Pretty Things Philippe Debarge UGLY THINGS OOP LP

$

50

 The Pretty Things    "Philippe Debarge"

Here is your chance to own a recently released and immediately OUT OF PRINT JEWEL OF AN LP. If you are into that psychedelic rock sound from the late '60's then The Pretty Things is a must! This is such an exciting release. 1969: S.F. Sorrow is done and dusted. Parachute is yet to come. The Pretty Things are at their creative peak... with no outlet in sight. Enter Philippe Debarge: Frenchman, playboy, and Pretty Things superfan. He commissions the band to write and produce an album for him. Debarge and the five Pretty Things duly enter Nova Studios, one of London's first eight-track facilities. With access to this new technology they experiment with multi-tracking and an array of psychedelic effects. Debarge sings lead, and The Pretty Things play and sing everything else on a stunning set of 12 May/Waller originals in the classic late '60's Pretty Things style, many of them never recorded by the band before or since. Acoustic, fuzz and backwards guitars abound, along with Mellotron, harpsichord and the unmistakable heavenly three-part harmonies of Phil May, Wally Waller and Jon Povey. The album is completed, but never released. Until now. 16-page CD booklet with rare photos and full liner notes by Mike Stax. Cover art by Phil Smee. Includes exclusive bonus track 'Monsieur Rock (Ballad of Philippe).' Fully re-mastered in magnificent full stereo hi-fidelity sound with the close collaboration of original co-producer Wally Waller. Fully sanctioned and approved by The Pretty Things. Here's what one reviewer had to say about Philippe Debarge by The Pretty Things:

This is a rather odd chapter in the history of the Pretties: a psych LP recorded by The Pretty Things as backing band and song writers, featuring one Philippe de Barge on vocals. I'll leave it to others to tell you the story... An excerpt from Sweet Floral Albion, issue 5 (by Barrington Phillips):

"London, 1968: A hip and very wealthy French aristocrat, by the name of Philippe de Barge, has one of his reps make enquiries among London's Underground scenesters, to find a band willing to travel to his chateau and record his own Personal "psych LP". The Pretties (as anyone familiar with the whole Electric Banana episode will know, were strapped for cash but brimful of great musical ideas) took up the offer, lodged with Philippe at his posh gaff, had a whale of a time, recorded the LP and then split. Soon after this, de Barge died in "extremely suspicious circumstances" (he allegedly had ties to French mafiosi/drug barons...) and went the same way as Bobby Fuller."

The following is an excerpt from an interview with singer Phil May, conducted by Richie Unterberger:

"[...] it was another moneymaking job. Wally and I just wrote a bunch of songs for this French guy, who was a millionaire, and he flew us down to his villa in St. Tropez. It was really bizarre, because what we'd do is, I would sing a song for him on the backing track. He would go back to the Hilton, and lie on his pillow with a Walkman, learning how to sing the song, and the phrasing. And then he'd come back to the studio the next day to sing it, having learned how to sing it. No kind of falseness about [him being] a musician. He just wanted to make a record with The Pretty Things. And he was prepared to pay. So it was like, we led him through it completely. And it was an interesting experience. But I think, you know, because of the sort of people involved, it could only be, certainly, limited. Because there was restrictions in the fact that the guy who was Phillipe DeBarge, he had minimal talent. We'd play the backing track loud, and I'd sing into his Dictaphone so he could hear how to phrase it. There's some music on it, but it goes far because it didn't have a lead vocal delivery, because he'd never sung before. He had no way... he still was learning. It was a learning curve thing. His English wasn't that good, so [he] had to paraphrase my English phrases."

Tracks Are:

1. Hello, How Do You Do
2. You Might Even Say
3. Alexander
4. Send You With Loving
5. You're Running You And Me
6. Peace
7. Eagle's Son
8. Graves Of Grey
9. New Day
10. It'll Never Be Me
11. I'm Checking Out
12. All Gone Now