The Pretty Things: Greatest, and most underrated, band in th
Psychedelic Cowboy | Leicester, Leicestershire, UK | 09/18/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Parachute
For ages I've been a very ardent fan of The Pretty Things' work up until 1968's "S.F. Sorrow" magnum opus.
An impressive body of work, enviable by any major Sixties band and easily the equal of the finest records by more hyped bands such as The Stones, The Beatles and just about any other!!!
Still, as for the Kinks, I've long overlooked their post-'68 output, and what a gross mistake that was!!!
When I finally got hold of "Parachute", I discovered another timeless masterpiece which more-or-less picks up where SF Sorrow left off, yet heading from the trippy terrains of psychedelia into a decidedly more profressive area.
There's not such a dominant underlying storyline as for Sorrow this time, still the album has a strong, cohesive concept to it; The Pretty Things ultimately succeed in retaining their tight, guitar-driven freakbeat roots, at the same time updating and expanding it to new possibilities.
Make no mistake, there's no trace of corny, self-indulgent prog-rock here : what we have in "Parachute" is, possibly, the finest example of late-Sixties post-Psychedelia (proto-Prog?)!!!
Songs like the angry, charging "Cries From The Midnight Circus", rollicking "Miss Fay Regrets" and the near-transcendent "In The Square/The Letter/Rain" trilogy make for impeccable, thoughtful yet utterly rocking classics.
And it's only too fitting that bonus track "Circus Mind" should wrap this excellent reissue up, by far one of the most affecting and touching songs the Pretties have ever written and recorded.
It's hard to fathom why this band has never achieved the status of popularity of other rock giants such as Led Zep or the Stones (which emanate from the same nucleus of musicians as the Pretties) themselves; What's more than sure is that I got hooked to Parachute from the very first listen and there's no way these guys could ever fail!!!
I strongly reccomend this record, to say the very least.
Long live the Pretty Things!!!"
Better than S.F. Sorrow?
Elliot Knapp | Seattle, Washington United States | 04/14/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Ok, the title's provocative but not the most useful of ideas--comparing the band's conceptual psychedelic masterpiece, S.F. Sorrow, with this next album is like comparing apples to oranges. The point is, though it's different, Parachute is every bit as quality an effort from the Pretty Things as its much more lauded predecessor.
In many ways, Parachute is not a totally radical departure from S.F. Sorrow, it's just more stripped down, not to mention the fact that popular tastes had changed and the entire movement that floated psychedelic music had passed by. The exotic instrumentation and trippy studio effects that typified S.F. Sorrow are (for the most part) toned down to become less designed to produce drug-like experience, and more to contribute to the musical needs of each song. It's also worth mentioning that in tightening up their instrumentation, the Pretty Things leaned toward a more guitar-driven, spare rock sound--there are some barn burners on this disc. That said, there's some really tasty mellotron and even a touch of sitar here and there, not to mention the band's ethereal, shimmering vocal harmonies that defined S.F. Sorrow. This time around, it's still a loose concept album (aside: I'm not going to call it a rock opera, since I don't think S.F. Sorrow is an "opera," though I do sympathize with revisionist fans who want to accredit the criminally underrated Pretty Things with doing what the Who did on the criminally overrated Tommy. I'll stick to "Concept albums" for S.F. Sorrow and Parachute, and Tommy can keep the pretentious and dead-end "rock opera" distinction), and as Repertoires liner notes describe, the band was interested in exploring the rivaling pulls of the country and hippie life versus the urban, gritty city life (where they chose to stay). It's a very post-psychedelic era album--they're wrestling with the very powerful and pressing issues that the young people were dealing with at the the implosion of the end of the 60's. In my opinion, they pull it off with grace, beauty, and muscle.
"Scene One" is a stormy and ominous bookend to the album's start, based on a descending guitar/piano line, but it soon gives way to a string of the rural/hippie tracks, starting with the "The Good Mr. Square," typified by shimmering acoustic guitars and the band's fantastic harmonies. The song rocks up a bit and morphs into the clever "She Was Tall, She Was High." "In the Square" features a haunting chord progression (it sounds like something Radiohead would later steal for one of their songs). "The Letter" follows the urban protagonist's correspondence with his country maiden (Repertoire's lyric notes are very helpful in following/understanding the loose concept).
After the sound-effect snippet "Rain," the album pulls an about-face. Gone are the somewhat gentle folk-rock sounds of the first several songs, and we get the delightfully-amped "Miss Fay Regrets." Talk about stealing--Bachman Turner Overdrive MUST have stolen the meter/melody of the verse vocals for the far less dark "Taking Care of Business." Either way, May's vocal switches between rapid fire on the verses to a raging scream for the chorus. Same goes for the leering groove of "Cries from the Midnight Circus," which features a downright dirty scat solo (treated with phaser or flanger)--definitely a highlight. "Grass" is a slightly jazzier rocker, and "Sickle Clowns" is a piano-driven rocker with a positively raw vocal from bassist Wally Allen Waller.
After the hard-rocking center of the album, things get a bit more contemplative on the gloriously pop-folk-rock classic "She's A Lover." The spirit of S.F. Sorrow's ultimately dire message resurfaces on "What's the Use," where the band's anguish at the irresolvable flaws in the hippie mentality comes to a climax--set to a dreamy haze of guitars, keys and voices. The album's resolution is positively gorgeous--rather than an argument relating to the city v. country debate, we get a chilling image: an exodus of people flee the city in an apocalyptic departure--into the sea. The picture unfolds through hypnotic, ghostly vocals. After the message hits home, the band kicks in with some of the most poignant music they committed on tape for Parachute. Fantastic! "Parachute" really makes the album for me--it's the perfect finish, and a crucial ingredient for a classic album is a solid closer.
Repertoire did a typically fine job of reissuing this album, with great sound, informative notes, and several bonus tracks--as is usually the case, they spoil the flow of the album if you listen straight into them after "Parachute," but they include some rocking and worthwhile songs (and a few mediocre ones as well). If you really enjoyed S.F. Sorrow, you'll probably be equally as affected by Parachute. Really, though, if you enjoy the harder-rocking stuff from the early 70's, this is an obscure classic you might really enjoy."
My favorite album of '08/'09
Clare Quilty | a little pad in hawaii | 03/12/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Granted "Parachute" by The Pretty Things came out nearly 40 years ago, but I just got it a few months ago after hearing "Rain" on xm radio. I've barely stopped listening to it since, and as I grow tired of one song, another almost always bubbles up, strikes my fancy and takes its place.
Coming in the wake of the acid-gorged, psychedelic fustercluck of "S.F. Sorrow," "Parachute" is a stripped-down though-no-less-ambitious album that sounds a little like a post-party chill-out record. It's in much the same vein as CSN&Y and "Workingman"/"Mars Hotel"-era Dead.
Actually, the closest aural comparison I could make to "Parachute" is "Abbey Road" -- they both have song cycles, heavenly harmonies, shifts from pastoral melodies to gut-bucket blooze -- and both seem to be slipping from the 60's to the 70's with melancholy but also maturity. In fact, as others have pointed out, the Pretty Things were making this record at Abbey Road at the same time the Beatles were *making* "Abbey Road" at Abbey Road.
But this is not "Abbey Road," and in fact it's a more secretive, solitary piece of work than the Beatles swan song. It also contains moments of T.Rexian boogie woogie, hints of prog rock, and harbingers of things to come -- it's impossible to listen to "In the Square" and not hear the influence that helped Radiohead come up with "Paranoid Android."
This is my favorite kind of record -- it might not hit you right away, but you can put it on and enjoy it and let it grow on you in different ways, listen after listen.
"
Track Listings (19) - Disc #1