The Pretty Things was preceded by Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys which consisted of Dick Taylor, fellow Sidcup Art College student Keith Richards, and Mick Jagger. When Brian Jones joined Little Boy Blue and the Blues Boys as guitarist, Taylor was pushed from playing guitar to bass and the Rolling Stones were formed.
Several months later Dick Taylor (born Richard Clifford Taylor, 28 January 1943, in Dartford, Kent) quit the newly formed Rolling Stones to pursue his schooling when he was accepted at London Central School of Art, where he met up with Phil May (born Phillip Arthur Dennis Kattner, on 9 November 1944, in Dartford, Kent: died 15 May 2020) and they formed Pretty Things.
Taylor was once again playing his preferred guitar with May singing and playing harmonica. They recruited Brian Pendleton (born 13 April 1944 in Wolverhampton–died 16 May 2001 in Maidstone, Kent) on rhythm guitar; John Stax (born John Edward Lee Fullegar, 6 April 1944 in Crayford, Kent) on bass; and, after trying a couple of different drummers, including Pete Kitley and Viv Andrews, stuck with Viv Prince (born Vivian St John Prince, 9 August 1944, in Loughborough, Leices).
Early career
They caused a sensation in England, and their first three singles — "Rosalyn" #41, "Don't Bring Me Down" #10, and the self-penned "Honey I Need" at #13 — appeared in the UK singles chart in 1964-1965. They never had a hit in the United States, but had considerable success in their native United Kingdom and in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, and the Netherlands in the middle of the decade. However, in the U.S. they, along with The Yardbirds and Van Morrison's Them, were a huge influence on hundreds of garage bands, including the MC5 and The Seeds.
Their early material was hard-edged blues-rock influenced by Bo Diddley (they took their name from Diddley's 1955 song "Pretty Thing" in humorous contrast to their unkempt long-haired appearance) and Jimmy Reed, much like that of their contemporaries The Stones and The Yardbirds. They were known for wild "rock and roll" behaviour and shocking the establishment; their song "Midnight to Six Man" defined the mod lifestyle. Around this time, the first of what would be many personnel changes over the years also began, with Prince the first to go late in 1965. He was replaced by Skip Alan. Pendleton left late in 1966, and was not initially replaced. Then, Stax quit early in 1967 and Jon Povey and Wally Waller joined to make the band a five piece once again.
After an uncomfortable flirtation with mainstream pop on the Emotions album in 1967, they embraced psychedelia, producing the groundbreaking concept album S.F. Sorrow during 1967-68. This album, released in late 1968, is arguably one of the first rock operas, preceding The Who's Tommy by about a year. It was recorded in the legendary Abbey Road Studios six months after The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Each album shares a similar forward-thinking late-1960s psychedelic sound (as well as sharing the same record producer, Norman Smith, as the Floyd). S.F. Sorrow was followed by the highly-acclaimed record album Parachute, which continued the psychedelic sound and was named "Album of the Year" in 1970 by Rolling Stone Magazine. During this period they also recorded an album for a young French millionaire, Philippe DeBarge, which was intended only to be circulated among the man's social circle. The acetate has since been bootlegged.
Later career
From this point on, the group enjoyed less in the way of commercial success, but the devotion of a strong cult following, especially with critics and other rock musicians. Their material in the early 1970s tended towards more the hard rock and early heavy metal end of the spectrum, although still blues-based, on albums like Silk Torpedo. 1980's Cross Talk saw them incorporating influences of punk and New Wave into their hard rock sound; like most of their records, it was an artistic but not a commercial success.
With a new manager, Mark St John, they gigged sporadically during the 1980s. By the end of the decade their profile had almost disappeared, when founder members Phil May and Dick Taylor reformed the band for a successful European blues tour in late 1990 with Stan Webb's Chicken Shack and Luther Allison. This gigging outfit included drummer Hans Waterman (formerly of Dutch rock group Solution), bassist Roelf ter Velt and guitarist/keyboardist Barkley McKay (Waco Brothers and Pine Valley Cosmonaut's with Jon Langford of Mekon Fame). This line up regularly toured the European mainland playing a revitalised set that show cased their earlier, rootsy blues and r'n'b materiel, until late 1994. By 1995, they reformed the Cross Talk line-up and added Frank Holland on guitar in place of Peter Tolson. Their label, Snapper Music, issued remastered CDs with many bonus tracks, plus a DVD of a re-recording of S.F. Sorrow at Abbey Road Studios (with Dave Gilmour & Arthur Brown guesting). They toured more frequently, including a tour of the U.S. for the first time in decades
Original rhythm guitarist Brian Pendleton died of lung cancer on May 16, 2001.
In the early 2000's, they released new recordings, including a live album and the studio album Rage Before Beauty.
In 2003, Alan Lakey's biography of the band, Growing Old Disgracefully, was published by Firefly. The book dealt with the long and involved history of the band, and paid special attention to the legal proceedings issued against EMI in the 1990s.
The band did their final tour in 2018.
Death
The Pretty Things Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Heavy stones on your face
Your sonnets of life
They are filling the case
High windows inside me
Look down on your face.
Changing white fingers
Burning bright spears
That you hold in your hand
Grey children you've spawned
They just won't understand
As the slow pulse of sobbing
Dries-from the sky
My grief in red circles
Surrounding an eye
Grey child stands looking
And passes on by.
The Pretty Things's song "Death" is a dark and haunting portrayal of grief and loss. The opening lines paint a striking image, as loved ones place heavy stones on the singer's face, symbolizing the weight of death and mourning. The second line refers to "sonnets of life," perhaps alluding to the idea that a person's life is a work of art, complete with its own rhythms and patterns. These sonnets are now being filled into a "case" - perhaps a metaphor for a coffin or a final resting place.
The next lines are particularly mysterious: "High windows inside me/Look down on your face." This could be interpreted in a few different ways - perhaps the singer is looking down on the deceased from a high vantage point, or maybe they're experiencing a kind of out-of-body moment of introspection. The following lines suggest a military context, with the reference to "men in the sand" and "burning bright spears." The grey children mentioned in the third stanza may be a reference to the next generation, who cannot fully comprehend the loss of those who came before them.
The final lines of the song are particularly vivid, as grief takes on a palpable physicality. The "slow pulse of sobbing" dries up "from the sky," perhaps suggesting that the grieving process is a kind of cathartic release of emotion that eventually runs its course. The "red circles" seem to represent the emotional scars that are left behind, while the "grey child" who passes by may be a symbol of the cyclical nature of life - with each generation taking their turn to experience loss and grief.
Line by Line Meaning
As your loved ones they place
People you cared about placing
Heavy stones on your face
Large rocks on your face
Your sonnets of life
The story of your existence
They are filling the case
It's being put away forever
High windows inside me
Emotional walls I've built up
Look down on your face.
And see your lifeless expression
Changing white fingers
Hands that once were pure
For men in the sand
Now stained with the blood of battle
Burning bright spears
Weapons of war that destroyed
That you hold in your hand
Once wielded with deadly intent
Grey children you've spawned
Offspring who cannot comprehend
They just won't understand
The weight of your life and loss
As the slow pulse of sobbing
Grieving agony bears down
Dries-from the sky
Tears falling like rain
My grief in red circles
The intense pain of mourning
Surrounding an eye
Marking this loss on my soul forever
Grey child stands looking
A sullen youth observes
And passes on by.
But cannot grasp what they see
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: CALEB DAVID BURTON, EAVEN IAN DALL, KYLE PHILLIP ERICH, BEN JAMES NAIRNE, JAKE MICHAEL GRANIERI TAYLOR
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind