Parachute - THE PRETTY THINGS***

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/Grass/Sickle Clowns/She's A Lover/What's The Use/Parachute

During the decade from the mid 1960s The Pretty Things releases covered a variety of styles ranging from R & B to psychedelic rock. Parachute encompassed many of these styles in one album. (UK:43)

“Parachute opens with a dazzling side long suite about subjects ranging from social conformity to romantic failure to rainy-day misery and beyond, whilst the second side offers different songs in a remarkable range of styles. This finds The Pretty Things on absolutely top form and doesn't deserve to be neglected in the shadow of its more famous predecessor.”

“Not as good as it's predecessor but still not too bad. It features a little psych with some fairly hard rock, together with some fantastic guitar solos.”

“Overall, most of this album is very good underground rock, despite some of the material being slightly poppy, although other tracks are hard rock, similar to their previous album. This album serves as an interregnum between their psych and later more commercial rock period.”

“More easy-going than S. F. Sorrow, this album proves that The Pretty Things should have enjoyed a lot more fame. Grass is probably the best song here, it is instantly catchy, and the whole album blends together brilliantly.”

“Parachute is bluesy and heavy, with elements of prog, featuring fantastic vocals and bass. The Pretty Things are one of the more forgotten bands of their era; on the evidence of this record they are in need of discovery by every serious rock fan.”

“The only group I can think of to straddle the R & B boom, psychedelia and the heavy progressive wave, this is their best album. Sound quality and production is absolutely first rate and ahead of its time. Vocals and melodies are weak however, and there was no hit single to give them the successful revival they deserved.”

“A burst of creativity resulting in a bunch of songs united by a theme of rural versus urban living, and the contradictions implicit in resolving the differences of each; in other words it was one of the first concept albums. The themes are contrasted by use of harmony and melody set against some occasionally quite heavy rock, using a live sound, and the whole works well musically as an album.”