DeleteReplyForwardSpamMove...
Printable View This message is not flagged. [ Flag Message - Mark as Unread ]

Date: Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:28:36 +0100
Subject: Pretty Things Headline Bo Diddley (1928-2008) Tribute
From: "Jim Driver" <[email protected]> Add to Address Book


A Wake For
BO DIDDLEY
(30th December, 1928-2nd June, 2008)
Celebrating the music and life of a great musician and mentor
The Pretty Things
The Flying Padovanis
The Malchicks
and very special guests
Friday June 6th, 7.30pm-12midnight
100 Club
100 Oxford Oxford Street, London W1D 1LL
Tickets: £18.50 adv/ £20 on door


You have probably heard of the sad death yesterday of Bo Diddley. Bo was one of the great originators of rock & roll, influencing a huge number of bands and in particular, The Rolling Stones and The Pretty Things.
Dick Taylor, Phil May and the others have decided to turn their gig at the 100 Club on Friday into a wake for Bo, the man who not only gave the band its name but also much of its identity and inspiration.
Don't expect a normal Pretty Things show, expect a night dedicated to celebrating the life and great music of Bo Diddley, featuring The Pretty Things, The Flying Padovanis and The Malchicks, plus some very SPECIAL guests.

Tickets and more information from: www.rhythmat.com.

THE PRETTY THINGS
The Pretty Things were preceded by Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys, which consisted of Dick Taylor, fellow Sidcup Art College student Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. When Brian Jones joined the band on guitar, Taylor was pushed from guitar to bass and the band changed its name to the Rollin' Stones.
Taylor (born Richard Clifford Taylor, January 28, 1943, in Dartford, Kent) quit the Stones several months later when he was accepted at the London Central School of Art, where he met Phil May (born Phillip Arthur Dennis Wadey, on November 9, 1944, in Dartford, Kent) and they formed The Pretty Things.
Taylor was once again playing guitar, with May singing and playing harmonica.
The Pretty Things caused a sensation in England, and their first three singles "Rosalyn" #41, "Don't Bring Me Down" #10, and the self-penned "Honey I Need" at #13 appeared in the UK singles chart in 1964-1965. In the U.S. they, along with The Yardbirds and Van Morrison's Them, were a huge influence on hundreds of garage bands, including the MC5 and The Seeds.
Their early material consisted of hard-edged blues-rock influenced by Bo Diddley (they took their name from Diddley's 1955 song "Pretty Thing") and Jimmy Reed. They were known for wild stage behaviour and edgy lyrical content; their song "Midnight to Six Man" defined the mod lifestyle.
In 1967, they embraced psychedelia, producing the concept album S.F. Sorrow during 1967-68. This album, released in late 1968, is arguably one of the first rock operas, preceding the release of The Who's Tommy in April 1969 by a few months. It was recorded in the legendary Abbey Road Studios six months[citation needed] after The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. These albums share a similar late-1960s psychedelic sound, and the Floyd and Pretty Things albums were both produced by Norman Smith, who had engineered most of the Beatles' recordings until 1966.
S.F. Sorrow was commercially unsuccessful, with no immediate release in the US. Their album was subsequently picked up by Motown Records and issued with a different cover on their Rare Earth label.
S.F. Sorrow was followed by the highly-acclaimed album Parachute, which kept the psychedelic sound and was named "Album of the Year" in 1970 by Rolling Stone. During this period they also recorded an album for a young French millionaire Philippe DeBarge, which was intended only to be circulated among his social circle. The acetate has since been bootlegged.
Their material in the early 1970s tended towards more blues, hard rock and early heavy metal, on albums like Silk Torpedo, released in 1974. By this time they were being managed by Led Zeppelin's Peter Grant. In fact Silk Torpedo was the first album release on Zeppelin's own label Swan Song, which Grant and the band set up to release their own pet projects. Silk Torpedo also earned the band their first US album chart entry, this despite the fact that an earlier album Parachute had been named 'Album of the Year' in 1970 by US rock mag. Rolling Stone. 1980s Cross Talk saw them incorporating influences of punk and new wave into their hard rock sound; like most of their records, it was not a commercial success.
With a new manager, Mark St John, they performed sporadically during the 1980s. By the end of the decade their profile had almost disappeared.
In 2003, Alan Lakey's biography of the band, Growing Old Disgracefully, was published by Firefly. The book dealt with the long and involved history of the band, and paid special attention to the legal proceedings issued against EMI in the 1990s. An extensively re-written version is hoped to be published during 2009 with, on this occasion, the full co-operation of the band.
In mid-2007, The Pretty Things released their 11th studio album Balboa Island on Côte Basque record label. The album contains a number of Pretty Things originals, as well as paying homage to their R & B roots.

I hope to see you on Friday for this unique event!
cheers
jim

Just got this email

somebody tape it so we statesiders can enjoy the great music!

Have to say kids ... the Pretty Things were a revelation, jeez I must dig out that one album of theirs I have from some 40 years ago that's buried deep in a cupboard somewhere at home and play it. It was a case of "less Mick" Taylor and "more Dick" Taylor please, they were absolute dynamite. Dick looks like everybody's grandad, but does he make a gitar sing or w w w w w w wot ? Fab. And Phil May's vocals are great too.





























See 'em while you can.

Great Pictures paulywaul!

Pretty Things will be playing "an acoustic set" at the Eel Pie Club on Wednesday 23rd July. I can't wait.

>> does [Dick Taylor] make a guitar sing or w w w w w w wot ? Fab <<

my sentiments exactly! sing, converse, snarl, groove and shine shine shine
thanks & praises Dick Taylor - thanks & praises Pretty Things! and swing on :E

and thanks & praises, Paul, for the excellent photos



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-06-07 16:22 by with sssoul.

Thanks sssoul ... it was fun and lets do it again sometime anytime anywhere, i dziekuje za Katarzynki !!

Geen Lady ... arrive early and get a place up front with a good view. Hearing is one thing, but Dick Taylor is simply mezmerising to watch. I'm jealous, I'll be out of the country for that one, grrr moan mutter bitch wail howl !!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-06-07 17:36 by paulywaul.

What brand of hollow body electric is that?

sorry, i couldn't be there, last night, Pauly.
But i shouldn't be greedy, i've seen these guys 3-4 times, in recent months, and they are undeniably effing brilliant.

it's a shame you're going to miss they're 'stripped down' gig at the Eel Pie Club, next month, it's going to be bloody good.
Thanks for the usual, great photo's old chap.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-06-07 18:04 by Adrian-L.

Quote
scottkeef
What brand of hollow body electric is that?

Good question. I spent a good while looking at that, never seen anything like it. Any gitar geniuses out there ... calling Mathijs for example ?

this isnt one of the old Harmony/Silvertone 335 copies,is it? The early 60s models used the "gretch" type pickups. Just a shot in the dark. Mystyfying!!

Thanks so much! Can you believe they are still among us!!?

Agree with all those comments. Anyone who has the chance to see the Pretty Things most definitely won't be disappointed. Dick Taylor is just fantastic on that guitar. And the rest of the band ain't half bad either... Too bad I'll be out of the country on 23 July or I'd also be down at the Eel Pie Club to see them (and buy Adrian-L a birthday drink!).

>> What brand of hollow body electric is that? <<

i was trying to read the logo before the show but it was too far away for even my hardest peering -
it didn't appear to be any maker i'm familiar with, though. Phil May said Mr Tayor just acquired it.

the guitarist in one of the warm-up acts had a Silvertone, though -
that same amp-in-case model that the Mick used for Back of My Hand.

Yeah I cant believe some of the Silvertone Amps and Silvertone and Airline guitars I had in HS and were bought CHEAP are bringing so much on EBAY now. I gave em away or sold em for next to nothing in the mid 70s!!

Quote
with sssoul
>> What brand of hollow body electric is that? <<

i was trying to read the logo before the show but it was too far away for even my hardest peering -
it didn't appear to be any maker i'm familiar with, though. Phil May said Mr Tayor just acquired it.

the guitarist in one of the warm-up acts had a Silvertone, though -
that same amp-in-case model that the Mick used for Back of My Hand.

This help .... ?









Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-06-07 22:15 by paulywaul.

Great way to bring up the shot but I still cant tell what the electric says,can you?

Looks like the last five characters are ... c h i n s ... can't make out the preceding letter though, and the rest is obscured. Damm amd blast it all !