Biography
The Pretty Things are an English rock band, formed in 1963 in London. They took their name from Willie Dixon’s 1955 song “Pretty Thing”. A pure rhythm and blues band in their early years, with several singles charting in the United Kingdom, they later embraced other genres such as psychedelic rock in the late 1960s (with 1968 S.F. Sorrow being one of the first rock operas), hard rock in the early 1970s and new wave in the early 1980s. Despite this, they never managed to recapture the same level of commercial success of their very first releases. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Things
Album & Cover
Parachute, released in 1970, is The Pretty Things’ fifth studio album, following S.F. Sorrow and preceding Freeway Madness. It is their first album without Dick Taylor.Reviews at the time of release were very positive, with Billboard calling it “another top-flight album” for the band. In 1975, Rolling Stone critic Steve Turner even wrote that it had been “a Rolling Stone ‘album of the year’,” though in fact Parachute did not place among the magazine’s Albums of the Year for 1970 or 1971,and indeed was not mentioned in Rolling Stone until Stephen Holden called it an “obscure underground classic” in his review of Freeway Madness. The musicians involved were Phil May, Wally Waller, John Povey, Vic Unitt, Skip Alan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parachute_(The_Pretty_Things_album)
Cover Location: Hipgnosis Studio, London, UK
Who Did What: Photography A. Powell/S. Thorgerson
Label: Rare Earth RS515(US), Harvest SHVL774(UK)
Source: Vinyl. Album. Cover. Art, The Complete Hipgnosis Catalogue: Aubrey Powell
Tracklist
| Side One 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 |
Side Two Grass Sickle Clowns She’s A Lover What’s The Use Parachute |
Credits
Engineer – Tony Clark
Engineer [Assistant] – Nick Webb
Producer – Norman Smith
Written-By – N. Smith (tracks: B5), May, Waller (tracks: A1 to B4)
