The Pretty Things

Sidcup

The Pretty Things formed in September 1963 in Sidcup, Kent, when Phil May and Dick Taylor, who met at Sidcup Art College, started the band. Taylor had played bass in the earliest Rolling Stones, leaving after about five months. The name came from Bo Diddley's 1955 song "Pretty Thing", written by Willie Dixon. The first line-up was May, Taylor, John Stax, Brian Pendleton and Pete Kitley, and manager Bryan Morrison got them a Fontana contract in early 1964. Drummer Viv Prince joined in 1964 and left in November 1965, replaced by Skip Alan. "Rosalyn" (May 8, 1964) reached 41 in the UK, "Don't Bring Me Down" (October 16, 1964) reached 10 and "Honey I Need" (February 12, 1965) reached 13. The debut album, released March 12, 1965, reached number six in the UK. Fontana booked two days, and about thirty minutes into the first session the producer, Jack Baverstock, quit; Bobby Graham replaced him and added drums.

Jon Povey and Wally Waller joined in 1967 after Pendleton and Stax left. They signed to EMI's Columbia, and S.F. Sorrow was recorded at Abbey Road from November 1967 to September 1968 with producer Norman Smith, released on December 20, 1968, and often called the first rock opera, ahead of the Who's Tommy in May 1969. It did not chart. Rolling Stone's Lester Bangs called it ultra-pretentious, and AllMusic later praised how it straddled British blues and psychedelia. Taylor left in June 1969. Parachute (1970, Harvest) reached 43 in the UK. Under the name Electric Banana they recorded library music for DeWolfe from 1967 to 1970.

Swan Song and after

They broke up in mid-1971 and reformed late that year. In 1973 David Bowie covered "Rosalyn" and "Don't Bring Me Down" on Pin Ups. They signed to Led Zeppelin's Swan Song label for Silk Torpedo (1974) and Savage Eye (1976), May left in 1976, and they reunited in 1978. Cross Talk (1980) was followed by a split in 1981, but May and Taylor kept the name going through the 1980s and 1990s. S.F. Sorrow was performed again at Abbey Road in September 1998 with David Gilmour and Arthur Brown, and Mojo gave them a Heroes award in June 2009. A farewell tour ended with The Final Bow at the indigo at The O2 in London on December 13, 2018, with guests David Gilmour and Van Morrison. Phil May died on May 15, 2020, aged 75, the year their last album, Bare as Bone, Bright as Blood, appeared. The Live at the BBC box (Repertoire, six CDs, July 23, 2021) gathers their sessions.