OH YOU PRETTY THINGS

Singer Phil May celebrates the 45-year survival of the band who Robert Plant hailed as ‘dirtier than the Stones’. Interview by Elliot Stephen Cohen

In the early days, they were the ultimate rock band,” Robert Plant once told me, while discussing The Pretty Things. “They were dirtier than the Stones, more like the Kerouac beatnik on stage, but with sex coming through the pants, too. They were so dirty and out of the ordinary in those days, when the whole showbiz was commanded by middle-aged idiots who would look through their cigar smoke and go, ‘Yuch,’ but they kept on going. The miraculous thing is that Phil May is still there, and he’s as electric as ever.

That assessment is borne out not only by May’s still dynamic live performances with the legendary band, but also their most recent studio offering, Balboa Island.

“I think this album has surprised a lot of people,” the group’s longtime frontman enthuses of their eleventh studio release in 43 years. “It’s got plenty of angst and spit in it. It’s not an album made by an old, comfortable band.”

May, never known for being shy and retiring, is, however, absolutely correct. Recorded by their original 1966 line-up, (plus guitarist Frank Holland, who joined in the 90s) the CD displays various aspects of their versatility, from the raucous, smouldering autobiographical The Beat Goes On, the Beatles-ish Dearly Beloved, the …

by Stephen Cohen
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