Parachute (The Pretty Things album)

Parachute, released in 1970 is The Pretty Things' fifth studio album, following S.F. Sorrow and preceding Freeway Madness. It is their first album without Dick Taylor.

Reviews at the time of release were very positive, with Billboard calling it "another top-flight album" for the band^[2]. In 1975, Rolling Stone critic Steve Turner even wrote that it had been "a Rolling Stone 'album of the year',"^[3] though in fact Parachute did not place among the magazine's Albums of the Year for 1970^[4] or 1971^[5], and indeed was not mentioned in Rolling Stone until Stephen Holden called it an "obscure underground classic" in his review of Freeway Madness^[6].

The musicians involved were Phil May, Wally Waller, John Povey, Vic Unitt, Skip Alan.

The record was later packaged together with S.F. Sorrow as a double LP 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

1. Scene One (Phil May, Wally Waller)
2. The Good Mr. Square (May, Waller)
3. She Was Tall, She Was High (May, Waller)
4. In the Square (May, Waller)
5. The Letter (May, Waller)
6. Rain (May, Waller)
7. Miss Fay Regrets (May, Waller)
8. Cries From the Midnight Circus (May, Waller)
9. Grass (May, Waller)
10. Sickle Clowns (May, Waller)
11. She's a Lover (May, Waller)
12. What's the Use (May, Waller)
13. Parachute (Norman Smith, May)

Bonus tracks on 2000 reissue

1. Blue Serge Blues (John Povey, May, Waller)
2. October 26 (Waller, May)
3. Cold Stone (Waller, May, Peter Tolson)
4. Stone-Hearted Mama (Waller, May)
5. Summer Time (Waller, May, Tolson)
6. Circus Mind (May, Tolson)

References