The Pretty Things - Cross Talk (Reissue) (1980/2019)
Artist: The Pretty Things
Title: Cross Talk
Year Of Release: 1980/2019
Label: SPV Recordings
Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Prog Rock, Pop Rock, New Wave
Quality: Mp3 320 / Flac (tracks)
Total Time: 36:11
Total Size: 91/247 Mb
WebSite: Album Preview
Tracklist:Title: Cross Talk
Year Of Release: 1980/2019
Label: SPV Recordings
Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Prog Rock, Pop Rock, New Wave
Quality: Mp3 320 / Flac (tracks)
Total Time: 36:11
Total Size: 91/247 Mb
WebSite: Album Preview
01. I'm Calling
02. Edge of the Night
03. Sea of Blue
04. Lost That Girl
05. Bitter End
06. Office Love
07. Falling Again
08. It's So Hard
09. She Don't
10. No Future
Line-up:
Bass, Guitar, Vocals – Wally Waller
Drums – Skip Alan
Guitar – Dick Taylor
Keyboards, Vocals – John Povey
Lead Guitar – Peter Tolson
Producer – Jon Astley, Phil Chapman
Vocals – Phil May
Who would have thought it? Reunited after splitting in the mid-'70s, the Pretty Things return with a new wave album. It's not what anyone might have expected, but it's very far from a disaster. The stop-on-a-dime arrangements and natural power show them to be well-seasoned, and Phil May, with an extremely mannered voice, comes across as a taunting frontman. In fact, you tend to feel that if Thin Lizzy had eased up on the metal, they might have made an album very much like this -- great, catchy songs based in R&B and old rock & roll ("Lost That Girl") -- but with the tongue firmly in cheek (check the Sting imitation on "No Future") while pandering to fashion. But when the results are as good as the jangly "Office Love" or "I'm Calling," you really don't care where the tongue's residing. There's a sense of history about the '50s drums on "Falling Again" that no young bucks could ever match, nor could they come close to the band's overall professionalism or stinging guitar work of Peter Tolson. Any of these ten tracks would have made a great single and by rights should have returned the band to major-name status. But justice is thin on the ground in music and instead it became one of the lost Pretties albums -- a shame, since in its own lighter way, it's every bit as good as their classic albums of a decade earlier. Some reunions don't work; this one just roars.