Mike Bennett writesFriday iPod/MP3 Shuffle—Happy Birthday Phil May Edition

The Pretty Things were formed by Phil May and Dick Taylor after the latter left The Rolling Stones. The Pretties started off as the sleazier alternative to the Stones, playing hard R & B laced rock ‘n’ roll, with great songs such as “Rosalyn” and “L.S.D.”. Like many ’60s bands, The Pretty Things gravitated towards psychedelia and experimentation and May really spearheaded those efforts, culminating in a classic rock opera. S.F. Sorrow, which was recorded before The Who’s Tommy. That didn’t hit and the Pretties settled into more of a blues rock groove. May has been the constant, and when I got to see them at The House of Blues, they didn’t disappoint. Let’s pay tribute to this underrated British rocker, by grabbing your iPod or MP3 player, hitting shuffle, and sharing the first 10 songs that come up.

1. George Jones — Eskimo Boy (Rock It): Jones got his start singing light rockabilly songs, and he was damn good at it. Here, Jones falls for a native Alaskan, which might not set well with many of his fellow Southerners at the time.
2. Pat Benatar — Little Too Late (Ultimate Collection): Boy I had a big crush on Pat Benatar back around 1980 or so. The big voice coming from the tiny gal in the spandex outfits, her tunes are pretty dated, but I’ll always have a soft spot for clunky pop rockers like this one that attempted to put a new wave gloss on pretty mainstream tuneage.
3. Camera Obscura — Careless Love (My Maudlin Career): I was a latecomer to the Camera Obscura party, but that’s because they are slightly obscure. But their lush, romantic pop songs that seem to find the midpoint between The Sundays and girl group pop are sublime confections. This song has some wonderful string accompaniment.
4. Missy Elliot — 4 My People (Basement Jaxx remix) (Respect M.E.): Interesting to hear Missy’s vocals over a more Euro electronic beat. She sounds good, but the music isn’t quite as well tailored to her one of a kind personality.
5. Frisbie — Paid In Kind (For Your Eyes Only): This is a live recording of one of my all-time favorite Chicago bands. I got this from the band’s original bass player. This really captures the essence of what made this band so exciting. The energy, the build up of the song, with frenetic verses leading to a triumphal chorus (going from faster to slower), and those awesome Steve Frisbie/Liam Davis harmonies, leading to an incredible finish. Such a great band.
6. Raphael Saadiq — Over You (Stone Rollin’): Your basic pleading traditional R & B number, but with modern keyboard embellishments and a bit of funk rock guitar to add a bit of crunch. And Saadiq’s supple vocals. He may be in his mid-40s, but he still sounds so young.
7. Junior Brown — Still Life With Rose (Guit With It): This is how I like Junior Brown: twangy guitars, clever lyrics, and a cool solo. Brown’s limitations as a vocalist kind of confine him to this style, but he does it so well.
8. The Go-Go’s — Girl of 100 Lists (Vacation): The best album cut on the second Go-Go’s LP. It crackles with urgent and has one of their cleverest lyrics.
9. The Jam — So Sad About Us (Direction, Creation, Reaction): Wow, The Jam is popping up a lot on my shuffles lately. Not a bad thing. This is a cover of a Who song from that band’s A Quick One album (and I think one of two Who covers by The Jam). This is a solid version, but The Jam’s harmonies are not up their with The Who’s.
10. Electric Banana — I See You (The Electric Banana Blows Your Mind): Hey! This is The Pretty Things under an alias! You see, because The Pretties weren’t too successful, they recorded music for movies under a pseudonym. As Electric Banana, they played a variety of rock, pop and R & B stuff, which was used in horror and soft porn movies and the stuff on this album is pretty ace. This is a different version of a big psych-rock ballad that is one of the highlights of the great S.F. Sorrow album, and certainly has one of Phil May’s best vocals. This version might be spookier than the original.