CD Review

A rock and roll fact you probably didn’t know. The Pretty Things’ record Parachutes was Rolling Stone magazine’s 1970 Album of the Year. Yeah, sure that was a long time ago, and may not matter too much to a fan of the contemporary garage rock movement, led by The White Stripes, The Hives, and The Strokes. Surprise, surprise - The Pretty Things were doing the minimalist guitar rock thing long before the pre-mentioned "the bands" were the darlings of critics, MTV2 and movie star girlfriends.

Formed in 1963 by Dick Taylor, boyhood chum of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, along with Phil May, The Things went onto to prominence in England, aside from near obscurity in the U.S. Mixing their love of rock ‘n’ roll with the rhythm and blues to a dirty sound that wasn’t glamorous but never failed to turn heads.

Come See Me: The Very Best Of The Pretty Things features 25 songs garnered from the band’s initial decade. The songs shake with their go-go bar spell of naughtiness and gritty R &B, while displaying primal musicianship - long before the Stones and Kinks were doing it. Included are the hits – "Don’t Bring Me Down," "Defecting Grey" and "Honey I Need" showcasing the band’s appetite for bluesy turned psychedelic mixture of rock. Come See Me is a nice turn down rock history lane, that probably won’t have you pick up Parachutes, but instead lend valid proof that garage rock was kicking at the dawn or the rock and roll era.