REVIEWS:
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(reviewed by Casey Brennan)
After a few years as a tight (or not-so-tight - I haven't heard the earlier records yet) and tough British invasion R 'n' B-styled pop group, the Pretties took a stark turn towards psychedelia the following year with their third album Emotions. On here they create something that was truly influential and innovative for the time: the world's first known Rock Opera. It's not a particularly well-known effort per say, but should be recognized nevertheless, as it contains a neat set of songs that whirl through several different modes of psychedelia. I'll have to say that the album as a whole doesn't strike me as entirely engaging or consistently enjoyable, but there are quite a few noteworthy and interesting tunes. A good example would be the album and story opener, "S.F. Sorrow is Born", a tune that works on a rough-edged acoustic riff and has a shaky mellotron-inflected, eastern-dazed middle part. Knocked out by the band in a tough manner, this track definitely kicks the album off to a good start.
Then a short chant of 'love love love love..' follows at the beginning of "Bracelets of Fingers", the first major highlight to be found on here. After a short dissonant verse of 'These are a few of the things I find joy..', it turns into this swirling psychedelic pop song with a catchy melody, a trippy instrumental section, and equally trippy atmosphere - which seems to recall Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd. The magnificent pop of "Baron Saturday", meanwhile, seems to be a bit Magical Mystery Tour-inspired when it comes to the melodic choruses, which contain a reverberating mellotron against some poppy piano, and an overall sardonic vocal performance. The verses, which contrast well with this part, are deathly tribal-like and hard-hitting, and there is an entertaining and heavy clattering drum section in the middle that more than helps out in making this track a winner.
If you want some hard-edged and gutsy psychedelic music you need to look no further than in the riff-heavy "She Says Good Morning", a great number if mainly just for its' fine execution, and the similar-styled "Old Man Going", where a loud siren heightens in loudness and leads right into a guitar solo. The band plays with a harsh cutting edge throughout S.F. Sorrow, but especially on those two former tracks. A lot of wonderful British-psychedelia atmosphere permeates the well-crafted "Trust" (another gem), while "Balloon Burning","Death", and "I See You" just work well in the context of the story, though not remarkable on their own. The interesting atmosphere of each are enough for the tunes to at least get by, however. Further on, A neat meddling of the Moody Blues and Pink Floyd (and vaguely Who-ish during the verses) appears on "Private Sorrow", an wholly acoustic-driven tune with playful little woodwind instruments and a nice melody.
The acoustic closer "Loneliest Person" is also nice, and "The Journey" has an enjoyable melody and a fun chorus of 'Laughing at me...'. In the end the only real stinker on here is the psychedelic sound effects segue "Well of Destiny", and that's a short track anyway. So, is this record underrated? For being the first real Rock opera ever (along with containing an interesting mix of British psychedelia) it should get more recognition, but as far as musical and songwriting quality, maturity, and album cohesiveness go, it doesn't even come close in ranking with the giants of the year it was recorded in (1967). Still, a solid to high '7' for containing a number of noteworthy gems and having hardly a low-point.
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COMMENTS
I found this album hard to get into at first but it has certainly grown on me over time. The main problem is that you must concentrate hard on the album to enjoy it, but once you do WOW! Except for 'Well Of Destiny' I enjoy every minute of it, especially 'S.F.Sorrow,' 'Private Sorrow' and 'Trust.' Plus the bonus tracks on the CD version are great too, my favorite's are 'Mr. Evasion' and 'Walking Through My Dreams', which are both B-sides (maybe if they were A's the album would have taken off ). Right now I'd say it's their second best after Parachute. I give it an easy eight, it could be a nine but its just to hard to get into and can wear the listener out at first.
(reviewed by Joseph Spaulding)
Every so often a critic comes along and rediscovers a forgotten masterpiece. Recently the Pretties 1968 rock opera S.F. Sorrow has received high amounts of praise and while it is a great album it still has many flaws, mainly the lack of great melodies. That brings me to this little gem, Parachute, which is similar to S.F. in the overall sound except the Pretties made one huge improvement, they learned to write some killer songs (who knew?) or may be they just stole them and I don't know it. Furthermore, when a song lacks the killer melody it is made up for by the band singing some of the most gorgeous harmonies I have ever heard. The Pretties were defiantly on top of their game here having found their own sound as well as being able to back it up with some great songs.
Now even though S.F. Sorrow had failed, the band decided to continue making concept albums (why not?) this one is about comparing the good and the bad of the city and the good and bad of the country (it's actually more exciting than it sounds, trust me). The first major song is The Good Mr. Square which has those gorgeous harmonies I was talking of, it then goes into She Was Tall, She Was High, which builds off of the basic melody of the previous song to wonderful effect. The next three songs are the real highlight of the album though; it starts with In The Square, which has even more lovely harmonies and then goes into The Letter which is just a great pop song and finally ends on The Rain which becomes a great psychedelic rocker. Then we come across a couple of rockers Miss Pay Regrets and Cries From The Midnight Circus. The latter is a bit too long for me, seeing as it lacks great hooks and pales in comparison to the other greats here, but I can live with it.
Side two takes us to the country with Grass, which is another beauty here with a great chorus And so you bleed now/Your hand holds the knife/That is tearing your life apart/Why don't you leave now/The city's to heavy/ And your dreams they melt in the sun. Sickle Clowns is yet another great rocker about murder in the country and features some great singing from Phil May. Finally the last two songs What's The Use and the title track both featuring those beautiful harmonies. The recent release has some great bonus tracks, the most note worthy being Summertime and 'October 26' which is about the failed hippie revolution, the title coming from the Russian revolution. This is defiantly a lost masterpiece, and if you see it don't even hesitate picking it up.
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