Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 08/10/2004
If
S.F. Sorrow is
the Pretty Things'
Sgt. Pepper,
Magical Mystery Tour, and
Yellow Submarine wrapped in one, then
Parachute is their more succinct
White Album and
Abbey Road. It's not just a time line comparison. The Pretties made this fascinating LP in the same studio as the Fab Four, London's
Abbey Road, with
Beatles engineer
Norman Smith producing.
"The Good Mr. Square" replicates the three-part harmony
the Beatles were so proud of on
"Because." Two songs later, the group assembles a brief, interconnected three-song suite like the famous ones on side two of
Abbey Road. Bassist
Wally Allen's vocals on tracks such as
"Sickle Clowns" have the same throaty, mad anguish that
John Lennon exhibited on
"Yer Blues" and
"Happiness Is a Warm Gun." If
S.F. Sorrow is hard
rock grandeur, then
Parachute is its more bitter twist, the dream dying and the witching hour upon us. Yet, if this isn't as much of a triumph, the creative neurons are still firing throughout a multi-varied, cohesive LP. Like
S.F. Sorrow, it's a surprisingly palatable concept LP. This time the topic is a generation caught between the conflicting calls of (rural) peace, love, and boredom, and (urban) sophistication, sex, and squalor in a harsh world. Somehow the departure of the band's main creative force,
Dick Taylor, didn't diminish the writing and inspired variety.
Allen stepped up big time into the collaborator role with singer
Phil May. The harmonies remain a strong point on an otherwise
rock-inclined record, and the nasty edge of perfectly balanced bombast in the best songs have been a lost art ever since -- it's not hard to see why
Rolling Stone rated
Parachute the best LP of 1970. (There are 18 minutes of good stuff tacked on the
Snapper edition, taken from singles.)
~Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover, All Music Guide
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