Man, I guess this is what I get for not paying attention. I just heard that Phil May died last month. I would have thought that someone would have mentioned it, but no, nothing. Considering the fact that he was a contemporary of the Stones with similar influences and in a band that played the same venues early on, one can't help but compare the lack of shits given stateside compared to the howling that would have come with Mick Jagger's death.
May was the lead singer and a founding member of the Pretty Things. a band he started with Dick Taylor who had been in the earliest incarnation of the Rolling Stones. (Prior to that, Taylor had been in Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys with Keith Richards and Jagger). There were other similarities, bands named after blues songs, gigging the same places, etc. but you know what? If you take a photo of 1966 May and put it next to a photo of 1966 Jagger it's like comparing photos of Johnny Thunders and Elvis Costello. In a cool contest May wins hands down. I'm sure there's a reason why they never made it big in the states, but it wasn't the quality of the music or May himself. That's another thing. Every person I know that's a Pretty Things freak is someone who really knows music, much more than your garden variety Stones freak. So somehow this turned into a fuck the Stones post. Anyway, here's some Pretty Things stuff.
May was the lead singer and a founding member of the Pretty Things. a band he started with Dick Taylor who had been in the earliest incarnation of the Rolling Stones. (Prior to that, Taylor had been in Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys with Keith Richards and Jagger). There were other similarities, bands named after blues songs, gigging the same places, etc. but you know what? If you take a photo of 1966 May and put it next to a photo of 1966 Jagger it's like comparing photos of Johnny Thunders and Elvis Costello. In a cool contest May wins hands down. I'm sure there's a reason why they never made it big in the states, but it wasn't the quality of the music or May himself. That's another thing. Every person I know that's a Pretty Things freak is someone who really knows music, much more than your garden variety Stones freak. So somehow this turned into a fuck the Stones post. Anyway, here's some Pretty Things stuff.
Dig this video, the way the thing devolves into a rhythmic dirge and bounces back again. After watching it, it hits me. I now know what Redd Kross listened to, some of the vocals sound a lot like the McDonald brothers and the overall sound isn't far off either.
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Listen:The Pretty Things - Don't Bring Me Down mp3 at Tumblr
The Pretty Things - Big Boss Man mp3 at Tumblr
The Pretty Things - S.F. Sorrow is Born mp3 at Tumblr
The Pretty Things - Trust mp3 at Tumblr
The Pretty Things - I See You mp3 at Tumblr
1 comment:
I guess you do not read or get Mike Stax's Ugly Things magazine. {You should.}
What is most distressing to me about his death is that it wasn't from COVID-19, but pneumonia developing from a bicycle crash. (He did not need to be outside, much less riding a bicycle.)
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