ARTIST: The Pretty Things
TITLE: Get the Picture
YEAR RELEASED: 1965
CHART ACTION: No
SINGLES: Cry to Me (#28 UK)
OTHER SONGS YOU MAY KNOW: Only if you were a UK blues fanatic
LINEUP: Phil May, Dick Taylor, Brian Pendleton, John Stax, Viv Prince. Bobby Graham or Twink (John Alder) replaced Prince when Prince got too substance damaged to perform.
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: Blues and R&B, London style and using a lot of fuzz and distortion, garage band style.
SOME WORDS, PHRASES AND CLAUSES ABOUT THIS RECORD: The Pretty Things went back into the studio flush from their success on the UK blues circuit, and put together a pretty solid group of songs signaling a move forward towards a more blues rock direction.
The performances are more together than their first record, but still it seems rushed at times and sometimes a little, um, hazy. They were a bit more serious here, and also they got more professional as they had to sack beloved drummer Viv Prince due to his excesses.
The sounds till sounds raw, which is good. But their pure blues songs don’t stack up to the originals. At least they introduced them to a rapt audience (well, live, it seems that the public didn’t go for this).
NOTES & MINUTIAE: This is all on Spotify. On Google Play it’s not streaming, but eight of the twelve tracks are on an EP collection.
IS THERE A DELUXE VERSION: Yes. Singles and B-sides and oddities.
GRADE: B: Better, but still to modern ears it’s more influential than essential.