The Pretty Things was an English rock band formed in September 1963 in Sidc… Read Full Bio ↴The Pretty Things was an English rock band formed in September 1963 in Sidcup, Kent, with their name from Willie Dixon's 1955 song "Pretty Thing". They pioneered a raw approach to rhythm and blues (and later, psychedelia) that influenced a number of key bands of the 1960s British 'invasion', particularly The Rolling Stones, and David Bowie whose first hero was Phil May (born 1944; died 2020). The band did their final tour in 2018.

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.

Growing In My Mind
The Pretty Things Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Growing in my mind
Is the picture of a face,
Someone that I've known
Then lost without a trace

Could she be the one
That stares at me from my dreams,
Or could she be the creator

Of all of my schemes,
My scheme

Morning has it's magic
As it slides in through my frame,
With the first sign of dawn
This picture leaves my brain

I search the streets of morning
But I never find a trace,
Then growing in my mind
Is the picture of a face
A face
A face
A face
A face
A face

A face
A face

Overall Meaning

The song 'Growing In My Mind' by The Pretty Things is a melancholic musing on lost love and unfulfilled desires. The opening lyric, "Growing in my mind is the picture of a face, someone that I've known then lost without a trace," sets the tone for a troubled narrator who can't help but think of someone they've lost. The following lines suggest the possibility that this lost love may be a figment of the singer's imagination as they wonder, "could she be the one that stares at me from my dreams?" The second verse deepens the sense of loss as the singer ponders if this lost love was the "creator of all my schemes."

The chorus repeats the song's title, emphasizing the idea that this love is not something concrete that the singer can touch or hold onto, but rather a mental image that grows stronger over time. The final verse finds the singer searching for their lost love in the streets of morning, but they never find a trace. The song ends with a repeated refrain of "a face," suggesting that the mental image of this lost love will continue to haunt the singer.

Overall, the lyrics of 'Growing In My Mind' paint a picture of a person haunted by a lost love, struggling to distinguish between reality and imagination. The repetition of the chorus emphasizes the growing obsession with this image, and the song leaves the listener with a sense of sadness and incompleteness.

Line by Line Meaning

Growing in my mind
A thought is developing in my mind

Is the picture of a face,
The thought is about a face

Someone that I've known
The face belongs to someone familiar

Then lost without a trace
That person is no longer present in my life

Could she be the one
I wonder if that person could be the one

That stares at me from my dreams,
The face shows up in my dreams and may hold significance

Or could she be the creator
Alternatively, that person could be responsible for my thoughts and actions

Of all of my schemes,
The person could be the mastermind behind my plans

My scheme
The overall plan that the person may be behind

Morning has it's magic
The morning has a special quality to it

As it slides in through my frame,
Morning creeps in and wakes me up