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Among the unluckiest and most forgotten groups in rock history are the British Pretty Things and their album Sf Sorrow. Released in 1968, it competes for the title of the first rock opera (or concept album), a model that was later successfully adopted by other groups (Kinks, Who).
Psychedelia and good wholesome English pop dominate the album, giving rise to the most disparate and bizarre experiments without ever dismantling the 3-minute song format (except for the track "Well of Destiny"). Energetic, profound, never banal, and above all colorful, it stands as one of the best works of the '60s.
The story tells of the young Sebastian F. Sorrow, who, after the dramatic experiences of war, drugs, and the death of his girlfriend, withdraws into a grim solitude that scorns the values of contemporary society.
But let’s get to the songs. It opens with "S.F. Sorrow," a classic rock song filled with blues riffs, mellotron, and spine-tingling sixties choruses. "Bracelets of Finger" is introduced by an a cappella chorus that might be a bit too heavy, but quickly makes up for it with a powerful almost waltz like verse, then yields to a dreamy, lysergic chorus rich with Eastern atmospheres. Magnificent. It's a pity about that chorus, but no matter. It continues with "She Say Good Morning" with a heavy and festive pop singing worthy of the best Kinks and Beatles era "Day Tripper." "Private Sorrow" brings the listener back to Eastern tracks, while "Balloon Burning," "I See You," and "Old Man Going" race by in furious lysergic acid pop reminiscent somewhat of the Who but also the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd... Then there’s "Death," a spectacular, ash-colored funeral march with absurd studio sounds, echoes, medieval rolls, and a touching and subdued lamentation that then gives way to a sitar solo. "Baroon Saturday" impresses with its rhythm and playful call-and-response voices, not forgetting the really genius overdubbed percussion tail similar to "Strawberry Fields."
"The Journey" is a lively, drugged ballad infused with joy, ending with a curious collage of previous songs... "Trust" is perhaps one of the best episodes of the album but also of English pop in general, making even the Lennon/McCartney duo envious...
We’ve reached the end of the trip, a farewell that the Pretty Things entrust to "Lonliest Person," where they put aside sitar, percussion, guitars, and choirs to deliver a timid, lacerating, and dramatic acoustic ballad, a sort of hymn to loneliness.
In the remastered version, 5 valid bonus tracks appear, including the Barrett-esque "Defecting Grey," "Mr Evasion" (which seems to come from a certain Revolver), and "Walking Through My Dreams" (again Who).
What more can be said, a masterpiece, a lost gem in the record ocean.
Oh, I almost forgot, produced by Norman Smith, the same of Piper at the Gates of Dawn by Pink Floyd.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Bracelets of Fingers (03:40)
Love
These are a few of the things I find joy.
Bracelets of Fingers since I was a boy.
Fly to the moon and I'll get there quite soon.
If I wait awhile.
Cradled in branches that stretched out their arms
I must wait awhile.
Bending my mind as I pick up the flowers in May,
Hearing the laughter that turns into tears evr'y day
Fly to the Moon on the curve of a spoon
I turn upside-down.
Tumbling through leaves as I scatter the seeds
On an eiderdown.
Fly to the Moon and I'll get there quite soon
If I wait awhile.
Daylight arrives with a turn of the skies
I must wait awhile.
Clouds building castles, the wind comes and
Blows them away
Tears in the water makes circles for me
As I play.
Fly to the Moon on the curve of a spoon
I turn upside-down.
Tumbling through leaves as I scatter the seeds
On an eiderdown.
These are a few of the things l find joy,
Bracelets of Fingers since I was a boy
03 She Says Good Morning (03:19)
She's there waiting at the gate Painted by the dawn.
She's there waiting at the gates as the velvet Night sky is torn.
She says Good Morning, I smile and say the same.
She's STANDS waiting at the gate Smiling at the rain.
As I turn to wave to her I wish I could remain.
She [-EEE ] says Good Morning.
She's there waiting at the gate WARMING all she sees.
Threading through a web of gas The rain precedes the storm,
Coughing on my way to work Her smile keeps me warm
She said Good Morning I smiled and said the same.
She's STANDS waiting at the gate A picture in my brain.
04 Private Sorrow (03:55)
Heaven's rain falls upon
Faces of the children who look skyward.
Twisting metal through the air,
Scars and screams
So you might know his fury.
See shells whistle,
Let your mind drift away.
See shells whistle,
Let yourself hide away.
Men walking tall
Looking so small.
Green trees of life disappearing.
Mouthing the sounds.
Face clowning the frowns
Black the lips of command.
Torn in the heart.
You're playing the part
Courage it is so demanding
Loud brass in bands.
Marching through lands.
Life snatching hand is near.
Heaven's army falls upon.
The skirts of Mother Earth and then flies skywards.
Twisting wings through the air
Lift the souls,
So you might know his fury.
See shells whistle,
Let your mind drift away.
See shells whistle,
Let yourself hide away.
Dressed in white silk of rain
You marry the pain.
As you kneel in a Church of bright steel
A new morning arrives.
You share the same skies.
Umbrella-ring a land full of peace
As the memory fades
On the edge of a blade.
You'll return you 're sure that you will.
From the frame in your hand
A smile expands.
Hangs from a thread of glass tears.
05 Balloon Burning (03:47)
New York -
Grey and Sorrow there to meet her.
Night sky hangs
Around to greet her
She throws down
Lifeline of kisses.
Anchored to the ground.
Balloon descending.
Then I see balloon is burning,
Turning round burning.
This balloon, burning.
Fragments of my life
Falling
Sky of tire
All consuming.
Then I see balloon is burning.
Turning round burning.
This balloon, burning.
06 Death (03:06)
As your loved ones they place
Heavy stones on your face
Your sonnets of life
They are filling the case
High windows inside me
Look down on your face.
Changing white fingers
For men in the sand
Burning bright spears
That you hold in your hand
Grey children you've spawned
They just won't understand
As the slow pulse of sobbing
Dries-from the sky
My grief in red circles
Surrounding an eye
Grey child stands looking
And passes on by.
07 Baron Saturday (03:59)
Oh! Baron Saturday
Sorrow, he'll show you games to play
He bends his mouth up to your ear
The words won't disappear
He'll take your eyes out for a ride
Through an eyeglass of tears it's not clear.
Oh! Baron Saturday
White visions black, Mister Malady
'Neath a sky of milk
You're drinking silk
You've fast the runcible spoon
On satin plates
Young maidens wait
To be devoured in the glare of the moon.
Except for Baron Saturday
Your life was cool
Good senses rule
Throw your life away.
Oh! Baron Saturday
Let him steal your mind away
He'll show you the grave
Of someone who was saved
From living their life in a year
He'll show you the grave.
Of someone who was saved
From taking his life with a knife.
Except for Baron Saturday
Your life was cool
Good senses rule
Throw your life away.
08 The Journey (02:43)
City it leaves without traces
Blind sparrow's carry me.
Resting my head on a rainbow
High in a tree.
Laughing at me.
Crying at me.
Seeing through me.
In mirrors of tears I'm reflected
White naked figures twist the key.
Turning my thoughts into shadows.
Playing on the walls of me.
Laughing at me.
Crying at me.
Seeing through me.
11 Trust (02:46)
Excuse me please as I wipe a tear
Away from an eye that sees there's nothing left to trust
Finding that their minds are grey
And there's no sorrow in the world that's left to trust.
Sitting on top of a white cloud
Looking round for someone there to trust
Changing your mind as you go through time
You grasp at straws,
There are written laws that say you must
With tired eyes you follow the man
That has in his hand a banner that says 'dust to dust'
Finding that his mind's gone wrong
And there's no sorrow in the world that's left to trust.
Sitting on top of that white cloud
Looking round for someone there to trust
You're changing your mind as you go
Through a time
You grasp at straws
But there are written laws that say you must.
Going away in the morning
You're seen walking.
We're going away, away
Going away.
As the sun was rising
You're seen walking.
She's going away, away
Going away.
Excuse me please as I wipe a tear
Away from an eye that sees there's nothing left to trust
Finding that their minds are grey
And there's no sorrow in the world that's left to trust.
Sitting on top of that white cloud
Looking for someone there to trust
Changing your mind as you go through time
You grasp at straws
But there are written laws that say you must.
13 Loneliest Person (01:23)
You might be the loneliest person in the world
You'd never be as lonely as me
Yes you might be the loneliest person in the world
You'll never be as lonely as me.
All the sky it seems dark
As I'm walking through a park
But the face it is too bright to see
Or the sun might rise high
On an orange kind of sky
But the day it seems too dark for me.
Yes you might be the loneliest person in the world
You'll never be as lonely as me
Yes you might be the loneliest person in the world
Your name it would have to be me.
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