The Pretty Things- Sickle Clowns

Most people know The Pretty Things by their psychedelic masterpiece "SF Sorrow", a futuristic rock opera that predates The Who's "Tommy" by at least a couple of months. The band's next album saw them going in a slightly different musical direction. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, "Parachute" has a more straight forward, stripped down sound and reminds me of The Beatles at some of their heavier moments. It was chosen by Rolling Stone magazine as the Album of The Year in 1970, beating out Derek and The Dominos' first record, Van Morrison's "Moondance" and the Beatles' "Let It Be" among others. I'm not sure its that good, but it is really good- I highly recommend checking it out, especially the more recent re-release with bonus tracks left off of the initial pressings.

In this video usual Pretty Things front man, Phil May isn't around- its bassist Wally Waller who delivers the raspy lead vocal over a oddly accented and circular guitar riff. I particularly like tension set up by the slightly dragged drumming of Skip Alan and the guitar of the newly recruited, teen aged Pete Tolson. Notice how the band all falls back into the main riff after a cool drum break at 4:17.

David Bowie- Moonage Daydream

Here's an interesting moment in rock history- David Bowie playing his last show as Ziggy Stardust at London's Hammersmith Odeon Theater in 1973. The Farewell Concert, as it came to be known, was filmed by renown cinema verite director DA Pennebaker, also the man behind the famed Dylan documentary "Don't Look Back". Finally released nearly 10 years after being filmed, "David Bowie: Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars" is a classic music document by any standard; you get to see Bowie at the height of his Ziggy Stardust fame, right before he sheds his famous alter ego in favor of a more serious stage persona. Because of his shrewd moves Bowie was one of the only glam musicians to cross over to mainstream acceptance and craft himself into a lasting music icon.

Here you can tell Bowie is enjoying this last performance, he's smiling and acting out the lyrics through out the song, it's one of those rare moments where audience and musician seem to be equally absorbed in the performance. But even though Bowie is amazing, don't overlook the brilliance of his guitarist and main collaborator Mick Ronson. Not sure about his Benjamin Franklin costume concept but Ronson's guitar playing on this song is astounding. After some weird coordinated stage moves with Ronson, Bowie leaves the stage and the guitarist has the spotlight to himself. Its an intense solo from the onset but at 4:07 Ronson kicks on the echo and creates a wave of sound that totally shocked me the first time I heard it. The audience is going nuts the whole time, notice that its pretty much all young girls, at one point Ronson makes his way over to the edge of the stage and they almost pull him into the crowd [4:32].

Rumor has it that for the encore Jeff Beck joins the band onstage and plays "Rebel, Rebel" and some other songs. It was recorded on film but Beck refused to sign an artist release because he reportedly objected to the outfit he wore that night. Hopefully the footage will see the light of day eventually, its got to be awesome.

The Sweet- Solid Gold Brass

Since things seem to be headed solidly in the Glam direction at the moment, I'll just roll with it and put up this clip sent by my man Ned Brewster in Majorca, Spain. Its British Glam heavyweights The Sweet doing "Solid Gold Brass" on the short lived BBC show Geordie Scene in 1974. The Sweet were a great band but tragically underrated because of their pop hits "Ballroom Blitz" and "Fox On The Run". Its obvious they just wanted to be Led Zeppelin but got trapped in the bubblegum pop scene by their initial success with younger audiences.

The way they do "Solid Gold Brass", though, is evidence of something more going on beneath the surface. The song is full of contradictions- heavy but laid back, detached but aggressive, the tough sounding opening guitar riffs then Andy Scott's angelic voice and the spoken, menacing lyrics by bass player Steve Priest. What about the oddly jazzy guitar and bass at 2:20? To the band's credit, though, somehow all the disparate parts come together and they make it work.