe chorus, a Top OF The Pops appe fenough’to iatmch it into at de im May 3 basic rock ant 1s singaiong ee could have been the lover reaches of HI KIDS? Swe WAVE YOU PROBEM 10 illd YouR FAVE TANZINES (uGlY-qHINGS Kies, LEVINE NEAT Blo THWNG, SPLEDLD, WHAT WAYE er<) AND SWEDISH 45'S, IF So Stl 4 TRo-To"GUNNAR JOHANSSON, KRANSBINSARY. 1p , 12636 HAGERSTEN, SWEDEN" AND You Wit GET THE BEST gAZWe Uist y HE WORLDIY 0ST-"PARACHUTE™ PRETTY THINGS + TORI Skip, Johs, Welly, Peter and Phil. che British charts, Dut it was not to be, ‘Two tracks were incluied on the Beride. "Sumer= time" (written by May/Maller/Tolson) has a Kind of West Coast feel and some etrone hooks,- but with perhaps too many guitar solos to sustain the interest of aost.peeple for its whole 4125 duration. ‘The short "Circus Mind” (written by Phil and Peter) has a really sparse and echoed sound, with Just = "4 poignant singing; his voice ob as he sings: "Will you wait ‘This song is’ one of {he group's most moving, a real gem, and very auch over~ Looked, even by dichard Pretty Things fans ‘After one nore four of Britain i wat a sonewhat acrimonious group that decided they'd given thelr ait for Long enough and that ehis vas the end. The Pretty Thlnge announced their dissolution. in August 1971 it ws seemingly all over for the greatest. and perhaps Teast appreciated band of all The splic actualy last see than ei nonths, but it really marked the en of an ers for Phil May arc his cohorts, and at the band's 1971 break-up we will close the story for the tim being. The next chapter of the Pretty Things’ legend vill be discussed in a furure saves WANTED Live tapes, video tapes, Tecorded interviews, unreleased acetates; bootlegs, radio and TV broadcasts, etc. by the following bands... THE PRETTY THINGS, ‘THE PINK FAIRIES, THE FUGS, LOVE, SUICIDE. I've tapes to trade and T'd Like to hear from you. ALLAN WOOD, 99 Skagen Court, Bolton, Lancashire BLL 25D, England.Ea | aS WN a8 ‘Those fabulous Pretty Things, one of the wildest and certainly one of the most de “S) around the personnel, they've come up with a new sound—one wi well restore them to the Hit Parade, which is where they deserve to be. Says co-founder and guitarist Dick Taylor The point is that we have to start all over again from scratch and gradually introduce ‘our audiences to our new sound, One thing which decided us... we were always more Poptlar on the Continent than over here and Wwe were playing material there that was too dated for here. So now we want to concentrate again on the English market and if necessary take the risk of losing out on our successes 02d. In fact, we think we're offering far more with our new material and we enjoy our new BS 7 IR ye 5 xe free-form music much more. It's quite a risk to run, such a radical change in style, but it should pay off. Even some of the fans abroad are beginning ‘to accept it Which is where Phil May, co-founder and guitarist, broke in to say: “Not long ago we were piaying with Jimi Hendrix in Paris, Though the audiences there waten't quite ready for our music yet, we felt they were gradually turning to us.” So watch out for the new-look Pretty Things. They've switched to Columbia Records now and you can buy their first release there, Defecting Grey, which was written by Phil May and Dick Taylor. Yes, ‘The Pretty Things have changed. Now maybe people will give grester thought to their music nd less to being stupidly biased ‘against the way they looked through their initial impact on pop music. JM. KK cite BRE Gr YEE Ox «© a z s cy YX. ENG 26AN INTERVIEW WITH A LEGEND PHIL MAY PART TWO a ia ae In Part One of our Phil May Interview (UGLY THINGS IV) we discussed the Pretty Thines" early years, {rom 1964 up until the 196? "Enot ons" album. T com acted Phil again and chis tine ve tallad about the years fotlovirg "Emotions", fron 1967-71. Pht] was nest enthusiastic te expound on'what was probably the crt ereative and artistically satisfying period of the MEE: “OK, vo Loft off the first part of the Interview ‘ith the departure of John Stax and Brian Pendleton, Sod the release of "Enctons", “iow did’ you acquire Joha Povey and Wally ALlen new group nenbers?™" PHIL: "Well, because T grew up with Wally, we were at ‘Sehoot together and variour things. He and Jonn hada band calied the Fennen, and they were Local to shere Dick and T Lived, ant it’ Just sore of followed on naturally, T neah we were sort of Dreadening the bend YESH sone naracny Chines and enacts what chey spectal= MEE: "So you knew chen s11 ehrough the sixties cheat FETE: “Well, Kind of-..elthough we were playing con ‘Pletely disferent circuit. Their kind of band, the music they were playing was different. But they started working with us doing vooal backing inieiatly on deaos find things. It seened natural, they just Kind of inte Grated into it." MEE: “John had played dewne in the Fenmeny but you got Bi to play piano and keyboards." BEIL: "Well he started piano beforehand and then got ‘onto the druas, 1ike a tot of Kids, piano wasn't 3 particularly elenourows instrument so he suitched to rups. But also, shen Skip got off the druns he used to eet on ‘en. Sowe ended up with Skip playing out in che Sudience and John playing on the drum Rit." NxE; (laughing) "That's great! So how much did John Povey and Wally Allen contribute to the change-in the Pretty Things" soma?" PRIL: it's very difficult to say, because initially weren't involved in the writing, The idea where we were moving tovards--there was just Skip, Dick and my Self iefe~-ve were noving toverds chat ausie that ve ‘eventuality did’ end up doing, ehings Like ‘Defect ine Grey". They vere on *Enotions' with us, but Mat was ‘ind of pretty auch done before ehey arrived. yhen you stare working with people abviowly certain thines chat fo woll you aim towards sore, because they seen ro be Working with the people Fourve got. So it's an almost Subliminal aireceion charge." MEE: "Defect ing Grey" was totally unlike anything Your or anyone else, had ever recotded before. Hat was ‘he’ inspiration benind enat sone?” PSTL: "Well it was, again, trying to find a vay of ‘miking music vicn'vasn't”Sust @ straight formané three chords or five chords, and lso not straightforward in ‘content. Tt has about four or five vignettes all going fen, which you Xeep going back tor T\neany it waz out minicversion of *$.P. Sorrow", that's really what te by MIKE STAX was, Basically Lt was about somebody sho was very Straight sho tas changing their Life, and s0 the whole thing changed over from being quite straight maically into sonething more complicated, nore complexy if you know what T sean. It was meant to be ayrically and story-wise 2 musical change. So the whole thine changes over ~ the change is going on throughout the song with Ail the different instrument, MiG: “hat vas the initiel reaction feoa your Long term ‘fans to the few sound?" PHIL: "1 don't know, 1 vas pretey mixed resily. A Lot {OF People sort of chought we" gone mad! Te ended up be- ing'a sort of eight minute single which nobody would play, ‘cos they said it sas too long! Tt gor played @ — Lietie Sie, but ie wan't tcomercialiy visble's ta these days’ everything was meant to be under four finutes, y"imow? But then, of course, you nad things Like "Eaily" and coreain Floyd eninge coning out that slightly Droke that down. ut there was a lot of Teac~ Elon = but also T chink a lot of people dian'e really understand if anyway." MIE! "The other side of the single, ‘we. Evasion’ - wae That written about any parsicular person, or was it aore about @ type of person?" PHIL: “again it was Just sort of about establishaent ‘Figures, People who were in the establishaent sho at the Tine wete thinking, or naybe were actually breaking MEE: “Did you experinent at sll with LSD, and do you Feel this had any influence on shat you were doire musically at the tine PHIL: "130? oh yeah, sure! Around that cine ve experi~ iented with everything. Especially dusing "S:Pr Sorrow" Hix "So you think tt had a big effect on vhat you were ‘doing musically?" PHIL: "I don’ imov. T suppore the answer to that is it RUSE have done, because At had quite a lenge influence fons Lot of things ve Were doing at the tine. 1 sean not ust musteatty but in one's Tife. So T don't think the music could have deen.s unaffected! ® MEE: “Wow dla you Live show at this tine differ fron Ene ins years? PRTL: "Well ve started using more visual things, visual Drops, like hodels of the band mde out of hardboard and Diywood cut out and painted, pianos filled with lovers Enat Skip would then anash up with a pick-axe ~ we had the piano all wired up. We vere constantly looking for few ways of making muricy John was quite ince his sitar hinge, he wanted to play that onstage. Just the sort of ‘things’ everyone was teying with experinentation. 1 mean, in retrospect it seena slightly sore of pretentious and affected, but it yasn't really at the tine done for that ‘Eeason, not conselously.™ MiGs "was it difficult to reproduce stuff Like ‘Defect ‘Tag Grey" Liver” PHIL: “Very difficult, yeah. But, I meany not imporei- ‘Bier Tt just cook a certain anount more discipline, and also switoning of instrunents. We weren't particularly Sophisticated technicaliy=-iike you could do it onstage 7ow, T ean there's no problem--it was nore Like a question of technical expertise, which people Iike the Floyd were working on ali the tine. Haif of their music Gane out of thelr experinentacion with technics! sets Eechnicat techniques, if you Like!” (Laughs) MEE: “ould you'use’ tape recordings onstage Eo help Bainent. your sound?" PAIL: "We only ever weed it once, that was when we did a iMine show of *S.F. Sorrow'. We didn't ever really use Eapes aa a backing track witch the Floyd, as 1 sayy were doing quite professionsliy. a11 those things you could dg then in the studio, but on the road if wae still vecy. iBuch the basics ~ Yor anps and things. We had melio- trons, BuE ve didn't have, sort of, Korgs or synths, or the Kind of things which could have actually done che Job, The leyboard player, Instead of havine to change instunencs would nave Just changed sounds, and would have proeramed in the sounds he needed Mixer "Wow did you firee conceive "SF, Sorrou'? i "Twrote it just asa short story. When we were ‘SUEting around I chink I seggested that Thad on fdeay ‘the start of something. And Dick must have approved and the other guys aust have approved it, tees Y then exanded it and wrote in characters, and it really just ane out of that WOKE: "Did you ever think of publishing that oF any- PHIL: ‘Mo, not really. T feel {2's sort of done it's ‘Jobs Tere Like doing the book of a plays I meam it's ob- viously shat it wag, it uae a record. MINE! "Yeah. So you'stuck very much £0 the original text ‘Of the story as far as the Lyrics of the songs went and Such ia? PHIL: "We tried to make the Lyrics tell the story, we Teed tyrics that worked, 20 you didn't have hundteds of choruses of sort of, ‘Moon in June, noon in June, son in Junet, "teos in five minutes you had to pass over che epizode And conmmicate what had just happenened. And in cereain characters quite a lot of thingy are happening." MENG: "Well it cones off Very successfuliy, because ‘Gener "rock operas’ that followed your's invariably, failed in that aspect. The telling of the story waa the sole function of many of the songs, ani s0 those songs didn't really have much content musically. Whereas you Nanaged C0 do Doth, to tell the story while still having something great musically. PAIL: "Yeah, vetl that waa the dea, vhether ve did it OF not, T don't mou! Sut ehat was why the lyrics Changed, vecause they actually had a Job to do apart Sron, ylimow, being soasthing to sing over the music." MIKE! “How Long did the albus Eaxe to record?™ PAIL: "God, we vere at Lt for about six onthe, T mean ‘Rot solidly because we didn't have that Kind of stuiio Outside Abbey Hoad Stultos, 1968, Tito Br Dicks Johny Twinks Wally and Phi. ‘Phi ant his bottle, Scheveningen, Holland, 1963, Bookings, but ve"d have 1ike two weeks here and t¥o weeks there, and also ve were working, ae well; so ve had Eo keep going off on tour and then we'd cone back and do 8 Dit sore. We made "What's Gcod For The Goose" during fr, sich meant we were sort cf three or four weeks filming in shich ve worked on it in rehearsals, Kind of rewrote chings "cos ve veren't in the studio ‘cor we ere in the other end of England.” HEKE: “So did your producer, Noraan Smith, have a big, ‘hand in your sound at this tine? PHIL: "Yes be id. He wae Like a sixth aenber realty.” HIRE: ‘no is that reciting the nanes of the dead and ‘Alssing at the ond of 'Peivate Sorrow’? PTL "worman, STW: vSongs {ite ‘ruse? and ‘Loneliest Person’ present Svacy disiliusioned and pessinistic view of the world, as this just you docuenting Sorrow's avate of mind as he grey older, or sas it also a reflection of your own personal feelings at che tine? Paths "Te wae really in character with the character, ‘Bir also reflecting general misgivings. Buc it was in Keeping vith shat had happened to hin. t nean ‘The Lone= Lest Person’ was just really about soaebody who Loses Sonebody. Tt vas really about him and the situaction.* Migs "Right, bur it could be translated into a move Universal sttuacioa, PHIL: "Yeah, it could be-..but ie wasn't particularly Row t felt, it as putting ayself in che position of the character and trying to convey that feeling. The thing vias to try and sake the characters have sort of thres ‘dinensional shape, rather chan just be naaes of songs. le were trying to flesh out the characters in the sores So that they actually had sone Life of their ovn, Things Tike "Baron Saturday" which was based in ali the voodoo, papadolie things: NEVE: "Who's that singing Lead on ‘Bacon Saturday‘? PHIL: *Dickiet e's the only thing he aver sang on." MIRE: “sinae were the circunscances Denind Dick's de- Darture fon the grovp in 19697" BAILs "Well, Reva’ kind of had enough of being on the ‘Foad ant of the "showbiz" thing. T_don't iow, we were ‘Speaking abour it the ocher days..hevd fuse had enovsh,HOWE: "So that must have cone as a pretty big Blow when he decided to Leave." PAIL: "Te did, Yes, BuE when You get to feel that ‘Fou havn somebody unter strain keeping it going. He was doing less and lass involved with the band, so it wasn't such a great rend in that sensé, becaure we were having to sort of cover for him. Re just varn't putting it into ity So only his presence was alssing—his ealent—-de you Yow what T mean" MK: "Yeab. PEIE: "But his actual contribution, at chat tine, Tad one down to pretty much zero. He wasn't in strumental in the direction at that tine, 20 therefore it wasn*e quite such a blow ae it could have been." NEVE: "So did he work at all on the ‘Parachute! ‘Tibia or any of the songs while they were in Their formative stages?" PIL: "Wo, Chat we really al Wally and ay hat t'm saying Ls the direction had been taken’ over, and Dick vas Just playing at thar tine, yioew? He admite chat, he was Just going along because he didn't now how Eo stop. So it wasn't quite such s shock uben he left," MUG! "So Wally really filled in a lot of Dick's Drevious role in the band as far az his contribe- ion in songwriting am! arranging?” PETL: "Wally and T'started writing together, that as diferent, ant thar meant there was sei] writing strength to carcy the thing on, The vole ‘Parachute’ thing was ort of unier way in terms of song ideas, so it was olay, apart from finding Soaeboiy who would have replaced Dick on guitar uinicn was pretty much isposs ible, But then it warn't a gultar-oriented albu, if you iow what Tinean. At that tine the songe weren't coming fron guitar tiffs, nore chord structures and song ideas. MOG: “what was the concept behind *Parachute’?™ BRIE: ‘Well, ie vas again a ‘concept’ thing, but ‘trying to simplify tt, Te was one side teounery! and one side ‘city’. Tt vas various episodes Shieh related to city Living, which a lot of Deople were thinking about at the tine—dropping ‘ur ant going to the country. Ani it was just re Stly giving both sides, T mean not particularly hmaking personal decision on tz, just reflec ‘ions on oth envicenaents. T mean, I've perso- ally Lived in both and alvaye have done. For work T prefer the city. Basically the songs ere Suit Little cameos of various things that happen in either of those two different environente." PRIE: ‘Well, it was all about escoy “Fumping out vith e parachute is an escape, and levy alnoet Hind of a ritualistie suicide, bur you bave sonething strapped to your back that ‘nine times out of ten is going to open. You're fot actualy really jumping off. And chat te what T'feit about @ lot of the people: they were drop~ ing out, but hoped they could still cone back, You tow what T-nean? They could get back.” MIE; "which songe on that album Go you feel work The nose successfully? Teas, what are your Der~ onal favourites?" PHIL: “T'haven't heard it for a while...one of ay ‘Tavourite ones I remeaber doit was, I suppose, cons! MUG: "Yeah! That's ay favourite on the whole al~ Sate PHIL: "I mean, T just Liked tt as a song. T aw Bose one of the strongest image sonts was “Cries Fron The Midnight Cireus', That, 0 may might have said sore about the city eavironent than "Grane" said about the country, I don't Ymov. But tone ‘Grass' ie a Kind of favourite sore." MERE, what about ‘Sickle Clowns’, what's that bout BUTL: "Is's a pastiche of the "Easy Rider’ thing, Brain, on the "egeape'. Tf you read the Iyrics ic ia Kint of an ‘ode to "Easy Rider", whieh had a free affect on people heve--and 1 fnov in Ameri cca toor~vhen ie Gane out. It did sum up quite a Yet about the Kind of confusion, people who dis~ trusted values, ard charging values~ out of para~ hola really. I'm not really sure what they were doing, I mean, that was sore. of an escapist filmy they tried to run out, ant the Angels—all the ehapcers--were doire it ~ the whole dropping out MEK Wat about the titte out, that's really Serange and great ~ hov did that sons cone PHIL: "Tt vas reflections of the album itself, ‘Gni'also ve wanted that ac a Kind of tailpiece that would coda all che things that the albu had hopefully gone through ~ to Kind of give it a Hind of symphonic finish and go for the build." HERE: Did you do that song Live ever?™ PHIL: "Mo. Again, technically it war very possi- ‘Bley but the trouble with pellotrons is that every time you soved then they went uF of tune. So you'd gee tvo days nro the tour amd the thiag would be Out and you wouldn't get to play it} so feta nave to go in for a re-service! That's why they fever really Teft the stufice, because the things were hopeless in any way if they got slightly Jorged or Ynockod.” MIE: "So you could only do certain songs Live ‘HP eat abun?™ PHIL! "Yeah. Also, by then we were doing quite « ‘iixture of things’ anyway, there yas an awful lot of tracks to dor Every tine we went on the Toad Sout half our stuef was brand naw, ve hadn't re corded it yet! (laughs) There vas sore of a nati Fal Perverseness in the band, that the minute ve ut if on record people (in the bani) didn't want to play it so much, they wanted to do the new stuff we'd worked on! Then at least a third of the show we were playing to Deople, they'd never heard before.” MIKE: “Victor Unite didn't last too long, why did He Teaver™ PHIL: "Well, he was a nice bloke, but he didatt Sontribute uch musically. He was like & Journey San guitarist and he didnt fir with the Dandy dasically. He didn'e sore of stamp his ark on things, he didn't make che fate of the band his (om, you know what T mean? What happene ina bant, of course, is that people in the band ve~ sent working with people Ehat don't feel as con nitted as the rest of then are. And that's not just from ney that was a. general feeling, tI hls guy Just along for the ride? Does he really care? What's wp?" Z think Vie just aian'e Feel confortable, he didn't feel it was his place.” MIKE: "About this pericd—fron 'Defecting Grey! Eo "Parachute'~-the Pretty Things seened to be Light years ahead of anyone else, in terms of what you were doing ausiealiy, Was it frustrating, EnAE ceher— less deserving~growe were setting PHIL: "Yeah, it was frustrating, but there was ‘Rot very much we could do about it, decsuse we Couldn't go back at that point, because we were quite excited, 2 suppose, with what ve were do~ ing musicality; ani T also ehink that everyone Delioves that at sone stage 1:1) all cote good ul you get your jue desserts, I dont thisk that's necessarily true, but what I'm saying 1s that shen you're working at it, you assuxe that. You tmow, vnen Rolling Stone nakes "Parachuce ‘album of ‘the year and things, {t scene that it is Gonna crack, but what did happen is that the bat cracked, Z aean just uider the strain of nor ‘ing recognition te started to fall aparty Te’ Sonething you don't particularly notice wri Suidenty you've got # crisis at hata. ‘vibe bard actually hed split w before we sade ‘Freeway Madness’ (1972). Te was only by Skipper working with sonebody elsey it. ("Pare happened to be playing on his car stereo, the guy vho was samaging the mew outfit that Skip vas in (Sunshine) he goes, ‘Who's that?" and Skip explained to hin, ‘Well why did you split w? Surely you should get back together? Ani that's ind of how the bani happened, that's how "Free way Madness’ cane about, Tes funny, uhen T said that, Skipper's sitting next tone (laughs) am he confirmed that I'm right, ‘eause my wife 19