S.F. Sorrow

"The tale and the songs are a bit downbeat and no amount of scrutiny can disguise the fact that the rock opera S.F. Sorrow is ultimately a bit of a confusing effort -- these boys were musicians, not authors or dramatists. Although it may have helped inspire Tommy, it is, simply, not nearly as good. That said, it was first and has quite a few nifty ideas and production touches. And it does show a pathway between blues and psychedelia that the Rolling Stones, somewhere between Satanic Majesties, "We Love You," "Child of the Moon," and Beggars Banquet, missed entirely".

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"Despite hit singles, the Pretties had found it hard to lift out of the blues-band box as the Stones had, and tried their darnedest with this bold creation when they joined EMI ... ["S.F. Sorrow" brimmed with ideas and sounds that were bang on trend, indeed ahead of the curve in places, but slightly shortchanged the listener in the feel-goods department, and came in a horrid sleeve. One or two tracks aside, Pretties' psych is unsettling, peace and love swapped for angular anxiety. They practically invent heavy metal in "Old Man Going", there's a hint of prog-to-come in "Balloon Booming, "Baron Saturday" and "I See You", and "Well Of Destiny"'s closing riff sounds like Radiohead. Contemporaries including The Who, Floyd and Bowie duly paid their respects when it was unveiled, but EMI fumbled it and "S.F. Sorrow" failed to catch on. Down the years, of course, it has found its people. A near mint copy goes for £600+ these days, so this beautifully presented new boxed set, whichhasthe album in mono and stereo, a double album recorded live at Abbey Road, and throws in four replica pic-sleeve 45s from the period (...) is a bargain".

"An impassioned and captivating set of songs by a band at their creative peak, enjoying a psych-fuelled second wind that blev them directly into a sky filled with pulsating fractals".