martedì 9 dicembre 2014

Pretty Things - Philippe Debarge 1969

Biography : The Pretty Things' career was rife with peculiar episodes, and none was more peculiar than the unreleased album which makes up the bulk of this bootleg. In 1969 the band recorded eleven original songs with an unknown French singer, Phillipe DeBarges, taking the place of Phil May. May and Pretty Things bassist Wally Allen produced the record, which was never released. It's quite similar in nature to the Pretties' own late-'60s psychedelic recordings, though more pop-oriented than S.F. Sorrow, sounding more like the soundtrack items that ended up on Electric Banana; in fact, three of the songs ("Alexander," "Eagles Son," and "It'll Never Be Me") were done as authentic Pretty Things tracks on Electric Banana as well. It's pleasant if usually slight pop-psych, often utilizing chunky guitar strums of the kind that Pete Townshend used (possibly due in part to the Pretties' influence?) on Tommy. Some of these songs were probably too strong to donate to DeBarges, though, like "Alexander" (one of their best late-'60s cuts), "Running You & Me" (with opening guitar chords quite reminiscent of the Tommy style), the swinging mod-like "You Might Even," and "Eagles Son." Sound quality is good, although as it's been taken from an acetate, there's some surface noise. The disc is made all the more enticing to Pretties fans via a generous 13 bonus tracks. All are taken from 1965-69 television and BBC appearances, including performances of the hits "Honey I Need," "Don't Bring Me Down," and "Midnight to Six Man," as well as uncommon items like BBC versions of "Sitting All Alone" and a few songs from S.F. Sorrow; quality on these is only fair, but listenable. by Richie Unterberger

Tracklist:
01.Hello, How Do You Do? 4:03
02.You Might Even Say 3:59
03.Alexander 2:55
04.Send You with Loving 3:00
05.You're Running You and Me 4:36
06.Peace 1:44
07.Eagle's Son 3:06
08.Graves of Grey 0:48
09.New Day 4:07
10.It'll Never Be Me 4:32
11.I'm Checking Out 3:40
12.All Gone Now 2:19
13.Monsieur Rock (Ballad of Philippe) 5:33

Pretty Things:
Philippe DeBarge - Lead Vocals
Phil May – Backing Vocals, Lead Vocals
Vic Unitt - Lead Guitars, Backing Vocals
Dick Taylor – Lead Guitar
Wally Waller – Bass, Guitars, Keyboards, Percussion, Backing Vocals
Jon Povey – Keyboards, Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals
John C. Alder (aka Twink) - Drums
Skip Alan – Drums

4 commenti:

Solidboy ha detto...

flac cue log scans

adamus67 ha detto...

Woww...sensation... and also the same time revelation! For the first time in the official (CD and released in 1000 copies. And already sold out LP)! Recorded in September 1969 (between the LP and LP SF Sorrow Parachute) by almost classical composition - from singing in English Frenchman Philippe DeBarge a lead singer. The music is sensational; a bit more acoustic than definitely rock, psychedelic masterpiece from 1968, but almost as perfect! They are here and distortions,organs Hammonda, mellotron, typical for PT vocal harmonies. In addition, the team made three recordings again just a few months previously recorded under the name Electric Banana (Alexander, Eagle's Son and It'll Never Be Me). Each band music lover simply must have this CD, because it is the most important, premiere, archival material in recent years! Excellent sound quality !!!


The Pretty Things’ 1969 project Philippe DeBarge is a curious beast which has set a fair few pulses racing over the years without ever attaining “legendary unreleased album” status.
Following the creative and artistic flurry that gave us the Pretties’ acknowledged ’68 classic S F Sorrow, the group lost lead guitarist/founder Dick Taylor and drummer/nutter Twink. The remaining members – singer/mainstay Phil May and multi-instrumentalists Wally Waller and Jon Povey – continued eking out a living as The Electric Banana, cutting a wealth of material for the DeWolfe music library before recruiting Victor Unitt and earlier Pretties drummer Skip Alan to record Parachute. In between, the band were approached by rich, French super fan Philippe DeBarge who told them he wanted to record an album with them. Our heroes obliged and duly decamped to his parents’ place in St Tropez where they sampled a week of fine wines and fast cars, opting to drive around in a 1908 Rolls Royce whilst getting loaded. All expenses paid and all whims catered for. Not bad work if you can get it! DeBarge then proceeded to learn 11 original compositions parrot-fashion before the whole entourage returned to Nova Studios in London to record the results. Acetates were made and given to band members and DeBarge’s friends. End of story. Well, not quite.

Such is the interest in this particular period of the Pretties’ career, that the album found itself being bootlegged and becoming widely available many years later, albeit with negligible sound quality. While hardly in the league of its better-known bookends, Phillipe DeBarge is a fascinating missing link in the Pretties’ story and features a number of strong songs and performances. It also betrays influences not found in their other contemporary material (witness the Tijuana flourishes on ‘You Might Even’ – pure Love) and favours acoustic guitars over electrics whilst sticking to the bash it out in a day ethos of the Electric Banana recordings. Dick Taylor’s liquid lead guitar lines are noticeable by their absence on the remakes of ‘Alexander’ and ‘Eagle’s Son’ while the lack of a full-time drummer gives some of the material a demo-ish feel. DeBarge’s voice is surprisingly potent throughout and those enchanting May/Waller/Povey harmonies pop up at regular intervals.

This first ever sanctioned release adds a track recorded especially by the S F Sorrow line-up this year entitled ‘Monsieur Rock (Ballad Of Philippe)’ and features excellent new packaging and liner notes.

Marco:Thx for sharing! :)

Solidboy ha detto...

Many thank adam!

Unknown ha detto...

tnks

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