The Pretty Things

★★★★ The Final Bow MADFISH. CD+LP+DVD

The Dartford Delta’s second finest’s last hurrah in multiformat box set.

Back in 1962, guitarist Dick Taylor left The Rolling Stones and formed The Pretty Things with fellow Sidcup Art College R&B nut Phil May. Proving that rock’n’roll is harder to quit than crown green bowling, it was only the wear and tear of touring mileage two tiers below the Stones’ superstar level that finally forced May to hang up his mike and the band to say farewell a year ago in a marathon farewell London show, documented in this lavishly illustrated and annotated DVD, CD and vinyl package. Guest-starring Van Morrison and David Gilmour, the evening spotlit the band’s twin peaks: 1964-65 gritty long-haired loutishness in such singles as Rosalyn and Don’t Bring Me Down; then their 1967-68 psych-opera reboot album S.F. Sorrow. If their songwriting never hit the Jagger-Richards heights, neither do their energy and attack flag in this triumphant monument.