Parachute (The Pretty Things album)

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1970 studio album by Pretty Things

Parachute

Studio album by

Pretty Things

Released| June 1970 (1970-06)
Recorded| September 1969 – April 1970
Studio| Abbey Road Studios, London
Genre|

* Progressive rock[1]
* psychedelic rock[2]
* psychedelic pop[3]
* hard rock[2]

Length| 40:58
Label| Harvest
Producer| Norman Smith
Pretty Things chronology
| S.F. Sorrow
(1968)  | Parachute
(1970)  | Freeway Madness
(1972)

|
|

Professional ratingsReview scores

Source| Rating
Allmusic| [4]
Record Collector| [5]

Parachute is the fifth studio album by the English rock band Pretty Things, released in 1970. It is their first album without guitarist Dick Taylor.

Reviews at the time of release were very positive, with Billboard calling it "another top-flight album" for the band.[6] In 1975, Rolling Stone critic Steve Turner wrote that it had been "a Rolling Stone 'album of the year',"[7] though in fact Parachute did not place among the magazine's Albums of the Year for 1970[8] or 1971,[9] and indeed was not mentioned in Rolling Stone until Stephen Holden called it an "obscure underground classic" in his review of Freeway Madness.[10]

The band's lineup at this point was Phil May, Wally Waller, John Povey, Vic Unitt, and Skip Alan.

In 1975, the record was packaged as a double LP with their previous album S.F. Sorrow titled S.F. Sorrow and Parachute and issued on the UK label Harvest on the Harvest Heritage series. In 1976, the record was again packaged as a double LP with their previous album S.F. Sorrow titled Real Pretty. In Canada, this album was on Motown Records.

Snapper Records released a 40th anniversary double CD in September 2010 which included acoustic reworkings of various tracks recorded in May 2010 by Wally Waller and Phil May.

## Track listing

[edit]

All songs by Phil May and Wally Waller, except where noted. Adapted from original UK pressing.[11]

Side ANo.| Title| Length

|
|

1.| "Scene One"

* "Scene One"
* "The Good Mr. Square"
* "She Was Tall, She Was High"

| 4:54

1:51

1:27 1:36

2.| "In the Square / The Letter / Rain"| 6:03

1:55

1:39 2:29

3.| "Miss Fay Regrets"| 3:28
4.| "Cries from the Midnight Circus"| 6:28

Side BNo.| Title| Writer(s)| Length

|
|
|

1.| "Grass"|  | 4:20
2.| "Sickle Clowns"|  | 6:36
3.| "She's a Lover"|  | 3:32
4.| "What's the Use"|  | 1:45
5.| "Parachute"| May, Norman Smith| 3:52
Total length:| 40:58

* Note: many subsequent pressings of the album separated the medleys on Side A into three tracks each.

### Bonus tracks on 2000 reissue

[edit]

1. "Blue Serge Blues" (May, Waller, Jon Povey) – 3:55
2. "October 26" – 4:57
3. "Cold Stone" (May, Waller, Pete Tolson) – 3:11
4. "Stone–Hearted Mama" – 3:29
5. "Summer Time" (May, Waller, Tolson) – 4:29
6. "Circus Mind" (May, Tolson) – 2:00

## Personnel

[edit]

Pretty Things

* Phil May – vocals
* Vic Unitt – guitars [album tracks only]
* Wally Waller – bass, guitar, vocals
* Jon Povey – keyboards, vocals
* Skip Alan – drums
* Pete Tolson – guitars [bonus tracks only]

Technical

* Tony Clark – engineer
* Nick Webb – assistant engineer
* Hipgnosis – cover design, photography

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Fricke, David (17 March 2015). "Bouquets From a Cloudy Sky". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
2. ^ a b Nicholas Schaffner (October 1982). The British Invasion: From the First Wave to the New Wave. McGraw-Hill. p. 251\. ISBN 9780070550896.
3. ^ Dylan (9 January 2016). "The Pretty Things – Parachute (1970)". Beardfood. Archived from the original on 18 September 2017. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
4. ^ Rabid, Jack. Parachute at AllMusic. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
5. ^ Rossi, Marco (December 2010). Parachute, Record Collector. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
6. ^ "Special Merit Picks," Billboard, Jan. 23, 1971.
7. ^ Turner, Steve. "New Pretty Things Get a Led Zep Airlift," Rolling Stone, Apr. 10, 1975.
8. ^ "It Happened in 1970," Rolling Stone, Feb. 4, 1971.
9. ^ "1971 Vanishes Under Innocuous Circumstances," Rolling Stone, Feb. 3, 1972.
10. ^ Holden, Stephen (13 September 1973). "Freeway Madness". Rolling Stone.
11. ^ "Update Images". Discogs. Retrieved 20 May 2021.

* v
* t
* e

Pretty Things

* Phil May
* Dick Taylor
* Skip Alan
* Jon Povey
* Wally Waller

* Pete Kitley
* Brian Pendleton
* John Stax
* Viv Andrews
* Viv Prince
* Twink
* Victor Unitt
* Pete Tolson
* Stuart Brooks
* Gordon John Edwards
* Jack Green
* Simon Fox
* Joe Shaw
* Dave Wintour
* Dave Wilki
* John Clark
* Kevin Flanagan
* Perry Margouleff
* Doede Ter Veld
* Roelf Ter Veld
* Bertram Engel
* Frank Holland
* Mark St. John
* Steve Browning
* Hans Waterman
* Barkley McKay
* Jack Greenwood
* George Woosey

Studio albums|

* The Pretty Things
* Get the Picture?
* Emotions
* S. F. Sorrow
* Parachute
* Freeway Madness
* Silk Torpedo
* Savage Eye
* Cross Talk
* ... Rage Before Beauty
* Balboa Island
* The Pretty Things/Philippe DeBarge
* The Sweet Pretty Things (Are in Bed Now, of Course...)
* Bare as Bone, Bright as Blood

Live albums|

* Resurrection
* The Final Bow

Extended plays|

* Rainin' in My Heart

Singles|

* "Rosalyn"
* "Don't Bring Me Down"
* "Honey I Need"
* "Road Runner
* "Midnight to Six Man"
* "Come See Me"

Related articles|

* Discography

* Category

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group

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