Among the best Pretty Things posts, ever

I've always like the Pretty Things a lot, ever since picking up the double-vinyl Vintage Years
Anthology ($2.oo if I recall correctly)......still listen to it a LOT today, because it is GREAT. They were a magnificent blues/singls band, later morphing into a wonderful psych band.....I don't really have enough of their material here to demonstrate their complete metamorphasis, but fuck it, there is enough good music here that you will be grateful regardless.

So, let's start there, then......that double vinyl "Vintage Years" Anthology which fits wonderfully on a single 80 minute CD.......could listen to it over and over, NOTHING but great shit....."Don't Bring Me Down"...."Road Runner"...."Come See Me"...."I Can Never Say"....."Honey I Need"......the incredible "Rosalyn"...the equally amazing "Judgement Day" and "Oh Baby Doll".......this is incredible music, CRIMINALLY overlooked for the most part. "Midnight to Six Man" is one of the 60's greatest singls, "Big City" is amazing as well, then  LP's tryo turn the corner into their more psychedelic phase.......I woe, ppersonally, I'd have saved that for another set (it's practically another band), but let me be clear about this" IF YOUR COLLECTION IS LACKING IN PRETTY THINGS, YOU WANT THIS VINYL ANTHOLOGY. PERIOD. IT IS ESSENTIAL.


So what else I got? ANOTHER anthology, this one two CD's, with some obvious overlap (myself I'll  ALWAYS prefer vinyl over the antiseptic CD, that is just me though.....)  A lot of the great tracks from the first anthology are here as well, in digital format, cleaned up so they may sound better to you.....again, the set attempts to document their segue inot a more psychedelic sound, not all that sucessuflly, to be honest, which is  give you the WONDERFUL "SF Sorrow".....allegedly some kind of opera or something, I can't make much of heads or tails out of it, but it is just crammed with trippy, great sounds, it's a WONDERFUL album that works well by itself, a (somewhat) unknown classic of the psychedelic/blues genre....my personal fave is the brain-bending "She Says Good Morning", but the whole album is kick-ass-essential.....the metamorphasis was complete, and very few bands did it better.

Last thing I got for yas is some live cuts, "Acid Burns 1964-69"........a hodgepodge of tracks from
various sources (TV, Radio, Concert), but really, it shows off that these guys were underappereciated and BAD ASS, and could bring the goods live as well......Slip this on and marvel at their live chops, sure as hell wish I could have been there.......these guys were badass.....if history had taken a fwe different turns they might have been the Rolling Stones......they weren't, they were the Pretty Things, and that is that.....a  goddamn great band, blending (early-on) Stonesy-blues with (later-on) tripped out Nuggets-style psychedelia.....GREAT band, not to be overlooked.......I do not have all of their albums, this is my complete collection of their stuff.....but ya know what? They were a fucking GREAT singles band, and their psych shit stands on its own as well. A Fucking Great band that deserves more credit today than they seem to receive. Here's to the Pretty Things, TRULY  a kickass rock n roll band!

THE VINTAGE YEARS ANTHOLOGY-01 Don't Bring Me Down/02 Road Runner/03 Come See Me/04 Rainin In My Heart/05 13 Chester Set/06 I Can Never Say/07 Honey I Need/08 Rosalyn/09 Can't Stand the Pain/10 The Moon Is Rising/11 Judgement Day/12 Mama Keep Your Big Mouth Shut/ 13 Gonna Find a Subsititute/14 Oh Baby Doll/15 Midnight To Six Man/16 Buzz the Jerk/17 We'll Play House/18 Cry To Me/19 Don't Lie To Me/20 Unknown Blues/21 Big City/22 Tripping/23 Photographer/24 A House in the Country/25 Progress/26 She's Fine She's Mine/27 LSD/28 Pretty Things

UNREPENTENT ANTHOLOGY DISC 1-01 Rosalyn/02 Don't Bring Me Down/03 Get Yourself Home/04 Roadrunner/05 Judgement Day/06 Honey I Need/07 You DOn't Beleive Me/08 Buzz The Jerk/09 Cry To Me/10 Midnight to Six Man/11 LSD/12 Death of a Socialite/13 Growing In the Mind/14 Defecting Grey/15 SF Sorrow Is Born/16 Private Sorrow/17 Balloon Burning/18 Old Man Going/19 Lonliest Person/20 Scene On/21 In the Square/22 The Letter/23 Rain/24 Grass/25 Parachute/26

October 26 (Revolution)/27 Summertime

UNREPENTENT ANTHOLOGY DISC 2-01 Peter/02 Ripoff Train/03 Havana Bound/04 Dream Joey/05 Bridge of God/06 Is It Only Love/07 Singapore Silk Torpedoe/08 Under the Volcano/09 Sad Eyes/10 Remember That Boy/11 It's Been So Long/12 I'm Calling/13 Office Love/14 She Don't/15 No Future/16 God Gave Me Strength (To Carry On)

SF SORROW-01 SF Sorrow Is Born/02 Bracelets of Fingers/03 She Says Good Morning/05 Private Sorrow/06 Balloon Burning/07 Death/08 Baron Saturday/10 Journey/11 I See You/Well of Destiny/12 Trust/13 Old Man Song/14 Lonliest Person/15 Defending Grey/16 Mr. Evasion/17 Talkin' Bout the Good Times/18 Walking Through My Dreams

ACID BURNS LIVE 1964-69-(Tracks 1-3 BBC Television 12/24/64) 01 Don't Bring Me Down/02
Mama Keep Your Big Mouth Shut/03 Johnny B Goode/ (Tracks 4-8 Danish Radio 1965) 04 Road Runner/05 Big City/06 Sittin All the Time/07 Buzz the Jerk/08 Rainin In My Heart/ (Tracks 9-12 "Blokker'", Dutch TV 4/16/65) 09 Intro/10 Honey I Need/11 Big Boss Man/12 Midnight To Six Man/(Tracks 13-15 Paris France 6/1/67)-13 Children/14 Road Runner/15 Reincarnation/ (Tracks 16-17 Paradiso Amsterdam 3/29/69) 16 Renaissance Fair/17 SF Sorrow is Born

These few recordings I have from these guys (wish I had more),track their voyage pretty well.....like the Stones and the Animals, they transformed almost seamlessly from blues-based, hard edged rock to trippy psychedelia......and were genuine in each phase......I recommend all of the above, but the vinyl "Vintage Years" anthology is essential (It had killer notes as well, wish I could get those to you also, but, alas, too much work........sees ya tomorrow?