 |
| THE PRETTY THINGS-Come See Me/Judgement Day U.S. Fontana F-1550 1966 |
The Pretty Things were a band who I really didn't know a thing about, their name was everywhere and I had seen a photo of them in a "Life" magazine book at school on Great Britain and a friend had put "Can't Stand The Pain" on a cassette mix for me but I never investigated further. Curiously I bought "The Electric Banana" LP in 1986 but that was it. Then in early 1987 my then girlfriend made me a mix tape of their songs, mostly culled from the Bam Caruso Pretty Things compilation album "Closed Restaurant Blues" that encompassed their '65-'67 sounds on Fontana records (picking up where the earlier Edsel records compilation LP "Let Me Hear the Choir Sing" had left off). At the time I was knee deep in my obsession with a U.K. mod band called Makin' Time and was playing the grooves off their posthumous second album "No Lumps, Fat Or Gristle Guaranteed". The moment I put on that Pretty Things tape that kicked off with "Come See Me" Makin' Time were all but forgotten.....
"Come See Me" is a song that is frequently guilty of confusing people about it's origin. It was written by the American soul singer J.J. Jackson in conjunction with Pierre Tubbs and Sidney Barnes. Frequently it's claimed that J.J. Jackson recorded it first, this is in part true. Jackson cut a demo version backed by The Jeeps (which was included on the Strike records CD compilation "The Best of Strike Records") BUT the first actual release was by the Pretty Things who launched their version in the U.K. on April 1966 as Fontana TF 688. Jackson liked what he heard and then decided to record and release his own version which saw the light of day in April on 1967 on the Strike label in England as JH 329. It would not be released in the United States until the following year in March as Loma 296 (curiously Johnny Maestro released a version with The Crests in America on Parkway P-999 in August of 1966!).
For the uninitiated "Come See Me" is a two minute and forty five second monster. From John Stax's murky bass line intro Nicky Hopkin's subtle ivory tinkling it's an absolute tour de force accented by Dick Taylor's disjointed fuzz licks on the chorus! ("Ugly Things" honcho and Pretty Things fan/expert supreme Mike Stax told me that John Stax remembers guitarist Dick Taylor playing bass on the track, Dick modestly remains unsure).
Though "Judgement Day" is certainly no "L.S.D." it's not easily forgotten either because it's suitably ballsy enough to compliment the searing A-side, fair cop!
"Come See Me"
Hear "Come See Me":
Hear "Judgement Day":
No comments:
Post a Comment