PRETTY VIA UGLY

As a young teenage music fiend, I bought a lot of records, read a lot of magazines, listened to a lot of radio, and talked music with my brothers and friends constantly. I was in the position to know, but not once did the Pretty Things ever come up. They were all but unknown in the US. Like a lot of people in the states who bought records prior to prominence of fanzines and reissues, my first exposure to the Pretty Things came from the two covers of theirs that Bowie did on Pin Ups, and hearing them wasn't impetus enough to go exploring. I already had a backlog of leads and recommendations for scads of other bands from sources I trusted much more than Bowie.

Enter Mike Stax, an English guy who had moved to the states to join the Crawdaddys, a local band. In the early eighties, after he was securely transplanted, he started a zine called Ugly Things. It was apparent from issue one that he had it bad for the Pretty Things. In issue two of UT (which, as unbelievable as it seems, I just retrieved from a bookshelf five feet away from me), he interviewed Pretty Thing Phil May. In the introduction, he refers to them as "the greatest band of all history." Now I was listening. That was well over twenty years ago, and every time the Pretty Things come up, I think of Mike, and how a gangly kid from across the pond imported his fiending. We are the better for it. Ugly Things is still going strong. Visit the site for a physical copy, stuff by his band the Loons, or something from his record label (including 45s by the Nashville Ramblers and the Sloths, both of which I've gushed about before).

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
The Pretty Things - Rosalyn mp3 at X818
The Pretty Things - Roadrunner mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu
The Pretty Things - Come See Me mp3 at Beware of the Blog
The Pretty Things - Buzz The Jerk mp3 at Beware of the Blog
The Pretty Things - Midnight to Six Man mp3 at Merry Swankster
The Pretty Things - Cold Stone mp3 at Bedazzled
The Pretty Things - Balloon Burning mp3 at Cargo Culte
The Pretty Things - All Light Up mp3 at Smokers Club
Visit:
The Pretty Things at Wikipedia
Ugly Things