THE PRETTY THINGS 1965 DEBUT LP - UK FONTANA 1st *MONO*
£
75
$
99
£ 75
Sold For
Jan 16, 2015
Sold Date
Jan 6, 2015
Start Date
£ 20
Start price
11
Number Of Bids
Great Britain
Country Of Seller
eBay
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Description
THE PRETTY THINGS 1965 DEBUT LP - UK FONTANA 1st *MONO*
THE PRETTY THINGSThe Pretty Things
UK FONTANA (TL 5239) FIRST *MONO* PRESSING (March 1965) OF THE PRETTY THINGS' RAW AND VISCERAL DEBUT LP
PRESSED ON HEAVYWEIGHT VINYL (173g) WITH THE FIRST ISSUE TEXTURED BLACK/SILVER FONTANA LABELS WHICH CARRY THE "RECORDING FIRST PUBLISHED 1965" STATEMENT
MATRIX: 687341 1L//1 ∇ 420 1 10 / 687341 2L//1 ∇ 420 11 11 1
THE LP IS HOUSED IN THE ORIGINAL FRONT LAMINATED, THICK CARD SLEEVE
COMPLETE WITH THE ORIGINAL PLAIN WHITE POLY-LINED INNER SLEEVE
The Pretty Things' debut LP was a legendary exercise in anarchy -- 30 minutes into the two days' worth of sessions, their original producer, Jack Baverstock (the head of the label, no less), walked out, and was eventually replaced by a slightly more sympathetic personality in the hopes of salvaging something from the efforts of the band, who, whatever their shortcomings in decorum or sobriety, were on their third successive charting single.
The resulting album, made under the coordination (if not control) of drummer-turned-producer Bobby Graham, made the early work of the Rolling Stones -- rivals and one-time bandmates to The Pretty Things' Dick Taylor -- sound more like the work of the Beatles: very calculated, lightweight, and...genteel.
The Pretty Things is recorded with practically every song and instrument pushing the needle into the red. Normally, that would be a problem, except for the fact that a third of the repertory was written by Bo Diddley and most of the other two-thirds was inspired by him (even their version of Chuck Berry's "Oh Baby Doll" sounds like it was lifted from the Two Great Guitars sessions where the two legends crossed swords) -- and Bo spent most of his career with his amplifiers set on "11".
"Roadrunner" is about as raw and loud as British rock & roll ever got up to that time, and it's just the beginning -- "Judgement Day" has a lead guitar buried somewhere in there, beneath rhythm instruments that sound like metal being ground up, and "13 Chester Street" is, strangely enough, an homage to the house the band once shared with the Stones' Brian Jones, it mixes the band's crunchy rhythm guitar-centred sound with a Slim Harpo-style lead (all of the stuff that Jones was identified with musically), in a group "composition" that shimmers and pulses around Phil May's dissolute vocals.
"Big City" takes them back to Chess Records territory, from which they never stray -- "Mama, Keep Your Big Mouth Shut" even sounds like a Chess outtake, what Leonard Chess would've said needed one more pass to get right (and he'd have been wrong).
And just to show that there is some justice in the world, The Pretty Things did reach number ten on the U.K. charts, bewildering all of the more "professional" hands at Fontana Records by grabbing the ears of that harder, more intense part of the Stones' larger audience and throwing them the sonic equivalent of raw meat to chew on.
Phil May reveals himself as a powerful singer, though lacking some of the charisma that Mick Jagger projected, but the group's own raw power made for quirky appeal all of its own that would carry them for many years beyond this roaring start.
And in the meantime, records like this would point the way not only toward the work of such American garage band icons as the MC5, but blast a path through the wilderness that the likes of Billy Childish and his band the Milkshakes and their successors would traverse.
Side One:
Road Runner
Judgement Day
13 Chester Street
Big City
Unknown Blues
Mama, Keep Your Big Mouth Shut
Side Two:
Honey, I Need
Oh Baby Doll
She's Fine She's Mine
Don't Lie To Me
The Moon Is Rising
Pretty Thing
LABELS: NEAR MINT/EXCELLENT+
Clean, fresh labels which carry one spindle trace on Side One and just a few on Side Two
VINYL Visual: EXCELLENT
Both surfaces have light bag rash from the poly-lining of the inner but this is cosmetic and of little audible significance otherwise the surfaces just display harmless hairlines under bright light
VINYL Audio: EXCELLENT (overall)
Sounds great - rough, loud and raw and plays extremely well with the exception of "13 Chester Street" which has spots of interference which sound a bit like hand claps (no sign of why these should occur on the vinyl surface, so most likely a pressing issue as I have seen these mentioned elsewhere - I am sure any PT collector could tell me more). There is slight surface between some of the tracks (probably caused by the bag rash) but no other audible issues of note. Overall a pretty fine copy which has seen little use
SLEEVE: VERY GOOD
Good and solid - no structural damage - some age toning to the back and a dedication on the top edge
POST & PACKING:
A PROTECTIVE POLY SLEEVE, NEW INNER SLEEVE WITH ANTI-STATIC LINER, QUALITY BOX (NOT ENVELOPE) MAILER AND AMPLE STIFFENERS ARE ALWAYS USED TO ENSURE THAT YOUR RECORD ARRIVES SAFELY
UK: FREE (2nd class standard)
UK: £9.00 (Royal Mail Special Delivery Next Day by 1pm)
EUROPE: Airmail: £14.00 (International Signed For delivery)
INTERNATIONAL: Airmail: £17.00 (International Signed For delivery)
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