Get the Picture [Limited Edition, Original recording remastered, Import]

The Pretty Things | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 30, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Limited Edition, Original recording remastered, Import
• Label: Snapper UK
• ASIN: B00004TJWI
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #159,115 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. You Don't Believe Me

2. Buzz The Jerk

3. Get The Picture?

4. Can't Stand The Pain

5. Rainin' In My Heart

6. We'll Play House

7. You'll Never Do It Baby

8. I Had A Dream

9. I Want Your Love

10. London Town

11. Cry To Me

12. Gonna Find Me A Substitute

13. Get A Buzz

14. Midnight To Six Man

15. Sitting' All Alone

16. Come See Me

17. L.S.D.

Editorial Reviews

UK reissue of the underappreciated British Invasion act's 1965 release. Quality numbered limited edition (3,000 copies) digipak in translucent slipcase. Featuring personal comments from the band and related artists. Available for the first time digitally remastered with a multimedia section. 2000 release.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bad Boys Make Good, October 7, 2004

By 

Laurence Upton (Wilts, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Get the Picture (Audio CD)

The good cop/bad cop image that the Beatles and the Rolling Stones had in the 1960s may have been a tad contrived. The Beatles weren't the clean cut lads they might have seemed and the Stones certainly played up to the Bad Boys Of Pop reputation they had that oiled the publicity machine so well. They had risen from a pool of bands playing blues and Bo Diddley covers, bands like the Downliners Sect, the Cops 'n' Robbers, the Bo Street Runners and the Pretty Things.

When it came to bad publicity, the Pretty Things had it in spades, and were rarely out of the headlines for their rock 'n' roll crimes. They were badder than the others and their music was rawer, wilder, bluesier and more crudely recorded. Most of them shared a house and lived the rock lifestyle of excess to the full.

Their second album, Get The Picture?, came out only a few months after their self-titled debut, and showed a laudable unwillingness to compromise, though it also showed they had not stood still musically in the intervening months of grueling round-world touring (they seemed to have left the drummer behind in New Zealand) as there was now a light and shade to the group sound and signs of experimentation.

It also featured more of their own material, which included not only ravers like Buzz The Jerk, but also lighter folk-influenced songs like London Town and the excellent Can't Stand The Pain, on which Dick Taylor's guitar stands out. The covers include a great rough and ready rendition of Slim Harpo's Rainin' In My Heart, Ray Charles' version of I Had A Dream and the Cops 'n' Robbers' own But You'll Never Do It Babe. Their hit version of Cry To Me, written by Bert Berns for Betty Harris but best known at the time in Solomon Burke's cover is also featured. The Stones had recorded the song around the same time for Out Of Our Heads, so a direct comparison can be made.

This reissue has been given the re-master treatment, and now includes all the extra tracks added to the contemporary EPs Rainin' In My Heart and The Pretty Things On Film, plus the raw soul power 1966 single Come See Me, adapted from the northern soul version by JJ Jackson.

The Pretty Things On Film featured 4 songs from the soundtrack of LSD, a Chaplinesque short directed by Caterina Arvat and Anthony West, described on the EP sleeve as "sixteen minutes of chase, laughter and many brilliant club scenes", and included their all-stops-out recent classic single Midnight To Six Man ("he might be gone first but is he going anywhere?"), recorded apparently between midnight and six at IBC Studios, and featuring the tinkling piano of Nicky Hopkins and Margo from Goldie and the Gingerbreads on organ. It stalled surprisingly at number 46 in the UK charts but was included on Nuggets II.

If you want one Pretty Things album in your collection, this is probably the one to go for

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Get the Picture!!, June 18, 2008

By 

Mr.Smith (West Chester, Ohio) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Get the Picture (Audio CD)

The Pretty Things second album sees the band transitioning from straight-ahead British blues to mid-1960s psychedelia. A great album full of crunching guitars and Phil May's gritty vocals. This package adds six bonus tracks (including LSD and Midnight to Six Man) and some vintage promo videos. A good purchase for fans of the Rolling Stones, Yardbirds and Animals.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Arse-kicking "white boy" blues!, December 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Get the Picture? (Audio CD)

Gritty, nasty mid-60s Brit-rock. Imagine Decca era Stones and Them involved in a full out brawl. Back Beats galore! Painfully wrenched pentatonic rave-ups. Marred only slightly by the drummer's perchant for dissappearing for days and leaving studio players to fill in. Guaranteed to completely annoy roommates if played more than once a day.