The Pretty Things - S.F. Sorrow
This week we dive head first into the 1968 psychedelic rock opera by the Pretty Things, S.F. Sorrow.
Ask any music fan what was the first rock opera was and most would say Tommy by the Who. That answer would be wrong. Recorded on S.F. Sorrow started a year before the Who even went into the studio to begin Tommy. Unfortunately the release of the album was delayed and was released after Tommy, placing S.F. Sorrow into the "also ran" category for the vast majority of critics and the music buying public at the time. Which is unfortunate because the S.F. Sorrow is a wonderfully imaginative album, and the blueprint for many a concept album to come. One listen illustrates how inventive and influential it was for many albums at the time, including Tommy.
Starting out life as a blues-based band in the vein of the Rolling Stones (one time Stone's guitarist Dick Taylor was a founding member), by the time the Pretty Thing were set to record their fourth LP, they had become much more divers in the music they made, incorporating such diverse element as pop, psychedelia, folk, and even proto-metal) into their sound. And while the concept of S.F. Sorrow is a sad one, the music is remarkable and the lyrics compelling making repeated listens a must. S.F. is a true underrated masterpiece.
No Recommendation for this episode.
THINGS WE DISCUSSED ON THIS EPISODE
The Pretty Things original line-up in 1964.
Pictured (L to R): Viv Prince, John Stax, Dick Taylor (seated), Brian Pendleton, and Phil May
Pretty Things founding member Dick Taylor was a founding member of the Rolling Stones. He originally played guitar, and was relegated to bass after Brian Jones joined the band.
The Rolling Stones circa 1962, Pictured (L to R): Charlie Watts, Dick Taylor, Mick Jagger, Brian Jones, and Keith Richards.
In April 1965 the Pretty Things headlined a festival in Blokker, Netherlands that was was broadcast live over Dutch television. During the band’s wild and unruly performance of “You Don’t Love Me, You Don’t Care,” the crowd when nuts, fights break out and a group from the crowd picks up stage barrier and charged the stage. toward the stage.
Dutch TV shut the broadcast down the broadcast before the band was able to finish.
Watch the chaos unfold in the clip below.
In August of 1965 the band toured New Zealand and it turned out to be a disaster.
Viv Prince (pictured above in a New Zealand newspaper shortly after their arrival) , drank to excess and started smashing up hotel rooms. He carried around a dead crayfish in a bag that had been given to him by a drunken Australian fan. At one point on the tour the band was being flown across country he decides that he is going to set fire to the paper bag he kept crayfish in while they are in the air. The next day they were deported and banned for life from returning to New Zealand.
Here’s the Pretty Things performing their version of the Bo Diddly song “Roadrunner” on German music program Beat-Club in 1966.
Here is the Pretty Things lip-sinking to the song “Death” on French TV in July of 1969.
To boost their bottom line, the band recorded music for DeWolfe, a London-based firm that leased out incidental music for films. They recorded under the alias The Electric Banana
Here’s the Pretty Things performing as Electric Banana in the 1969 film What's Good For The Goose.
In September of 1998, the Pretty Things their performed S.F. Sorrow at Abbey Road Studio, with along with Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour and singer Arthur Brown. The performance was simulcast of the internet. and released as the album Resurrection the following year.
