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The Pretty Things - Get the Picture (1965)

Track listing:
  1. You Don't Believe Me 2:23
  2. Buzz the Jerk 1:54
  3. Get the Picture? 1:55
  4. Can't Stand the Pain 2:41
  5. Rainin' in My Heart 2:30
  6. We'll Play House 2:33
  7. You'll Never Do It Baby 2:26
  8. I Had a Dream 2:58
  9. I Want Your Love 2:16
  10. London Town 2:27
  11. Cry to Me 2:51
  12. Gonna Find a Substitute 2:57
  13. Get a Buzz 4:01
  14. Sittin' All Alone 2:47
  15. Midnight to Six Man 2:19
  16. Me Needing You 1:58
  17. Come See Me 2:39
  18. £.S.D. 2:25

Notes

The band's second album (released Dec. 1965) has not only been remastered from original session tapes, so the group sound like their amps are practically right in your lap, but it's also been expanded to 18 songs with the addition of tracks cut for singles and EP releases from the same sessions. That's enough to recommend it even to casual fans -- this is now a record that's just a few notches short of Rolling Stones level in the charisma department and pretty tough any way you want to look at it. On "Rainin' in My Heart," they sound exactly like the Stones from the same era, missing only the little harmonica flourish that might have been added on the break. The notes go into the history of the group during this period in delightful detail, and the histories of various songs, most particularly "L.S.D.," which, amazingly, was cut as a demo and never re-done for release, just put out that way. In their good moments here, the Pretty Things approach Rolling Stones territory, and even in their off moments they're flying at the same level as the Kinks' album tracks. The real enhancement, alas, only concerns those fans with CD-ROM drives (PC Windows 3.1 or later, minimum 486 66Mhz or Mac 68040 or better, running system 7.1 or later) -- they get to see the Pretty Things playing the 100 Club in London from 1965, looking wilder and scruffier than the Stones or almost any other benchmark band.