June 1970 was an
eventful month. Edward Heath defeated Harold Wilson in the UK general
election, Brazil defeated Italy 4-1 in the World Cup final and John
Lennon defeated Paul McCartney in the music press. It was also the
month of The Pretty Things’ first Harvest LP (released on Motown’s Rare
Earth label in the USA), their first recordings after their rebirth as
prog rockers with the concept album “SF Sorrow” two years earlier.
In 1975, critic
Steve Turner claimed that Rolling Stone magazine had named
“Parachute” album of the year in 1970. It was a lie, but it stuck as
people still mistake the Turner-quote for a fact. As 1970 was also the
year of “Led Zeppelin III”, “Deep Purple In Rock”, “Bridge Over Troubled
Water”, “Live At Leeds”, “Cosmo’s Factory”, “After The Gold Rush”,
“Layla”, “All Things Must Pass” and “American Beauty”, to name a few,
“Parachute” was up against stiff competition. But a good collection of
music it is.
The old rhythm &
blues-champions display some great and unexpected versatility. There’s
charming traces of whimsical British psychedelia, there’s bits of
well-crafted prog, there’s tighter and harder elements bordering on hard
rock - and as the icing of the cake there’s the beautiful and very
Beatlesque “The Good Mr. Square” / “She Was Tall, She Was High” (so
delicious it wouldn’t have sounded out of place on “Abbey Road”). The
bright and airy vocal harmonies leave a sweet smell of illegal tobacco
over the proceedings. An absolutely delightful album!
Unfortunately The
Pretty Things did not take this musical direction any further as the
band started to disintegrate at the end of the year. A reshuffled
line-up returned in 1972 with “Freeway Madness”, sporting a more
pedestrian hard-rock approach to the music.
Released:
June 1970
Produced by:
Norman Smith
Contents:
Scene One/The Good Mr. Square/She Was Tall, She Was High/In the
Square/The Letter/Rain/Miss Fay Regrets/Cries From the Midnight
Circus/Grass/Sickle Clowns/She’s a Lover/What’s the Use/Parachute
Personnel:
Phil May – Vocals
Vic Unitt -
Guitars
Wally Waller –
Bass, Guitar, Vocals
John Povey –
Keyboards, Vocals
Skip Alan – Drums
