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THE PRETTY THINGS
Complete Studio Albums 1965-2020 MADFISH
A baker’s dozen of R&B growlers, cult psych classics and undiscovered gems recorded over 55 years.
By Peter Watts
REISSUES | COMPS | BOXSETS | LOST RECORDINGS
THE PRETTY THINGS are the character actors of British rock – a Brian Glover or Richard E Grant to the Michael Caine or Roger Moore of the Stones/Beatles/Who. While the Pretties occasionally got the chance to play the leading man, their usual role has been as craggy-faced secondary players, present at many of the key moments in British music – friends of the Stones, covered by Bowie, signed to Led Zeppelin’s own label, shared a manager with Pink Floyd – and always delivering noteworthy moments when it was their cue before returning to the shadow of the big shots.
Madfish’s limited-edition box of the 13 studio albums recorded by The Pretty Things between 1965 and 2020 offers a chance to look at the band on their own terms rather than as bit parts in the cultural evolution of British rock. The focus on studio albums means the story isn’t quite complete – there’s no live shows or BBC sessions, none of their soundtrack work as Electric Banana, no non-album singles such as the landmark “Defecting Grey”, nor the private-press LP they did with French playboy Philippe DeBarge – but it provides a skeleton on which to focus study of a fascinating career.