The Pretty Things & Phil May overview (1964-2020) "invented everything, credited with nothing." *

I've certainly never heard them before. I still don't care for them.

 

Some record companies should grab that list, start licensing negotiations, compensate you for research. They could call the anthology, IDK.... maybe "Invented Everything...."

 

Really enjoying this: Wally Waller’s home recordings:

Kitchen Rock

 

The rendition of The Sun done after Phil's death still gets me. You can tell he loved Phil May, despite all the recent bad blood. Wally also has one of those voices that never really ages. Huge kudos to him for continuing to write and record outside the Pretty Things moniker. A lot of great songs, especially California Will, not to mention oldies like Can't Walk on the Water and his 2nd Dewolfe ep.

I have a weird fantasy where I'm on a televised show and happen to see Wally and Mick Jagger sitting at the same table. At this point I speak generally about just noticing my musical idol, a vital member of the band who inspired all the most important punks, as well of all of the biggest classic rock artists. I walk to the table and shake Wally's hand. Then I look over and say "cool, Mick is here too."

 

Fan DES

 

I just received Jack Green's 1981 sophomore effort Reverse Logic on vinyl and I am about to listen to it. I really liked Humanesque, and I wonder if this will hold up, and whether Pete is on it somewhere. It seems crazy that I haven't exhausted the music by this band. I haven't quite found a band that has as many surprises up their sleeve once you go through their official discography, and I thought I'd chart my discovery too in chronological order:

The 13 core albums: from the debut up to Rage for me, and then the next ones as they came out.
About 75 minutes worth of standalone singles: tagged onto the CDs and for me the entry was all their A's and B's.

Then a long gap when I assumed that was about it for this band, silly me:

5 Electric Banana mini-albums: took some time to acquire all, but started with the Blows Your Mind comp. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5Ztuk-01gQ&t
The 2 Philippe DeBarge albums: started with a rough torrented version in the early-2000's, the 2nd Philippe album not until recently with help from friends. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmgQzs6u8fk&t
About 40 minutes of BBC only songs: Started with those on the 2 disc BBC. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfC-TJDv138
Sunshine 1972 album: with help from friends around the time this thread got there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq0Gw_cT2uE&t
Phil May & the Fallen Angels: started around the time of this thread with downloaded versions before acquiring the vinyl. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgV4GYP_umk&t
Wally Waller's 2 DeWolfe recordings: again, with help from friends when this thread got to that era. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-LDaTFAMH8&t
Jack Green's 5 solo albums: his debut, but want to dive into the rest. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVQAmOo33-4&t
The 4 cover albums from the "lost years": Out of the Island first, then the 2 blues albums and the US 60's garage rock. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i1jrWtlBS4&t
Various later originals tacked onto projects or unreleased: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuNDFr71xO8&t
Covers of The Pretty Things: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKad6MJAQtU&t

Then you got singles and other projects by Dick Taylor, Twink, Vivian Prince, as well as Edgar Broughton albums featuring guitar work by Pete Tolson (1979) and Victor Unitt (1969, 1971-73.) Then if you go with albums the bandmates produced then a bunch by Dick Taylor and Wally Waller.

It appears a lack of fame ensures many members and many side projects.

 

Not to forget the albums from the Bexley Brothers, Star Sponge Vision and Wally's Kitchen Songs and new Bandcamp releases.

 

Finished Reverse Logic and I must say that Jack Green is one of favorite power poppers of the era. Some of the power pop bands of the time get way too samey or simply have little power to the pop, but Jack makes sure to amp it up after he chills it out. The guitars on Let it Rock for instance reminded me of those cutting chords on Office Love (not to mention a vocal melody recalling 1988's Wild Wild West by The Escape Club.) I have only heard Jack's first 2 albums and have to say I enjoyed them more than Marshall Crenshaw's first 2 albums.

While listening I recalled how the last album I played was The Best of Dave Edmunds who did rockabilly (covers mostly) on the Swan Song label, and some songs like Too Many Fools sounded like that style but more original. It made me wonder if Swan Song should have kept Metropolis (or just Jack Green) and booted Edmunds. Considering on RYM Reverse Logic is Jack's lowest rated album and his 3rd solo album is up there with Humanesque (and above all but 3 Pretty Things albums!!!), I guess I'll be doing some browsing. That said, I did think that Humanesque got a bit monotonous in the 2nd half and Reverse Logic didn't quite hit the heights of Murder and Babe. Also, it appears The Pretty Things curse falls on solo artists, I bought a sealed copy of Reverse Logic for $9 shipped, and it had sat there on ebay for over a year.

It appears One By One and When I Was Young were the singles from this Reverse Logic, but I thought the catchiest song on the record was (Why Don't You) Let Me Go:

To answer my question from long ago now that I have the Reverse Logic sleeve specifying the lineup for each track, yes, that is Pete Tolson playing those bluesy licks. He also plays on 7 of the 11 tracks, the first 3, Let it Rock, Too Many Fools, Sign of the Times ( which he co-wrote) and Promises.

 

Did I just imagine it, or did Repertoire really announce an expanded/updated Singles Collection set some years back that has since come to nothing?!

 

^This and I’m a massive Stones fan!

 

This one was written by Wally.
Was a bonus track on the 2014 CD release.

Angus And Malcolm Young Early Years As Marcus Hook Roll Band Coming June

 

The project was cancelled.

 

Balboa Island is an interesting beast. On paper I could see at as comedown from Rage Before Beauty in that the highs maybe aren't quite as high and single worthy, and then there is the inclusion of songs released circa 2000 (All Light Up, Pretty Beat) and then you have blues covers which might seem like a regression to those cover albums of the lost years. However, that is on paper. In actuality Balboa Island is quite an accomplishment for these old men in that it sticks to a theme of wasted fame and death. The choice of covers is great because they fit the theme very well, and they don't feel like tired blues performances like some of those Chicago tapes. The band makes a stark arrangement out of Hollis Brown, Feel Like Goin Home feels like it did to old blues what the Stones would attempt later, and the Freedom Song just sounds so atmospheric. The covers on Rage don't fare as well. And then even though the songs may not standout on their own, I like all of them. There are no original duds here, and they run a gamut of silly 60's pop songs of Mimi to the epic Robert Johnson tribute. They are also unafraid to let new member provide a stark contrast on their albums, in this case the haunting closing title track.

The Rolling Stones produced rock during a period where I feel no one else quite touched it, but this depends on your taste. However, with success I feel they have just been rewriting Tattoo You in the later years. There doesn't seem to be a big mission statement. But with The Pretties you got a mission statement (and eulogy) and then on the next record a very unlikely return to psychedelia!!! And then you have a very fitting sendoff of May singing acoustic blues, half of old and half of it new. I feel like an absolute nerd fanboy saying it, but The Pretty Things are the only band I can think of that didn't have a dud record, a record where it felt like a subpar retread, or a failed experiment. Bands I love like Sloan have them (Pretty Together), classic rock artists have them (Presence, Dirty Work, It's Hard, Ummugumma, With the Beatles) but I can't find one with the Pretties. I've really come around on Emotions and Savage Eye.

 

Could one argue that Wally Waller played some role in the establishment of the signature AC/DC style, considering he produced these two tracks just prior to that band forming?

 

More compilation madness, I find the songs are much more fun if cobbled together in a non-linear fashion, so here is a faux Pretty Things album that could have come out around 2012. Songs come from Out of the Island, outtakes/bonus tracks from Balboa Island, Philippe DeBarge and Parachute Reborn, the best new tracks from Sunstroke and then one cover from The Fuzztones tribute album. I think it flows really great and gives the feeling of a full band effort more than the actual later albums:



1) Look Away Now
2) Can't Stop (5:17)
3) It's No Disgrace (9:14)
4) Cause and Effect (13:39)
5) California Will (16:50)
6) Monsieur Rock (21:37)
7) Think of Me Sometimes (27:11)
8) Here We Go Again (31:20)
9) Holding Onto Love (36:04)
10) Ward 81 (42:14)
11) Life's Highway (48:08)

 

An improved version of their coulda been new wave/power pop album. I included the Stars in Cars that mostly has Wally's far superior lead vocal:

Young Pretenders - 1981



1) Ain't Got You
2) Sea About Me (3:35)
3) Young Pretenders (6:58)
4) It Ain't Enough (11:04)
5) Wish Fulfillment (14:51)
6) I Don't Feel Well (17:55)
7) Living in the World (21:03)
8) Monster Club (24:19)
9) I Want to Play for Free (28:12)
10) Stars in Cars (32:04)

 

Sort of counting back in years, this would be The Pretty Things disco era 1978 album, maybe I should have added those disco songs from Fallen Angels. This is a grab bag from many sources, Tonight, Metropolis, Wally Waller and the Fallen Angels lineup. I didn't include 2 Wally songs, one which sounded too similar to Night Time. Despite this, I think it hangs together well since the Swan Song albums were themselves wildly idiosyncratic. Like the fan-album listed above this is evenly split like an LP.

Doing It - 1978



1) Do My Stuff
2) Tonight (4:50)
3) Dance All Night (7:57)
4) Can't Walk on the Water (10:50)
5) Do It (15:39)
6) James Marshall (19:45)
7) Love Me a Little (23:21)
8) Take Me Home (26:34)
9) Night Time (31:41)
10) The Maze Song (35:33)
11) So in Love (39:34)
12) The Whiskey Song (42:51)

 

Due to audio issues I had to resubmit the above video:

 

I haven’t listened to the Pretty Things this much since the ‘80s as a teen! As of today, these are my Top 5 LPs:

1) We’ll Be Together (Dutch compilation’66)
2) SF Sorrow
3) Cross Talk
4) Sweet Pretty Things...
5) Emotions

 

These two videos from German TV were just posted to Facebook from YouTube. 4 lipsynched songs with Victor Unitt on guitar. The Balloon Burning video I've had forever but the other three are new. Baron Saturday is hysterical with Jon Povey doing Dick Taylor's vocals.

 

Sure, but it goes beyond that. Harry and George mentioned in the liner notes of my Definitive Collection CD that the band The Easybeats most wanted to be like when starting out was The Pretty Things. I wonder if that admiration came up in those Wally produced sessions despite the fact he didn't join until later. It appears The Pretties were huge on the Aussie garage scene in general.

 

My most recent comp on youtube takes the post-Get a Buzz singles and combines them with the first 2 Electric Banana albums. I like sequencing as much as Sweet Stones and Here We Go Again. The rest I have qualms with. My intent with these comps is to display the quality of these tracks in album form.

COME SEE ME (1967)



BLOW YOUR MIND (1968) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOP8LVMkWo0&t
SWEET STONES (1973) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5KUli19Los&t
DOING IT (1978) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPYCxyn8exs&t
YOUNG PRETENDERS (1981) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0Th5xjvAmM&t
HERE WE GO AGAIN (2012) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI98ThomdCA

 

I've never listened to that era of the Rolling Stones. But what I liked about Balboa Island is the sense that the band is trying to push on and keep going despite age and doubts. By 2005, the Rolling Stones didn't need to make albums or tour and nothing was making them do it. Their reputation preceded them. Being in the Pretty Things had less guaranteed reward and greater risk for Phil and Dick than being in the Rolling Stones did for Mick and Keith, so on the album they ask themselves why they're doing it and try and come up with an answer. Whereas if The Rolling Stones were asking themselves what the point was, they couldn't let on.