The Pretty Things on "Popside"

[siouxie921]

The singer has real stage presence ; )

[14up0]

If time travel is invented I'm going straight to the 60s. Then once I've had enough partying,psychedelia,acid and general grooviness then and only then will I go into the future and do battle with the Morlocks.

[markino1963]

the mighty garage band from the psychedelic sixties!!!! DIG IT !!!!

[CavenEdwards]

I really like this song. its really cool sounding.

[11thedogfather]

3 top tracks best 60s r/anb group by miles

[paisleybabee]

It's amazing to see this!

[DoctorPepperOz]

I think Phil May looks like John Paul Young.

[bigboxbobby2]

Great clip.

[purplehazemind]

A complete underrated influencial bands of the 60´s! Very cool. They will play a gig in Hamburg on 04/01/09, I try to catch footage to load up on YouTube. Does anybody knows about their actual sound performing?

[PAULLONDEN]

£ $ Ð....As it was called,

in them days ,to silence rumours that it was actualy about LSD ☺

[mellotrongirl]

Wow! The pre-S,F,Sorrow material was great melodic psychedelia...I'm a late bloomer to this.

[loempiavreter]

Come See Me is Freakbeat

[clattybrown]

Timeless masterpeices

[moesrecordlove]

S.F. Sorrow was the first rock opera. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Khultan]

I don't give a shit about rock opera. I don't care about metal or glam rock. This is rocking. And honestly, I don't like The Who when they busted out with that rock opera crap. I want that raw melodic fierce white blue fire energy.

[PAULLONDEN]

These dudes were the baddest on the block,and got sabbotaged from

Jagger to Townsend,

Jagger felt so threatened by them that he blackmailed BBC's Ready Steady Go! ,

it's either them or us.

Consequently they got never invited to that show,wich cost them some valuable exposure.

Townsend sent telegrams to Phil May ,not to stoke up fires about the S.F.Sorrow▬Tommy controversy,

wich May never did,he just wanted The Pretty Things to get their fair due.

Anywayzzz...Opera- Schmopera ☺

[justinwiggy]

@moesrecordlove The Who's "A quick one while he's away" is classed as an operatic rock song(and tommys parent), it came out in 66. Nirvana's "The Story of Simon Simopath" came out in 67. SF Sorrow came out in 68. Tommy was the first musical work to be billed rock opera (Wasn't the term "Rock Opera" coined for Tommy by Pete himself?) I always preferred the term "concept album" as opera is as dull as dishwater.

[kdgfg]

sounds great

[econoroller]

Snapper records release of the mono version of S.F. Sorrow has the original 5 minute-plus version of "defecting grey" it was too long for a 45 single and had to be edited down for a single. The long version on the snapper release is from the original acetate found in John Povey's loft. Check it out, and Long live the Pretties!!!!

[PAULLONDEN]

I know....I've got it,but....

Still think the single version is the better one. The long version sounds too much

like a demo to me.

As a curiosa it has it's merrits though ♫

[PAULLONDEN]

This comment was dedicated to econoroller 11 months ago,about the

'67 single "Defecting Grey".

to avoid confusion ☺

[moesrecordlove]

The Pretty Things are one  of the most grossly overlooked rock bands of all time. They were some of the 1st great garage-rockers, and their masterpiece 'S.F. Sorrow' predated all rock concept albums like The Who's 'Tommy'. This is really some valuable video footage!

[wwwgotristancom]

tommy was a rock opera

[ScenesFromPalacio]

Woh..So great.Intuitive,magical timeless garage punk..What a cracking band they were...Thanks so much for uploading

[lurcherman66]

anyone heard defecting grey by these guys?

awesome bit of uk psych!!!!

[minutegongcoughs]

Echo, reverb, terrific. Bowie digs this lot. I saw them in the seventies and they were still interesting.

[penisdickbutt]

FAKE!!!!!

[hudois]

The Pretty Things have just GOT to be just about the most under rated group EVER. Any doubts, listen to S. F. Sorrow, which MUST rank as one of the greatest albums of all time. Plus Defecting Grey, and Freeway Madness and Pretty Things Live at The BBC, to Name just a few.

[dominiccarter77]

Just buying 'S.F. Sorrow' as we speak. Have bought 1st two albums. Really loving these fellas!

[oldpaw]

When the shaggy haired Stones were supposedly shocking the nation, Phil May had seriously long locks, as you can see.

Saw them in Oxford in about 1964 and they were authentically bluesy.

[ROCKTILLYAROLLO]

STILL ARE....paw.Prettys rule,still.

[tabithatu]

Yes. Dick Taylor was orignally a Rolling Stone but he quit to go back to school then helped to found The Pretty Things.

[zbelm]

Anyone who can figure out the real web-address should find something quite interesting here:

aitchteeteepee://uu,uu,uu,DOT richieunterberger DOT, commmm/taylor.html

[bnzbrl]

Great band ! I saw them in reunion I think 89 was the year... wow !

[lanceomatic]

Actually, "LSD" is one of the great double entendre songs. Up until a few decades ago everyone in in Britain had LSD, being the shorthand for pounds, shillings, pence, until they went to decimalization.

[pernicketty]

You got the picture.

[pernicketty]

Canadians had acid in '66? I guess you must be about as dated as they are then. The Pretty Things were way ahead of their time.

[vicoilsteems]

LSD was British money as in pounds shillings pence, but these are some rarely heard classic garage/punk /blues

[Intoyou00]

Can't stand the pain,and you don't beleve me are my favorite tracks from Get the Picture...What a great band...Many thank's for uploading this great footage 'zbelm' !

Had a boyfriend who looked like Phil May....alway's had a Thundering Triumph Bonneville between his legs ! Nice Bike !

[zbelm]

When rock went 'psychedelic', the Pretties were still the wildest band around (only the original singer and the lead guitar remained, though) - check this out:

/watch?v=Rx6hE5yhKt8

!!!!!!!!

[khorshidezar]

Great band I have to admit I've never seen them before but heard rumours about them though. Thanks for posting

[zapspace]

They had something purer, more authentic than the Stones (not that they were necessarily "better"). Great sound!!

[findeerror]

They still rock harder than most bands a third of their age.

[LithingGrint]

this is brilliant, Ive been watching it on repeat for hours now.

[PAULLONDEN]

Dave Dee ,Dozy, Beaky,Mick & Tich ,

They were'nt bad either .

No match for these Pretty Things though .

[zbelm]

Tich Amey is a very underrated guitarist (probably because a large portion of DDDBMT stuff is decidely lightweight and cheesy), it's definitely worth checking out tunes like "Hideaway" and "Hold Tight" in my opinion. But you're right - no contest.

[zapspace]

Zabadac is a good guitar track: great guitar playing ...

[zbelm]

Like I said, a lot of cheesy, lightweight songs... But don't mock the power of Tich on the rare occasions when he lets rip! I'm serious, check out the songs I mentioned already - But that's enough about this already in the PRETTY THINGS comments, there's no comparison. In case you can't tell: I'm assuming you're making fun, zapspace...

[zapspace]

No, I'm just a music lover who likes different styles, who thinks that The Pretty Things rhythm and blues feel is endlessly higher than that of Davy Dee and co. But Dave Dee and his guys were not just a fabricated pop band: they were good musicians in their own right and that's all I mean! Happy 2008, though.

[stupididiot13]

this is some cool punk rock...

[barbh1]

Johnny Greenwood is drummer for gig at Eel Pie.

[barbh1]

Is it Vivian Prince or Skip Allen?  I'm going to see the all grown up Pretties Nov.30 at the Eel Pie Club in Twickenham if all goes well. Wish me luck. It's a long way from California!

[zbelm]

Definitely Skip Allen. I don't know if he's playing with them these days; he was in the band through the '90s but I read he had hypertension problems since then. I saw them in France (they never bloody play in Scotland) 5 years ago, and John Povey was drumming!!

[PAULLONDEN]

That Skip Allen Is fuckin'hilarious , he actually does some very dangerous things with those cymbals ,especially near those girls .

[PAULLONDEN]

OOh You Pretty Things ; you'll never be forgotten !!!

[mondosam]

Wow. Totally (and criminally) forgotten band. My band was lucky enough to play with them in August 2001 in NYC during their short reunion, and they were AMAZING.

[TheeBoyWonder]

I was at that very show. The Cynics, Mondo Topless helped round out the bill. Your band's great, Sam!

Robin Shepard

California

[mondosam]

Thanks! Small world...

[pahkeha]

Just look at their Hair!!! disgusting.. as a 13 year old in NZ 1965?? i REMEMBER THEM BEING THROWN OUT OF THE COUNTRY!!! WAY COOL

[LoveSculpture]

I love it

[heavyjavadrinker]

2 english bands never mentioned are the pretty things and the downliners sect... just as good as kinks, stones and beatles....

[scraperTSB]

Yeah, Downliners own, there are hundreds of bands that never got the recognition they deserve.

[PAULLONDEN]

Skip Allen..what a great performance

[PAULLONDEN]

Sweeet Phil you were no dark side but supernova bright !!! succes with All light up (as in supernova)

[scraperTSB]

still can't decide out of these guys, the stones and the kinks.

[ohisashiburi]

They came before both of those you mention..these are the ORIGINALS!!

[mondosam]

Dick Taylor was actually IN the Stones, waaaay early on...

[scraperTSB]

yeah, i've read about that in a few stones books... Apparently there's a really early bootleg recording with Dick Taylor (i think), Stu and Mick Avory on drums... like in 1963 sometime... but i've never heard it, and don't imagine it being easy to find.

[mondosam]

And apparently Mick Avory didn't cut it on drums, and was replaced by Charlie Watts. Now, Charlie's great, but so is Mick. I wonder where the Kinks would be if Mick Avory stayed with the Stones. Maybe the Stones just didn't want another guy named Mick in the band?

[AsitAppens]

The Pretty Things are Gods. Rosalyn was and remains a KILLER debut single. Don't Bring Me Down, Midnight To Six Man, Come See Me, Defecting Grey, Talking About The Good Times, SF Sorrow, Parachute. Cold Stone... just some of the sublime reminders of why these guys rule.

[Danj06]

Thank You!

[meadownut]

how come no one has upliaded their biggest ie dont bring me down? viv prince awesome,only saw them once

[zbelm]

add this to the usual youtube-dot-com gubbins:

/watch?v=0MkSupR2qFM

(after 04.27) (completely LIVE version, too!)

[zbelm]

My last comment was a reply to meadownut, by the way - relating to 'Don't Bring Me Down' on Youtube.

[Rosimani]

i'd forgotten about the Pretty Things till i saw this clip, their music was lovely, what a treat

[Lory73]

Thank you very much for uploading this very rare clip!They really got no credit for everything they invented, so underrated! Do you happen to have anything from the period showing The Pretty Things either playing live or lipsync on promo clip for the mindblowing, masterpiece that is "Defecting Gray" by any chance?I love love love that track, it's pure genius!

[Stacela]

This is one of the few obscure bands that I've never heard of before.

[spadge321]

Lovely

tiny / salford

[Death666wish]

o_O

[apn777]

Absolutely Brilliant. I saw them do 'Come see me' at the Borderline, London, a few years back. Thew first time they'd played it for years. Some young upstarts should record it!

[gbjoce]

Remember them well...one of my favourite bands.

[coopermanisgod]

This is great,proper rock & roll.Superb band,criminally underated.psychedelic stuff's good too.

[menelvagor1950]

how good to see the pretty things again. takes me back to 1967 and alittle upstairs club in tontine st folkestone,they had just released the pretty things on film e.p. iremember gettting it signed by them all.

[xfearbefore]

damn what a rare clip dude! thank god for this, you kick ass!

[xxxx000]

One of the greatest, and most underappreciated, rock and roll bands of all time. Great clip

[sunra67]

very true, as arthur brown said of the pretty things "they invented everything and got credit for nothing!"

[freesouljah]

cool man...thanks for sharing this...