The Pretty Things

Overview

The Pretty Things formed in 1963 around singer Phil May and guitarist Dick Taylor, who had played in an early Rolling Stones lineup. Their career did not follow a single style: the abrasive R&B of “Rosalyn” and “Don't Bring Me Down” led to original beat material, psychedelic studio work, hard rock and late acoustic recordings. S.F. Sorrow is widely treated as an early rock opera, while Parachute showed how far their writing and ensemble sound had developed beyond their first singles.

Formation & History

May and Taylor met at Sidcup Art College and assembled the early group with rhythm guitarist Brian Pendleton, bassist John Stax and drummer Pete Kitley; Viv Andrews and then Viv Prince followed behind the kit. Signed to Fontana in 1964, they placed “Don't Bring Me Down” at No. 10 and “Honey I Need” at No. 13 in the UK, while their self-titled debut reached No. 6. Get the Picture? broadened the amount of original material, but sustained chart success soon receded.

Emotions paired the band with producer Steve Rowland and orchestral arrangements that did not reflect all of the group's own preferences. A move to Columbia opened a more experimental phase: “Defecting Grey” anticipated S.F. Sorrow, recorded over many months at Abbey Road with producer Norman Smith. Taylor left after its delayed and poorly promoted release. The revised lineup made Parachute, which reached No. 43 in Britain, before further changes carried the name through Warner Bros. and Led Zeppelin's Swan Song label. May and Taylor later reunited, revisited S.F. Sorrow with David Gilmour and Arthur Brown in 1998, and played a final full electric concert in 2018. May died in 2020 after the group had completed the acoustic album Bare as Bone, Bright as Blood.

Sound & Style

The early records turn Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry-derived R&B into clipped guitar attack, pounding drums and May's coarse, urgent vocal delivery. By 1966–67, feedback, abrupt edits, acoustic colour and stranger song forms were entering the writing. That change is audible between the direct attack of Get the Picture?, the imposed brass and strings on Emotions, and the internally designed studio world of S.F. Sorrow.

On S.F. Sorrow, Mellotron, sitar, percussion, tape effects and stacked voices support Phil May's narrative rather than serving as isolated psychedelic decoration. Parachute exchanges the life story for two loosely connected album sides: compact opening pieces flow into one another, close harmonies soften the guitar weight, and pastoral passages sit beside the darker “Cries from the Midnight Circus” and “Sickle Clowns.” Later lineups moved toward harder guitar rock, but the tension between May's voice, Taylor's economical lead playing and the band's appetite for abrupt contrast remained recognizable.

Why They Still Matter

The Pretty Things connect several histories that are too often told separately: British R&B, garage rock, psychedelia, the narrative album and the harder rock of the 1970s. David Bowie recorded “Rosalyn” and “Don't Bring Me Down” for Pin Ups; later punk and alternative musicians could hear in the early singles an aggression that did not depend on virtuoso polish. At the same time, S.F. Sorrow and Parachute reward attention to arrangement, sequencing and studio construction.

Their chart record also corrects a familiar myth. They were never wholly unknown: “Don't Bring Me Down” reached the UK Top 10, “Honey I Need” the Top 20, the debut album No. 6 and Parachute No. 43. What they lacked was continuity between those moments. Hearing the catalogue now makes the changes themselves the subject—from five-piece R&B to Abbey Road psychedelia, Swan Song hard rock, reunions and a final acoustic record.