VIA PRESS RELEASE | The essential early British R&B sound from the band that stubbornly refused to lie down to popular demand! The Pretty Things religiously stuck to their guns by making great, exciting, challenging, and often violently aggressive records that just weren’t quite acceptable enough to slot into the breathlessly presented but carefully airbrushed new youth-culture media of the era. This set includes the instantly recognisable “Rosalyn,” “Don’t Bring Me Down,” “Cry To Me,” and still more proof of a band at the forefront of an evolving rock music scene through the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.
The band’s songwriting prowess is best highlighted when, after their brief fling with minor R&B hits alongside such bands as The Rolling Stones, The Animals, The Yardbirds, and Manfred Mann, they hit the ground running with music that fuelled the “Swinging Sixties” and Mod Culture of that decade. The shift to Psychedelic Rock saw The Pretty Things ensconced in Abbey Road Studios, alongside The Beatles and The Pink Floyd, to record the world’s first Rock Opera—S F Sorrow—spearheading the London Psychedelic revolution together with a completely new breed of acts, such as The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Jimi Hendrix, and the aforementioned Pink Floyd. So, although this Greatest Hits album has few charted songs, it is a truly meaningful historical document of the greatest band with the fewest hits—but with the best music!
The Pretty Things Greatest Hits will be released on CD, double vinyl LP, and as a double CD in 6-panel digipack, complete with an exclusive recorded gig at London’s 100 Club on the second disc. The packaging on all formats also features individual track commentary from band members Dick Taylor and Phil May, plus liner notes from long-time manager Mark St John. The final track, “Mr Tambourine Man,” was originally offered to The Pretty Things, who turned it down before The Byrds cut their version; now the band have finally cut their own take in 2016, keeping true to their style of the time.
Track Listing: CD1: Rosalyn / Don’t Bring Me Down / Honey, I Need / Cry To Me / Midnight To Six Man / Come See Me / Can’t Stand The Pain / Sittin’ All Alone / Get The Picture? / You Don’t Believe Me / I Can Never Say / L.S.D. / Defecting Grey / Talkin’ About The Good Times / Mr Evasion / Walking Through My Dreams / S.F. Sorrow Is Born / Trust / Old Man Going / Loneliest Person / Scene One / Grass / Cold Stone / October 26 / Mr Tambourine Man
Bonus CD Track Listing (Live at the 100 Club): Roadrunner / Judgement Day / 13 Chester Street / Big City / Unknown Blues / Mama, Keep Your Big Mouth Shut / Honey, I Need / Oh Baby Doll / She’s Fine, She’s Mine / Don’t Lie To Me / The Moon Is Rising / Pretty Thing
