Cet article non signé est paru dans le numéro 20 du mensuel britannique Beat Instrumental, daté de décembre 1964. Le magazine a choisi d’honorer les Pretty Things du titre de « groupe du mois » à la suite du succès du single Don’t Bring Me Down.
Transcription
Certainly they are the hairiest of them all! The Pretty Things. Basically a Kent-based group, have always hogged headlines more on the length of their hair than the strength of their vocal-instrumental performances. But their following has grown steadily through the past year until… now they earn Group of the Month rating for “Don’t Bring Me Down.”
Rugged non-conformists, the Pretty Things had a long delay between the release of their first disc “Rosalyn,” which teetered just inside the chart-level, and the follow-up. In between, they toured the country and built up a tremendously strong fan following.
“The touring was dodgy,” says Phil. “But at least we had the knowledge that we were always being re-booked and that our money was going up… but fast! We had the scenes where even the ballroom staff didn’t want to help us—again because of the way we look—but the fans went wild.”
Publicity helped the boys. Especially when their publicist is a shapely brunette disc-jockey named Rona Lee Jay, a girl prettier than even the Prettiest Thing! Says Rona: “These boys, managed by Jimmy Duncan and Brian Morrison, whip up a real storm on stage. And you should see their fan-mail. Hundreds of letters a week.”
Phil was born in Dartford, Kent. He’s 20. Blue-eyed, around 5ft. 9in. Used to be a design student at Sidcup school of Art, but soon realised that music was the biggest “Thing” in his life. Plays guitar and mouth-harp.
Which leads into Dick Taylor, lead guitarist. The boys call him “Tufty,” on account of his beard. Also born in Dartford, Kent, he is a blue-eyed 21, and used to play bass guitar with the Stones. He was educated with Stones Jagger and Richards and swears: “They used to be always taking the rise out of MY long hair!”
Brian Pendleton, rhythm guitarist, is sometimes called “Yeti,” on the grounds that he is a six-footer. Wolverhampton-born, he studied flute and guitar before joining the Pretty Things.
John Stax is bassist, and is also Dartford-born. “All I wanted to do when at school… was leave!” He left to become butcher, cobbler, greengrocer, engineer—in that order. He’s blue-eyed, 20. Enthusiastic about Hooker, Reed, Berry and Diddley and very fast cars.
Finally there is Viv Prince, Drummer. Used to be in trad groups (the Dauphin Street Six), then moved to Carter, Lewis and the Southerners. Joined the Things and grew his hair. Now he’s rarely seen without his hat. He’s 20, fair-haired, blue-eyed.
Source : WorldRadioHistory.com (PDF).