60 albums
1968 - The Pretty Things - S. F. Sorrow

I name-dropped The Pretty Things in the first post in this series, suggesting they were ‘grubbier’ and ‘less polished’ than The Stones. Listening to S. F. Sorrow suggest that may have been a bit of a harsh analysis.

To be fair it was based on the fact that for a long time I owned only their first two albums, and on two live performances at Dingwalls back in the mid-80s. Those first two albums were both pretty good, maybe not bona fide classics, but I did rather love them both. The two gigs are sadly, like so many of those 80s gigs, lost in the mists of time. I remember enjoying them both but don’t remember much more than that. The internet suggests it unlikely that much of S. F. Sorrow would have made the setlist.

In the 80s, via Motorhead, and through The Pink Fairies and Hawkwind, I became interested in British psychedelic rock music, but I don’t remember bundling The Pretty Things in with that scene - they were still an R&B band to me, because of those albums, and those gigs. The only setlist on setlists.fm from around the time I saw them bears out my memory of seeing an R&B band.

Since it’s a concept album, and one that pre-dates Tommy, it sort of makes sense that it wasn’t often played live - that and apprently, the difficulty of transferring the studio stands to the live environment. They did however, with the help of Dave Gilmour and Arthur Brown, play the album throught for a live webcast at Abbey Road in 1998.

The Pretty Things - S. F. Sorrow (live at Abbey Road 1998) (play on YouTube)

I only really became aware of S. F. Sorrow in the Internet age, and have listened to it quite a lot recently. Helped in no small way, by SF Seals cover of the title track on their Truth Walks in Sleepy Shadows album.

I never owned an LP though, until now, and I broke my for pennies rule to fill that gap.