The Pretty Things is a British rock band, formed in 1963 in London. They took their name from Willie Dixon's 1955 song "Pretty Thing". A pure rhythm and blues band in their early years, with several single charting in the UK, they subsequently embraced other genres such as psychedelic rock in the late 1960s (by 1968
Video Pretty Things
Histori
1962-1964: Formasi
The Pretty Things were preceded by Little Boy Blue and Blue Boys, consisting of Dick Taylor, fellow Sidcup Art College student Keith Richards, and Mick Jagger, among others. When Brian Jones recruited for his own band, the three joined forces with Brian and Ian Stewart and were dubbed the "Rollin 'Stones" by Jones in June 1962. Because there were too many guitar players in the band, Taylor switched to bass. He came out of the Stones five months later, when he was admitted to the College of Art and Design in London. Phil May, another Sidcup student, convinced him to form a new band. Taylor once again played the guitar, with May singing and playing the harmonica. They recruited John Stax on bass, Brian Pendleton on rhythm guitar, and Pete Kitley on drums. Kitley was soon replaced by Viv Andrews, also known as Viv Broughton.
A student at Art College where May and Taylor studied, Bryan Morrison, was recruited as their manager. Morrison set it up for the rest of the 1960s, building on his own Bryan Morrison Agency. This agency represents Pink Floyd among many other bands. Formed a partnership with songwriter Jimmy Duncan, he earned Pretty Things a record deal with Fontana Records in early 1964. At this point, Viv Andrews was replaced by Viv Prince, a more experienced drummer who had played with Carter-Lewis and South.
1964-1966: Initial career
The Pretty Things' preliminary material consisted of a violent blues-rock influenced by Bo Diddley and Jimmy Reed. Their first three singles appeared on the UK Singles Chart in 1964 and 1965: "Rosalyn" No. 41, "Do not Bring Me Down" No. 10, and the self-addressed "Honey I Need" at No. 13. They never get hit in the United States, but great success in their home country, England and Australia, New Zealand, Germany, and the Netherlands. Their appearance and behavior is provocative, with May claiming to have the longest hair in England and the Prince often causes chaos wherever he goes.
The band then blamed their lack of success in the US on the fact that their management chose a tour to the southern hemisphere in July-August 1965. For two weeks in New Zealand, they caused so much anger in the media that New Zealand's Parliament discussed the issue of granting entry permits to musicians like The Pretty Things. The band was never really banned from re-entry to New Zealand, contrary to what can be read in several sources.
The first of what many personnel changes over the years also begins, with the Prince, whose antics have become too much for other members to survive, becoming the first to leave in November 1965. He was replaced by Skip Alan. In early 1966 the band made the short film The Pretty Things on Film ; it featured live footage and a prototype of the music video for "Can not Stand the Pain", which also featured their manager, Morrison. Rarely filtered at the time, this movie can be found as a bonus of multimedia items on Snapper's edition of Get Images . 1966 sees scenes R & amp; B falls into decline and The Pretty Things start moving away, teasing with soul music. In mid 1966 they made the UK Singles Chart for the last time with cover of Kinks song "A House in the Country". In December 1966 came the single "Progress", in which the band joined the brass section.
Pendleton left in December 1966, and Stax followed in January 1967. Jon Povey and Wally Waller, both former Fenmen of Bern Elliott and Fenmen, joined and made the band five parts once again.
1967-1971: S.F. Sadness and Parachutes
Their last album for Fontana Records is a contractual obligation produced by Steve Rowland and the subject of controversy, because Emotion is loaded with brass arrangements and strings arranged by Reg Tilsley. EMI producer Norman Smith expressed interest in working with them and at the end of September 1967, The Pretty Things signed with the label Columbia EMI. In November 1967 they released "Defecting Gray", a psychedelic attempt that failed to sell. This was followed three months later by a double A-side single, "Talking About Good Times"/"Walking Through My Dreams".
The single marks the beginning of the session for S.F. Album sadness . Released in December 1968, it was the first rock opera, preceded the release of Who's Tommy in May 1969. It was recorded between December 1967 and September 1968 at Abbey Road Studios, while Pink Floyd worked at A Saucerful of Secrets (also produced by Norman Smith) and The Beatles working at White Album . In March 1968, drummer Skip Alan left the group. Twink replaced him to help the band to complete the album.
In March 1969, the British music magazine NME reported that Motown Records vice president Barney Ales had visited London to sign The Pretty Things as the first British action of the US label. S.F. Sorcery commercially unsuccessful, without immediate release in the United States. This work only receives simple support from EMI, and its suppressing narrative may not help sales. The American release, on the Motown Rare Earth Records label, came out over a year late, leading to the impression that S.F. Sorrow just follows the trend set by Who's Tommy .
1969 saw the band feel disappointed with the failure of S.F. Sadness and in June, Taylor left the group. Pretty Things borrowed guitarist Victor Unitt from Edgar Broughton Band to replace Taylor. During the summer of 1969, they recorded an album for a young French millionaire, Philippe DeBarge, intended only to be circulated among his social circle. Acetate has been bootlegged. In 2010 was taken by Mike Stax, the owner of the 1960s music magazine Ugly Things. He found one of two acetates and had been mixed and mastered and then as a piece of resistance, having a list of classic Pretty Things, which Dick Taylor had just left behind while recording a track with DeBarge, recording a song titled "Monsieur Rock "( Ballad Of Philippe ) bonus track for this release at Ugly Things UTCD-2207.
Twink remained in late 1969 to form the Pink Fairies. Skip Alan returned to the drumstool in time for the band's return to Abbey Road to begin work at Parachute , which stores psychedelic sounds. Shortly before the release of Parachute , Unitt went to rejoin the Edgar Broughton Band and was replaced by Pete Tolson, a former guitarist for Eire Apparent. Despite the many works of stage and praise, their records still fail to sell at all. With Tolson, they released several singles before disbanding in mid-1971.
During the late 1960s, the group made extra money by recording for the music library company DeWolfe. Some of these songs end up in low budget films including What's Good for Geese (1969), Ghost Ghost House (1969), and some movie porn movies. Not intended for official release, these songs are then compiled on a number of recordings and released under the alias Electric Banana: Electric Banana (1967), More Electric Banana (1968) Even More Electric Bananas (1969), Hot Licks (1970), and The Return of Electric Banana (1978). The initial release featured one side of the vocals and one side of the instrumental track. The subsequent releases of these albums generally keep the true identity of the band secrets.
1970s
Pretty Things was reformed in late 1971. Wally Waller, who has been an assistant producer at EMI, was replaced by Stuart Brooks (former Black Cat Bones). They signed a contract with Warner Bros. Records and released Freeway Madness at the end of 1972. Although Waller was no longer a member of the band, he produced albums with pseudonyms and donated lead vocals to the song "Above the Moon". This album is commercially unsuccessful.
In 1973, David Bowie covered two of their songs, "Rosalyn" and "Do not Bring Me Down", on his album Pin Ups . Around this time, the band recruited the sixth member, Gordon John Edwards (born December 26, 1946, Southport, Lancashire). As a versatile musician, Edwards can play guitar and keyboard, and he also sings.
In 1974, Pretty Things was one of the first acts signed by Swan Song Records, a label created by Led Zeppelin, and Peter Grant being their manager. Stuart Brooks left the band before recording their first album for Swan Song, Silk Torpedo . The bass lines on the album were recorded by guitarist Pete Tolson before the arrival of new bassist Jack Green, who contributed only backing vocals.
Silk Torpedo is the first British album to be released on Swan Swan's own label. It charts at the bottom of the Billboard Hot 100, for the first time in the band's history. Jimmy Page then commented:
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"The Pretty Things are bands that really change their music and have done because they probably did one of the best single ways back in the day with 'Rosalyn'.That's wild! That's serious! And then they're going through SF Grief and the music they performed in Swan Song was really amazing.It was a kind of band that, when somebody said, 'Oh, some tapes have come in,' I really want to hear what they are '"It's done, nice! Good writing, good looks from everyone. Nice band. "
During the recording of the Savage Eye , follow-up Silk Torpedo , tensions arose between the band members, with May finding himself at odds with newcomers Edwards and Green. After the release of the Savage Eye , May did not appear at a major show in London, and he was fired soon after. Alan, Edwards, Green, and Tolson tried to form a new band called Metropolis, but Swan Song was not interested in offering a contract and they split. Edwards briefly joined Kinks for their Misfits tour, while Green became a member of Rainbow for a few weeks before launching a solo career.
1980s
The ranks of Alan, May, Povey, Taylor, and Waller in 1967 were reformed in 1978 for a one-off show in the Netherlands. Added Pete Tolson, six pieces of Cross Talk footage for Warner Bros.. Records in 1980. New wave voices did not increase their sales figures, and Pretty Things split again in 1981, after appearing in the horror movie The Monster Club (1981).
Throughout the 1980s, May and Taylor maintained the band's name alive with spinning players from support musicians, doing extensive tours on the continent of Europe, especially Germany where they maintained a loyal fan base. In 1987, they released Out of the Island, a live-in-the-studio album consisting of a new recording of songs from their catalog which was their first CD release. They performed a successful European blues tour in late 1990 with Stan Chicken Chicken Shack and Luther Allison. These outfits included drummer Hans Waterman (formerly of the Dutch rock group Solutions), bassist Roelf ter Velt and guitarist/keyboardist Barkley McKay (Waco Brothers Pine Valley Cosmonauts Jon Langford Mekons) on guitar. This formation regularly toured the European mainland until the end of 1994.
1990s
May and Taylor, along with former Yardbirds drummer Jim McCarty, recorded two albums in Chicago as Pretty Things/Yardbird Blues Band. They are The Chicago Blues Tapes 1991 and Wine, Women, Whiskey , both produced by George Paul. They also recorded an album with members of Inmates and Matthew Fisher of Procol Harum under the name Pretty Things n 'Mates. It was released in 1992 as Rockin 'the Garage .
The early 1990s were taken with a battle against EMI. This is more than unpaid royalties derived from an EMI agreement formed with Motown Rare Earth's subsidiary in 1968. The band has never received royalties from Rare Earth or has received money from EMI for years. The band won a legal case, the result being that in 1993 EMI returned all of their master cassettes, copyrights and undisclosed amounts of money as a settlement. In friendly conditions again, the 1967 line-up decided to return with the addition of Pete Tolson, Taylor's successor in 1970, as they did in 1980 at Cross Cross. After a lot of practice, Tolson became disillusioned and stopped with Frank Holland taking over Tolson's position. Tolson died in April 2016.
Their label, Snapper Music, pulled out a remastered CD with lots of bonus songs, plus DVDs from a September 1998 netcast recording of S.F. Sadness at Abbey Road Studios, with David Gilmour and Arthur Brown as guest players. They toured the US for the first time in decades.
2000s to present
Original rhythm guitarist Brian Pendleton died of lung cancer on May 16, 2001 in Maidstone. Their former keyboard player Gordon Edwards, who also played for Kinks in the late 1970s, died on February 28, 2003 due to suicide-related depression. {{}}
In 1999 they released the studio album Rage Before Beauty and in the early 2000s, they released several compilation albums, live albums and DVDs. In 2003, the biography of the band Alan Lakey, Growing Old Disgracefully , was published by Firefly. The book deals with the long and involved history of the band, and pays special attention to the legal process issued against EMI in the 1990s. Extensive rewriting versions are planned to be published in 2013.
Skip Alan had heart problems in 2001 limiting his commitment to the band, with St. John represents on the required drums. In mid-2007, The Pretty Things released their eleventh studio album Balboa Island on record label St. John's CÃÆ'Â'te Basque. Family illness means Waller and Povey can not commit to the band's concert schedule. A new line-up appeared around May and Taylor with Frank Holland on guitar, Jack Greenwood on drums and George Woosey on bass.
In June 2009, May, Taylor, Waller, Povey, and Allan reunited to receive the "Hero" award at Mojo's annual awards ceremony. Waller, Povey, Allan and Tolson reunited in mid-2010 to re-record Parachute , to commemorate its 40th anniversary. Using the byline 'The XPTs', the album was released by Esoteric Recordings on April 30, 2012.
On April 30, 2012, re-imagine S.F. Sorrow , titled Sorrow Children and featuring cover by contemporary bands of each song, was released on Fruits De Mer Records, only on vinyl and in limited edition 700. The album included interviews with May and Taylor, and has a live version of "Loneliest Person". The latter was recorded at their show at London's 100 Club in December 2010, where they played their entire first album.
In 2012 the band returned to New Zealand for the first time since bad publicity in 1965. They also toured Australia and met with original bass player John Stax for their Melbourne show. This is the first time in May, Taylor and Stax have been playing together since 1967.
In 2013 The Pretty Things celebrate their 50th Anniversary Tour with dates in the UK and Europe.
The band's latest studio album, The Sweet Pretty Things (Are In Bed Now, Of Course...) , was released on July 10, 2015. This is the first album recorded with Greenwood and Woosey tour members.
In 2018, the band announced that they split up at the end of the year. All current and future dates throughout 2018 are being billed as part of a farewell tour.
Maps Pretty Things
Personnel
Current members
- Phil May - lead vocal, maracas, harmonica (1963-1976, 1978-present)
- Dick Taylor - main guitar, sometimes vocals (1963-1969, 1978-present)
- Frank Holland - guitar, vocals, harmonica (1988-1991, 1994-present)
- Jack Greenwood - drums (2007-present)
- George Woosey - bass, vocals (2008-present)
old Members
- Brian Pendleton - rhythm guitar, backing vocals, bass (1963-1966)
- John Stax - bass, harmonica, backing vocals (1963-1967)
- Pete Kitley - drum (1963-1964)
- Viv Andrews - drum (1964)
- Viv Prince - drum (1964-1965)
- Skip Alan - drums (1965-1968, 1969-1976, 1978-1980, 1994-2007)
- Wally Waller - bass, guitar, vocals (1967-1971, 1978-1981, 1994-2008)
- Jon Povey - keyboard, vocals (1967-1976, 1978-1981, 1994-2007)
- Twink - drum (1968-1969)
- Victor Unitt - guitar (1969-1970)
- Pete Tolson - guitar (1970-1976, 1978-1981, 1994)
- Stuart Brooks - bass (1971-1973)
- Gordon John Edwards - guitar, keyboard, vocals (1973-1976)
- Jack Green - bass, vocals (1974-1976)
- Simon Fox - drum (1981)
- Joe Shaw - guitar (1984, 1987)
- Dave Wintour - bass (1984)
- Dave Wilki - keyboard (1984)
- John Clark - drum (1984)
- Kevin Flanagan - saxophone (1984)
- Perry Margouleff - guitar (1986-1987)
- Doede Ter Veld - drum (1986-1987)
- Roelf Ter Veld - bass (1986-1987)
- Bertram Engel - drum (1987, 1993-1995)
- Mark St. John - drums, percussion (1988-1991, 1993-1995, sometimes 1995-2007)
- Steve Browning - bass (1988-1991, 1993-1995)
- Hans Waterman - drum (1989-1990, 1990-1994)
- Barkley McKay - guitar (1990-1994)
Timeline
Discography
Studio album
- The Pretty Things (1965) - UK No. 6
- Get Images? (1965)
- Emotions (1967)
- S.F. Sorrow (1968)
- Parachute (1970) - United Kingdom No. 43
- Toll Road Madness (1972)
- Silk Torpedo (1974) - US No. 104
- Savage Eye (1976) - US No. 163
- Cross Talk (1980)
- ... Rage Before Beauty (1999)
- Balboa Island (2007)
- The Sweet Pretty Things (Now in Bed Now, of Course...) (2015)
Live album
- Stay at Heartbreak Hotel (1984)
- Exit Island (1988)
- Awakening (1998) ( S.F. Sorrow done directly at Abbey Road Studios, featuring Arthur Brown and David Gilmour)
- The BBC Sessions (2002)
- Live in 100 Clubs (2014) (first live album)
- Live on the BBC (2015)
- Live in Rockpalast (2015)
Electric Banana
Electric Banana is a 1967 pseudonym band album. When the album was released, the stage name Electric Banana was used to hide the band's identity. The band recorded this album and the next two for the De Wolfe Music Library. De Wolfe provides stock music for the movie soundtrack. Electric Banana Music ended in various horror movies and soft porn movies in the late 1960s, such as What's Good for Geese (1969). The song "It'll Never Be Me" is featured in the story of Doctor Who 1973 The Green Death . The song "Cause I'm a Man" appeared in the classic horror movie George A. Romero Dawn of the Dead (1978) and reissued on the compilation album Trunk Records in 2004 Dawn of the Dead: Incidental Music Not Recruited .
- Electric Banana (1967)
- Other Bananas (1968)
- Even More Electric Bananas (1969)
- Hot Licks (1973)
- The Return of Electric Banana (1978)
Collaborative albums
- As Pretty Things & amp; the Yardbird Blues Band (May and Taylor with Jim McCarty from Yardbirds)
- The Chicago Blues Tapes 1991 (1991)
- Wine, Women & amp; Whiskey (1993)
- Like Pretty Things & amp; Friends (May and Taylor with Inmates members and Matthew Fisher from Procol Harum)
- Rockin 'the Garage (1992)
- Like Pretty Things & amp; Philippe Debarge The Pretty Things/Philippe DeBarge (2009, recorded in 1969)
- Most Hits 1964-1967 (1975)
- Real Beautiful (1976) 2 LPs (reissue S.F. Sorrow and Parachute )
- The Vintage Years (1976)
- The Singles As & amp; Bs (1977)
- 1967-1971 (1982)
- Let Me Hear Choral Singing (1983)
- Blues Closed Restaurant (1985)
- Cry From Midnight Circus - The Best of 1968-1971 (1986)
- Get Buzz: The Best of the Fontana Years (1992)
- Unrepentant - The Anthology (1995)
- EP Collection (1997)
- Midnight to Six Men (2000)
- Latest Posts, Biggest Hits (2000)
- Rhythm & amp; Blues Years (2001)
- The Psychedelic Years 1966-1970 (2001)
- Still Unrepentantant (2004)
- Come See Me: The Best of the Beautiful Things (2004)
- Singles '64 (2013)
- Introducing Pretty Things (2013)
- The Decca Years 1965-1967 (2015)
- Wreath Of Cloudy Cloudy (2015)
- Stax, Mike; Neill, Andy; Baker, John (2006). Do not Take Me Down... Below: The Prettiest Things in New Zealand, 1965 . San Diego: UT Publishing. ISBN: 0-9778166-0-5.
- ThePrettyThings.com, the band's official site
- The Pretty Things at AllMusic
- Beautiful Things at Shoreditch Music Agency
Compilation album
Single diagram
References
Source
External links
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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