Pretty Things, The - Savage Eye


Year of Release: 2005
Label: Original Masters UK (Snapper)
Catalog Number:
Format: CD
Total Time: 48:57:00

Savage Eye (1975) was the second release on Led Zeppelin?s Swan Song label for The Pretty Things. I will probably say this in every review I ever do on this band ? they were terribly underrated! And they still are, damn it! I think they were just as essential and important as any band that came out of the UK, and yes, that includes those mops tops, which I love so dearly like millions of others.

This album is a good mixture of pop like ballads with blues influences and rockers that fit nicely into the popular AOR FM radio format of the day, which yours truly listened to as well. Too bad I had no clue about this great band back then, my perception of music as a whole could be entirely different today. Nevertheless, I wish I discovered the Pretties before all my faith flushed down the toilet during the decade that music lost its soul, the decadent 80s. I guess its better late than never. It would be the turn of the new millennium before my eyes opened to their greatness. Much like the album cover, I had to give my eyes more room to see.

The Pretty Things remind me of all my favorite bands all rolled into one, The Beatles, 10CC, The Rolling Stones, all of those great British rock bands that made a difference. This band did it all and they started by playing rough hewn blues rock and that influence never left, you can hear it in every album they ever recorded, in some shape or form, and this album is no exception to that rule.

One extreme to another can be heard on Savage Eye, from the opening rocker ?Under The Volcano? to the poppy doo-wop like ?Tonight;? in fact, some of the tracks do not sound like the band I have become accustomed to hearing at all, yet it?s all good, I really enjoyed the album. The fact that it is a limited and numbered gold disc with a remastered sparkling sound helps as well. While this is not their best album, it is solid, and worthy having if, you are a big fan, which I am. I want to hear every single album before I am done on this earth ? I am working on it.


Tracklisting:
Under The Volcano (5:59) / My Song (5:09) / Sad Eye (4:29) / Remember That Boy (5:02) / It Isn't Rock 'N' Roll (3:56) / I'm Keeping (3:58) / It's Been So Long (5:04) / Drowned Man (4:23) / Theme For Michelle (1:46) / Tonight (3:06) / Love Me A Little (3:11) / Dance All Night (2:54)

Musicians:
John Povey - percussion, harpsichord, vocals, keyboards
Norman Smith - saxophone
Pete Tolson - bass, guitar
Skip Alan - drums, vocals
Jack Green - acoustic guitar, bass, vocals
Phil May - bass, guitar, vocals
Gordon Edwards - bass, guitar, vocals, keyboards

Discography:
The Pretty Things (1965/1989/1998*)
Get The Picture (1965/1990/1998*)
Emotions(1967/1991/1998*)
SF Sorrow (1968/1975/1987/1998*)
Parachute (1970/1975/1988)
Freeway Madness (1972/2002)
Silk Torpedo (1974)
Greatest Hits '64-'67 (1975)
Savage Eye (1976/2005)
Singles A's & B's (1977)
The Pretty Things Live '78 (1978)
Cross Talk (1980/2002)
The Pretty Things 1967-1971 (1982/1986)
Live At Heartbreak Hotel (1984)
Let Me Hear The Choir Sing (1984)
Closed Restaurant Blues (1985)
Cries From The Midnight Circus (1986)
Out Of The Island (1988)
On Air (1992) (15 previously unavailable tracks recorded for the BBC)
Midnight To 6 (1994)
Unrepentent (1995)
Resurrection (SF Sorrow) (1998)
Rage Before Beauty (1999)
Latest Writs Greatest Hits - The Best Of (2000)
Psychedelic Years (1966-1970) (2002)
The Rhythm & Blues Years (2002)

*enhanced, remastered reissue w/bonus tracks

Genre: Rock

Origin UK

Added: January 20th 2006
Reviewer: Keith "Muzikman" Hannaleck
Score:
Artist website: www.theprettythings.com
Hits: 1872
Language: english

  

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