S.F. Sorrow

A great album. The Pretty Things should’ve been bigger if this album is anything to judge by

Interesting. Over the course of the project I’ve discovered a loathing for Psychedelic Rock. Some fun elements. Sounds like the speakers were completely blown, and to make up for that the mix is to the extreme left and right of the soundscape. Bordering on unlistenable at times. I gave Tommy 2, I’ll grant the Pretty Things same marks. 2/5.

- First half of this album is basically Temu Beatles. (No shocker that the producer also produced "Rubber Soul.") - The Pretty Things finally start to distinguish themselves in the last two tracks (with the harsher sound of "Old Man Going" and the resigned depression of "...Loneliest Person.") The rest of the album is fine, but essentially unremarkable. - Sure, I guess this meets the rock opera definition? I guess if it makes all this more cohesive, so be it.

3 stars

I listened to the start of this album, and sorta liked it... but then it just goes on and on -- there's a reason all the best albums of this genre go on for half the length, because I couldn't pinpoint anything memorable beyond the first few songs. A poor mans Kinks.

I really like it but I just can’t shake the impression that they’re just taking from everyone else around them and throwing it all together without adding anything all that new other than the fact that they mixing the sounds. I get hints of the Beetles, Black Sabbath, Jefferson Airplane, and a bunch of others from the 60s. I like the stuff that doesn’t sound like a copy better and I wish they did more of it, probably would have rated it higher if they kept it a bit more original.

Not great

Yeah this was not enjoyable

I haven't heard this before and because I was listening on less than the best audiophile equipment, I barely noticed the oft-complained about issues with the recording. I enjoyed it a lot and as a friend pointed Defecting Grey is devastating.

Never heard of this before. I don’t like these sounds/style.

🎸Album 302. S.F. Sorrow — The Pretty Things (1968) Fantastic conceptual psychedelic rock album. It feels like a predecessor of so many bands and styles, but it itself is quite dated and not aged well. It's enough to be liked by me as a fan of the genre, but not enough to be gold for everyone I like it a lot, especially the second part of the album 4/5 Liked: — Balloon Burning — Baron Saturday — I See You — Trust — Old Man Going — Loneliest Person — Defecting Grey — Mr. Evasion

This was good, and it's cool it was the first concept album. 3.0/5.0: Good

started off great and slowly declined

I could have gone my whole life without hearing this. I miss that reality now.

I had literally never heard of this band before yesterday. A fun psych-rock album at the height of the British invasion. Too bad they got lost in the shuffle, it would seem.

Temu Beatles. 2/5

Pretty baffling in all honesty. Anything that I can kinda see is bogged down by the shittiest production I’ve ever heard. Pretty cool fact that this was supposedly the first concept album, can kinda hear the Beatles on some tracks. Unfortunately physically painful to listen to. Trust is actually a pretty good song though. Maybe it won’t hurt my ears one day. 1.5/10

Out around the same time as early Floyd and late beatles. Bits of both can be spotted but nothing is that interesting lyrically or vocally

Both old sounding and ahead of its time simultaneously. Interesting but I don’t think I’ll be coming back to it. Worthy of the list because it’s clearly been influencial.

Hit me with that sweet, sweet 60's British psychedilia baby one more time! Now this is what I'm talkin bout! Not sure how this escaped my ears until now, but this is right up my alley. It's a bit unusual, a bit rockin, and a whole lot interesting to listen to. Me for dat!

Shame. This album is really good. But it's far too sophisticated for our American cousins to understand. Far too inventive. Far too musical. Shame they will miss out.

Need to listen to this one a little more but from a few listens I would say it's a fine album kinda has a different type of production too some others of that time hard panning is used but in a different way to others kinda Rock opera like pink Floyd

Another shitty Beatles rip off, what's new

Have to linstennn again

S.F. Sorrow by The Pretty Things is just another in a long list of seemingly unnecessary late-’60s psychedelic rock albums I feel like I’m being held hostage until I listen to. Was it good? Well, the music was fine, but I’m not convinced I needed to be subjected to all 56 minutes of it. Sometimes an album can be historically significant without requiring me to spend nearly an hour of my life proving it.

Better sounding that I thought, but nothing I would ever return to.

The Good: Who doesn’t like pretty things? The Bad: Fucking psychedelic drugs screwing up the pretty things… The Ugly: The Sorrow…. Oh… The Sorrow… Right, said Fred, who’s up for a trip? Affirmative I said… and off we went. Nothing that I say has not been said before by others, on how this album is surprisingly good, and surprisingly similar to other products from that era, yet, it was there first, and yet, we never heard of it… at least, us who aren’t music snobs. Anyways, it was an interesting ride… not the greatest, but certainly not the worst ride I’ve been on these past 786 rides… Going to take a gamble and give this album a 4* rating as I will want to listen to this again at some point in the future… 4*

3.7/5

I wanted to like this more than I did. The production/panning leaves a lot to be desired, but there are some good melodies and ideas

Setting aside the fact that something called a rock opera shouldn't even exist, 'S.F. Sorrow' is actually a pretty fascinating album. It's probably not fair to judge this based on just a couple of listens, since the record would surely grow on me over time, but at the moment 'S.F. Sorrow' feels like a strong three-star or a low four-star album. It's definitely better than 'Tommy' so I'll round it up to four stars.

I don’t know parts of it sounded like Spinal Tap. Nothing particularly grabbed me. I feel like I’ve heard similar but better from Pink Floyd or the Stones

I think I might enjoy this more if was mixed differently, the stereo aspect is so distracting. The music would prob be a 3 if it wasn’t like that.

So nice when another psych masterpiece by a band you previously only knew for one or two fun mod-type tracks pops up out of nowhere.

Наверняка круто для своего времени, но мне в 2026 скучно

Excellent.

An interesting introduction with some parts that I like and also some annoying parts. Weak three stars. 2,5

Usually am a big fan of the music of this era but I found this album to be quite uninteresting I guess, probs why I had never heard of it until now.

Sounds kinda like the Beatles but a little more weird.

Hot garbage

01) S. F. Sorrow Is Born - 7,5 02) Bracelets of Fingers - 7,0 03) She Says Good Morning - 6,5 04) Private Sorrow - 7,0 05) Balloon Burning - 7,0 06) Death - 7,5 07) Baron Saturday - 7,0 08) The Journey - 6,5 09) I See You - 7,0 10) Well of Destiny - 6,0 11) Trust - 7,0 12) Old Man Going - 7,0 13) Loneliest Person - 7,0 TOTAL: 6,92 (69/100) Current ranking: 580/991

Beatles derived

macht mir etwas sorrow.

Rock Oper ok, aber halt verstaubt

2,7

On the experimental side for 60s psychedelic rock. Enjoyable.

This is what I imagine the beatles sound like.

I enjoyed it more than I expected. 3

Cool rock opera with some good bas lines in there

A Beatles cover band?

Antes de escuchar el disco no me importaban quienes eran estos tipos, y después de escucharlos puedo decir que ahora tampoco.

It sounds like the beatles in their later years without being as famous as the beatles. Some of it is all over the place and some of it is great...but nothing stood out for me that made me think it was something I had to listen to. She says good morning was the standout track. 3 stars

if i wanted to listen to the beatles and they were a slightly shittier band id listen to this record

Would have enjoyed it more if I didn't know the Beatles existed

It was okay but boring

A total reinvention for the band, produced by Norman Smith (who'd engineered the Beatles and overseen Piper at the Gates of dawn) and seen as the first rock opera on record. The music contains a lot of harmony harmony vocals over minimalist riffs and is lyrically very much of the time - sub Beatles in places - but even after reading a wikipedia synopsis, do I know what it's actually about? No. However, what is really lacking in this record, AND probably why it was a flop at the time, is good tunes to match what was out at the time. More Satanic Majesties and Ogden's nut gone flake than Sgt. Pepper and Disraeli gears. Sadly not as good as I was expecting.

a mixture of beatles and hippie sound, mostly very bland, but their "Bracelets of Fingers" is sort of intoxicating.

Another one bites the dust.

Never heard of album or band. Low expectations based on alt ish cover and the fact that’s it’s 60s/70s rock and I’ve never heard of it. Extremly British. Nice guitar on the title track. Vocals and lyrics kinda suck. Cool musical solo. I have a feeling this is just going to be wannabe Beatles. It surely is through 2 songs. Doing way too much on this song. Good writing I guess. Again cool musical solo but that’s it. Good guitar and bass on good morning. Another wannabe Beatles song though. Just not nearly as good. Private sorrow is pretty good I guess. Good writing on this one. Not a ton going on musically. Wouldn’t be Brit pop without random talking at random points of songs. Sweet guitar on balloon. The lyrics suck. Also wouldn’t be a Brit pop album without a Spanish type song. It’s just Beatles light. Not only the Spanish sound but also the sintar. What originality! I’ve just about had enough. Now just waiting for the one song that spans over the last 8 songs. More of the same with Saturday. The journey is weird. Again doing to much. And with that I’m done. I can’t do anymore fake Beatles I don’t even like the real Beatles that much. JAA. Probably good at the time. Now it’s nothing close to special. 1/5 for lack of uniqueness.

This is Diet Mr. Pibb to the Beatles' Dr. Pepper.

I'm finding a lot of music 'just fine' lately, and that includes this. Fine.

One thing I've learned from this project is that every Beatles album seems to have spun off additional bands after it's released. This sounds like you asked a genie for a second Sgt Pepper album and it was one of those genies that makes you regret your wish because it's just not that good. But hey, as far as Beatles also-rans go this one isn't bad!

This was cool as hell? I went in knowing absolutely nothing and was greatly rewarded! A nice 60s rock adventure that’s not afraid to get super weird for a second. Might have to dig deeper.

It's like bizarro world Beatles.

And thus, the rock opera is born. What did I think of this album? Honestly, I really enjoyed it. Going in, I knew that this was supposedly the first rock opera, but I didn’t really have any expectations for the sound. After listening to it, this is definitely one of the most unique albums I’ve got thus far. I love how the album can blend Beatles-esque pop with fuzzed out 60s psychedelia, along with moments that feel straight out of prog rock. The story is, to be honest, difficult to follow if you just look at the lyrics, but I don’t feel that it is a downside of the album, since I feel like the music is able to support the fact that the story is loose. The album goes from childlike whimsy on Bracelet of Fingers, to the horrors of death and grief, with bombastic songs like Balloon Burning and Death, three of my standouts, before Sorrow quietly resigns himself to his misery on the closing track, Loneliest Person, a very powerful ending due to it’s sparseness on an album full of psychedelic effects. Overall, I feel that this album is the definition of an underrated gem, and hey, if it’s good enough for David Gilmour, it’s good enough for me.

I appreciate the ambition and ingenuity on this first rock opera. Not something j’ll really revisit though. I can see how this inspired Tommy and Sgt Pepper’s, but it’s not nearly as good as either.

I feel for these guys. Basically inventing the rock opera and then Tommy comes along and renders this obsolete. It’s not bad, but Tommy is right there.

A trip! And hadn't heard of it/them!

Didn’t stand out

a 60's psychadelic british rock opera. I went into this wanting to hate it, but it wasnt terrible. I just think they sounded too much like their peers, the concept itself sets it apart a bit, but outside that its on shaky legs at best.

Greta Van Fleet presents: The Beatles

I’m generally accepting of 60s psychedelic rock but this was kind of bland and forgettable

Quite a surprise. Never heard of this album but it balances the psychedelic rock without sounding too novelty like other albums of its like on this list.

I was going to say "this is Abbey Road recorded entirely on an iPhone" - but I have learned that it was recorded at Abbey Road Studios. So. This is Abbey Road recorded at Abbey Road but the mixing engineer wants you dead.

362/1001 The Pretty Things - S.F. Sorrow Heard before? ❎ Revisit? ❓ One of those albums, where there's some good stuff on it, but over the course of 56 minutes, it's spread pretty thinly. Either way a solid enough bit of 60s psychedelia

Eh… whatever. I love it when they use stereo as a 3 track thing omg it’s so cool hahahahhahahahhahahahaha. It’s just so nothing with glimpses of interest every 10 mins, but nothing to make it stand out amongst this list.

This is how I perceive the Beatles for those who enjoy the Beatles (in terms of the quality differential). Also, this album made me want to bang my head against the wall because it's so dull.

my friends dad was the keyboard player. never really like the album much though :D

An interesting album. If the Beatles did a rock opera. Sort of a Sergeant Pepper's lonely hearts Club Band done by somebody else that sounds like the Beatles. I enjoyed this record

Sounds like a knock-off of The Beatles or maybe just inspired by the music of the same era. Some pretty good songs with some weird ones too as expected

Creamowo-Beatlesowe, chwilami zaskakujące, ale ostatecznie nic odkrywczego

Wonderful 60’s psychedelia, one of the founding fathers of the rock opera, i mean what else could you want? Stereo mix is… uhh.. questionable, though.

nao gostei

Some songs do have a Beatles type feel and others more psychedelic rock. Great album.

Solid album. It’s a concept album/rock opera. It’s maybe best taken as a straight through listen? Not a lot of standalone standouts, but there are a few. I’d say it’s enjoyable overall, although the psych rock sounds can kind of run together or be grating after so many tracks in a row. 3 stars.

a sort of Beatles-esk group, some psychedelic stuff. Just OK, there were a few songs I especially enjoyed (trust, private sorrow) but overall nothing memorable

I didn't take enough acid for this :/

Feels like an album I should have childhood memories associated with but I don’t…

It's ok. Just ok. Not bad, but none of this is that interesting to me either. The problem is that at least a few other bands (who may or may not have been inspired by this album) did it better. There's also the late 60s issue with "wow we can record in stereo now, lets put two completely different instruments on left and right."

Interesting for how old it is.

Pretty good. Thanks for making rock operas happen.

Really interesting, psychedelic prog rock

Inoffensive psychedelia although the concept part was a little lost on me as I wasn't listening too closely to the lyrics. Not my thing though, and not musically outstanding enough to pull my attention despite it not being my favourite genre

I really steeled myself for more psychedelic bullshit, but then it threw some surprises at me. Balloon Burning rocks. They go from sounding like The Beatles to Sabbath towards the end of the record. Not too bad.

Shite!

Basically a mash up of stuff from the early 60s. Pretty good as far as it goes, but everything here has been done better by bands that did it first. Maybe influential as the first rock opera but overall maybe more historically important than actually good

Horrible, couldn’t end soon enough!

The Beatles jv?

Some interesting sounds, good guitar, but nothing memorable.

I love me some 60s psychedelia and rock operas, so this has a lot going in its favor. It may not be as strong as Tommy or other psychedelic albums liked Sgt. Pepper, but this was a lot of fun to listen to. Some of the vocals on "Baron Saturday" sound very Cobain-esque, which was cool to hear from a record of its time. I definitely would like to spend some more time with this album, but I feel pretty firmly that it deserves 4 stars.

Idk not for me

They compare this to Tommy. And I’m not a big fan of Tommy. So not a favourable comparison. It’s fine 60s psychedelic rock and there are similarities to contemporaries. The wild stereo mix really dates it.

Well - I had to stop this around song 6. BUT - I picked it up from there the next day. It didn't help. I had NO idea this was a ground-breaking 'concept' album. It just didn't work for me. Musically - it's a no.

Annoying Beatles clone.

It’s fine. It’s psychedelic rock. Other people did it way better. And I don’t care for the concept of the concept album.

"I wanna listen to Tommy" "We have Tommy at home"

The best (and maybe only positive) thing to come out of wasting an hour listening to this is proof that great songs make Revolver and the Piper at the Gates of Dawn great albums. Package a collection of bad to mediocre musical ideas, with no artistic vision or cohesion, in precisely the same psychedelic studio gimmickery and you have a bad to mediocre album.

A really cool 60s album that seems to arrive first to sounds to come decades later. I hear Bowie in there and even some garage/punk stuff with repetition. Super cool.

Sadly it didn’t really work for me.

Bloated and rambling, didn't complete the life journey of SF Sorrow.

Rambling nonsense

With the exception of Tommy I generally run a mile when the words Rock and Opera are mentioned. So it's a massive compliment when I say that I enjoyed a fair bit of this. Innovative (hard to argue Townshend wasn't influenced, and I can hear early Quo and Sabbath) as well as great listening. But there's also quite a bit of noodly stuff that's much harder to digest. It's on the listen later queue and I might revise my view. But until that happens it's a slightly stingy 3*.

Holy hell! If this thing is anywhere near as good as the album art, I'm in for a treat here. It turns out this is psych, which I honestly probably could have figured out from the art admittedly. And I'm finding out the list has a *lot* of psych, and I could probably do to go a little harder on it, but not today I guess. This is honestly towards the top as far as the genre goes honestly. *And* it's one of the first rock operas to boot. The sound here has some familiar psych components, and a few very unfamiliar psych components, but I'll firmly say that this isn't too closely tethered to the genre's tropes. And in fact, the hard garage rock edge of S.F. Sorrow in particular gives it a little more definition and identity than the average psych pop album. But honestly, the staying power here is mostly from the songs themselves. The writing is really creative across the board, as well as suitably colorful. It's writing like this that separates an album apart in a genre as defined by aesthetic as psych is, if that makes sense. Although I can't think of a ton to say; just very solid, creative psych, that I'm willing to call "underappreciated" on record. It's cool stuff!

Brit rock, with some mid-east influences

I think I appreciate this album more than I actually enjoyed. It just didn't fully grab me. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. It is creative and sometimes engaging, but most of it seemed dated. Overall, it was an okay listen.

Loved this. The sound of a Sgt Peppers era Beatles with some attitude of the Rolling Stones maybe? Really cool and easy listen from front to back

Was debating between 3 and 4; Loneliest Person was a strong finish that gave me goosebumps on the first listen

It was OK. I liked Old Man Going and Loneliest Person the best. Would probably enjoy more with multiple listens and paying a bit more attention.

i wasn't very locked in on this tbh but it was mid. it just did not engage me. not bad. but maybe it gets knocked down because i feel like it. Sorry

I was unsure of this one at first. It absolutely sounds like a Beatles imitation at times. But as it went on, I found myself really enjoying the experimentation with that sound. The production and recording is not great, and I think having a better sonic quality would improve the experience. But I do think this is noteworthy. And I did like it in the end.

bleh

I've had this album in my collection for some time now. S. F. Sorrow foreshadowed much of the development of "concept albums" and "rock operas", so it's an album with undoubted influence and is quite important. But as a listening experience it hasn't grabbed me recently. It hasn't been an album I play particularly often. Now that I've been nudged to play it by this list, I find it better than I remembered it!

This album was a cross between rock and psychedelia and had some Beatles sensibilities. Also, a lot of panning was going on, which I'm guessing was interesting for its time. I thought it was quite a journey to listen to, sometimes a weird one (as is the case with psychedelia). My favorite song was "Loneliest Person", a mourning acoustic ballad that ended the album well.

A solid listen but kinda sounded like a blend of every 60s album of the same genre. Not a bad thing just doesn’t stand out.

Loved this

Nope

Lucy in the sky without diamonds.

Released in late 1968, "S.F. Sorrow" by The Pretty Things is a pioneering work that follows the life of its titular character, Sebastian F. Sorrow, from birth through adulthood to a lonely old age. It is a bleak narrative, systematically covering his early life and labour, the horrors of war, personal tragedy, and his eventual descent into madness and isolation. It's widely considered to be the first "Rock Opera". Despite its late-sixties origins, the album contains the unmistakable DNA of mid-nineties Britpop. Tracks like 'I See You' and 'She Says Good Morning' prefigure the sound of Blur, the latter track being anchored by a brilliant, propulsive bassline that feels incredibly forward-thinking. However, unlike some of its contemporaries from this period, the album does sound somewhat dated in its production values. Once you look past the sonic limitations, it reveals itself as a highly enjoyable and adventurous piece of work, even if it does not quite execute its lofty aspirations to their fullest extent. The dated studio experimentation is one of the main factors holding it back; the sonic collage of "Well of Destiny", for example, halts the momentum. Furthermore, whilst the song-writing is undeniably ambitious in its undertaking, it is not consistently memorable. There are no truly essential tunes here - or, at least, none that stuck me in that manner. The physical presentation, however, remains stunning. The high-contrast artwork is very much of the period and was designed by frontman and lyricist Phil May, who remarkably also penned the original short story that forms the concept of the album. Three stars. Side one 1 "S. F. Sorrow Is Born" (3/5) 2 "Bracelets of Fingers" (3/5) 3 "She Says Good Morning" (4/5) 4 "Private Sorrow" (3/5) 5 "Balloon Burning" (3/5) 6 "Death" (3/5) Side two 7 "Baron Saturday" (4/5) 8 "The Journey" (3/5) 9 "I See You" (4/5) 10 "Well of Destiny" (2/5) 11 "Trust" (3/5) 12 "Old Man Going" (3/5) 13 "Loneliest Person" (3/5) Total - 41 Average - 3.15 353/1001 189/353 albums reviewed were new to me.

It was okay - I liked it had some different instruments which added to some interesting sounds. Seemed it also played with dynamics as well. That being said I just didn’t like the actual songs and so struggled with it.

Cool overall. Very of its time

This just feels like a whole lotta nothing. Just a cheap imitation of some of the other bands from around this time that were actually really good, but nothing even remotely original enough to really hold my attention. Even then, in theory that should still be really good, there are so many fantastic artists to be using as influences from around this era, and yet they did it in such a way that it feels completely devoid of any real personality, instead being more of a super generic and predictable album that's almost an exaggerated representation of what an average 60s album sounds like.

The pretty things was the collective noun for Len Houmous’ wives 8-14 in the 60s. 2.4 15/17 Mr Evasion

This encapsulated the parts of The Rolling Stones I enjoy most!

Easy enough listening. Didn’t think I’d like it, but grew on me

I liked this enough. Sounds like all of the groups from England of the time at the same time

Beatles at home

Really great. Psychedelic rock is usually a bit hit or miss for me, but this sounds a lot like early Pink Floyd, filtered through the Kinks’ more experimental stuff, and that’s a recipe for success

It was fine. It was a concept album, but I didn’t pay attention enough to get the story. It was very 60’s and sometimes almost Beatlesque.

Vuelvo a este proyecto personal de escuchar los álbums que me genera la página de "1001 álbum que debes escuchar antes de morir" justo donde la dejé hace un par de meses, que es la considerada primer opera rock de la historia: S.F. Sorrow nos cuenta la historia de un hombre que nace y va desarrollando su vida hasta su vejez, me enteré de esto gracias al artículo de Wikipedia porque la verdad las letras no me dijeron nada, mucha alegoría que poco se entiende. Lo verdaderamente bueno es las composiciones de las canciones y sobre todo las armonías interesantes que componen al disco, llenas de psicodelia y experimentación que suele salir bien parada, pero no siempre. Diría que es un álbum bastante bueno para el título que lleva aunque no le hace tanta justicia en mí opinión.

Almost as great as Tommy.

I didn’t enjoy this one. Nothing really stand out at all.

Different, but not good

I have run across the song Private Sorrow before but never knew where it came from or the context. This album deserves to be better known than it is.

Ok but very dated.

60's sound, somewhere between the beatles, the quo, and pink floyd

meh

I couldn't follow the narrative beyond about the first five tracks. Then it began to feel like a parody of itself. Still listenable though.

I guess?

Nothing particularly interesting about this. It’s all played well enough, but the music isn’t remarkable or interesting in any way. Got annoying surprisingly quickly. No idea why it would be on this list.

Good

I gather people draw comparisons between this and The Who's Tommy, which came later and is also a "rock opera". I can see the resemblance, in particular the way "Old Man Going" starts reminds me of the title track in Tommy. Musically this album has parts that remind me more of The Beatles. The last track (Walking Through My Dreams) semi hooked me.

I sort of wonder that, if this was just an instrumental album, I would have bumped it up to a 4. So many songs started with thinking "this sounds sort of cool" only to have the Sgt Pepper's Wannabe Hwart Club Band"-style vocals kick in a second later and break the spell.

Somehow like the Beatles and Tame Impala (with a single sprinkle of Black Sabbath) - and somehow manages to sound both very 1960s and timeless...sometimes in the same song. The rock opera element kind of washed over me, and I mostly keyed into the harmonies, experimental song structure, different instrumentation, and vibes. I mostly enjoyed it, despite it often reminding me of other things - and am not sorry to get exposed to it.

Печально, но звучит как пародия, и ещё так психоделично, словно господа переели мухоморов

По мне слишком явная попытка повторить битловские револьвер и сержант пеппер Но при этом не такая плохая, не прям восторг, но что-то есть

Прикольный сторителлинг, классный звук. Нормик.

Ощущение, что миллиард раз подобный психодел рок слушал, но все равно прикольненько

звучит интересно, как я люблю, удивлен, что раньше не прослушал

the spotify stereo mix is crazy.. pro tip, go to spotify settings and switch audio to mono for this one.

boring

A pure British rock opera in true form

Kind of odd but not bad.

Not really what I expected but I enjoyed it

Genetic 60s rock

Generic 60s British Invasion music.

I am obsessed with the idea of a rock opera so listening to the first one tickled me. As for the sound, sgt. pepper called, he wants his sound back

This thing is a mess that pretends to be avant‑garde but just sounds like a late‑60s garage jam recorded on a busted tape deck. The first few minutes flirt with an operatic weirdness that could be cool if the mix wasn’t so muddy and the drums sounded like a kid hitting a bucket. Mid‑album it flatlines, the vibes get dull, and the whole thing feels stuck in a lo‑fi loop that never resolves. The only redeeming bit is a sudden burst of crunchy guitar that actually cuts through the chaos.. then it’s back to the same over‑processed sludge. It’s creative in the worst possible way, and I’m done. Spins: 1 Playlist Additions - S. F. Sorrow Is Born - Bracelets of Fingers

An interesting listen, reminding me of early Pink Floyd. It may have predated Tommy, but I don't think it reaches the level of The Who's creation, not that I hold that up as a shining pinnacle of musicality. At the halfway point the album seems to take a turn, with a lot more psychedelic and repetitive sounds and verses, which I am not enjoying. I think this is supposed to be the war\pain portion, so perhaps that is intentional and artistic as well as being annoying.

This is a respectable piece of work but honestly nothing about it especially stands out for me. It’s very late 60s so it sounds like a combination of a lot of their contemporaries without much to distinguish them in my opinion. It’s certainly a vibe but not one I’m especially in the mood for. Maybe this would hit different on another day.

Not deeply offensive but the nothing really stuck out to me. The closer was cute and intimate but ultimately feels like a limp ending to Rock's First OperaTM.

Very much torn between giving a reasonably good mark for (a) some decent psych-rock and (b) being a genuinely genre changing creation. However, (c) it allowed the birth of a LOT of shit concept albums.

worse version of the kinks

As far as Beatles knock-offs go, these lot were pretty good. High 3

Not horrible but won't listen to this again.

No. Kind of boring 60's music.

rock opera verspricht leider nöd soooo meega guets. ersti 3 stuck sind seehr spooti 60er aber au nüt meega speziells. und viel vode story chumi ehrlichgseit nöd mit über. oooooke finds huere ass bis etz kei ahnig. schint kreativ bahnbrechend gsi z sii abet musikalisch zum lose?? nööööd so spannend. baron saturday tönt wie en uuuhuere schlechte beatles song.

de ahfang tönt schomal reecht cool coole hindergrundgsang! erinneret mich chli ah the who sell out (was na sinn macht) LONELIEST PERSON ISCH JA MEGAAA SCHÖN han jz nöd vill ufgschriebe aber hans megaa cool gfunde. muss es denn wieder emal lose zum die einzelne lieder schätze aber hans toll gfunde

Kinda like the Beatles but not really.

3/10 - another generic 60s/70s album

Coup de coeur pour Balloon Burning, The Journey, Old Man Going et Defecting Grey. Donc plutôt pas mal pour un album dont la première impression n'était pas géniale,

ja. wieder rock. wieder gut. nichts was mi volle catched. vllt bin i grad nit in da richtigen mood um gscheid a album zu bewerten. aber finds einf… mid? 3/5

Experimental 60s sounds, definitely had their moments.

What if the Beatles had no charisma?

Typical psychedelic 60’s hippy tunes. Tones like fuzzy guitar, flute, dead drum sound typical of the decade. Nice vocal harmonies, above average song writing.

Trippy hippy stuff. Good music but pales in comparison to similar albums at similar times.

When to listen: In a Beatles mood, but don't want Beatles. I loved this album, psychedelic but easy to listen to. Fun, upbeat.

Liked the vibe in their first song, but then the rest all just felt similar and unremarkable to me. I was also in a bad mood, so not sure if that contributed, but they sound similar to other psychedelic-type rock artists from the 60s. If I am going to reach for something with this energy, I'd reach for The Beatles.

Influenced by The Beatles much? This is like E sides of the SGT. Pepper album that were never meant to be to be heard from outsiders. There are songs on this album that make you say to yourself “this would be good with a little of this” or “take that out” and that’s coming from a person who is a hell of a Lyricist but can’t produce shite.

Of its time. Interesting musically but they tried so hard to make it far out that they forgot to make it enjoyable to listen to. Too much psychedelic woo woo for me and not enough substance.

aka The Rolling Beach Beatles, with the Genesis of a good album, but wrapped in pretension.

Interesting concept, not my cup of tea.

Just when you think you've found a track you'll like they mess it up

St Pepper's Lonely Prototype Band

8/10 - Really surprised by this album. How have I not heard of them? How do they only have 86k listeners on Spotify?

So psychedelic and fun, kind of crazy to me that this isn't a staple of the genre. This deserves many more listens than it has. Strong 8/10

Los Beatles inspiraron muchos grupos y álbumes fantásticos, este no es uno de ellos. Lo disfruté, es bueno, pero en un punto sentí que llevaba una hora en la misma canción y no de buena forma

A little out there but entertaining and didn’t run too long for being the first rock opera album. Standout is “Defecting Grey”

At times, a really great example of a narrative album, lost itself for me in the final third. A lot of Floyd, Beatles and Who in there for me; influencing or influenced by I'm not sure. Worth a listen though.

Definitely hear the 60s sound. Don’t HATE it, but it’s not going on any playlist

Esse é, definitivamente, um daqueles álbuns que está na lista que é apenas pra você saber que ele existe e possivelmente inspirou muitos outros que estão por vir. Dito isso, achei interessante.

Jesus Christ, the panning is giving me seasickness. Sir, SIR, step away from the sitar!

# Album Name: S.F. Sorrow # Artist: The Pretty Things # Rating: 4/5 # Comments: Enjoyable album. Very 60s psychedelic. Cross between love and st peppers. # Top Tunes: SF sorrow / BoF / Private Sorrow / Baron Sat / old man going # Would I listen to it again? yes

It was not memorable. I feel like I keep thinking this since the middle of the week, AITA ?

Unremarkable

This was pretty fun, actually. The Wiki page is a wild ride of bitterness as dudes nobody remembers rant about label marketing bullshit and this album actually being the first rock opera. A couple of good tracks here. I'd grab a copy on vinyl, but it sold about a dozen copies.

Mi piace molto l’idea ma non hitta troppo, devo ascoltare Tommy per confrontare

Deadly psych. I was vaguely familiar with this, but never listened properly. It fucking rules. A concept album about..... something, whatever. The guitars are heavy and clanging. Songs stop and start on a whim. Yep, fucking brilliant.

Yet another one of those late 60s albums. This one is fine but nothing stands out or is memorable

Being such an early example of the genre, it's not surprising that it's rough around the edges. It's got charm and it has moments where it clicks. They should've moved the sound engineer far away from the "pan" feature on the mixing desk, though.

I hadn't heard of The Pretty Things before (I don't think!) Enjoying the first track. A very 1968 sounds. Hearing a lot of The Beatles influence in Track Two (Fly to the Moon). I kinda wish I had've discovered this album like 15 years earlier when I was a little more into this style of music. Grateful to have come across it though. Cool to know it was the first rock opera though - I dig that kinda creative story-tewling

Det va en slags rockeopera, men æ fikk ikke helt med mæ ka den handla om, så æ hørte nok ikke godt nok etter, men det va ikke egentlig interessant nok til at æ orka å høre veldig godt etter, så da får det være som det vil.

Парни грызли жопу за звание первой рок оперы

no me gustó mucho

Did not enjoy this albom too much. Most of the first half is really meh, the band seems to try tp experiment, but to no avail. They sounded somewhat Beatles-like, but just worse. In the end, they are better tracks, like "Loneliest Person" or "Talking About the Good Times", but I am not sure if they are really good or just "not bad" as compared with the earlier on the album. An overall disappoinment, gonna rate the lowest because the list should contain the best of the best.

This was sent to me by my bio-dad a few years ago. I remember hearing it the first time and I didn't have a strong opinion, but I liked that it's one of the first concept albums ever. I thought a re-listen would stir more emotion out of me, but to be honest, this is just.. fine.

S. F. Sorrow Fan Is Born

P cool slow rock

The first rock opera? What have you wrought?

So they weren't commercially successful in their day and they are largely forgetton about now? As far as 60's psychedelic rock goes this is pretty standard and I'm not overly surprised.

It kinda feels like they forgot the story in the second half, but the music was great.

A pretty cool psychedelic rock album. I was barely familiar with these guys, and even then, it was only because I own a solo album by their drummer (Twink's Think Pink, also a pretty cool psych rock album). This isn't the kind of album that I'd put on all the time, but it'd be very enjoyable when scratching that psych rock itch.

Day858 - if i had a nickel for every late sixties british album here’s the thing, i didn’t hate it but just give me the beatles next time

Decent psychedelic music, but a little boring.

S'okay. Some interesting experiments with sound effects. Reminds me of some Beatles works only without the scouse accents

Great album

Si on me disait que c'était une IA à qui on a demandé de mixer les Beatles les Kinks et Pink Floyd j'y croirais à 1000%

Well I gotta say if it were not for the Beatles and particularly George Harrison, this album would not exist. Other than a couple blue songs, psychedelic music weaves its way through the entire album. It’s a fun album to listen to although it gets a bit repetitive near the hour mark. Oddly my favorite song was Death, unlike the other songs, it was slow and dark almost like a hymn.

Lo escuché en Stereo y me cago en mi madre qué horror En mono es MUCHÍSIMO más disfrutable Me ha gustado mucho, igual son 3'5 por alguna canción que me sobra

"turning my thoughts into shadows playing on the walls of me" Never heard of this album or band before, and to be honest I hadn't ever listened to Tommy all the way through before doing this list. I think this is a fascinating representation of a moment in time and the story, musicality, vocals, and straight vibes all play into that. I really enjoyed this.

An interesting look at one of the first "rock operas". It's an interesting album that tells a complete story, but unfortunately it pales in almost every way to Tommy.

Fecking hell, another hour of monotone 60s folk music.

< the Beatles This just doesn't really work for me

This is a hot mess of an album. It felt like Sgt. Peppers with about three more sheets of acid and less structure. This is what happens when you try to write the first rock opera on the fly with no money. The story is hard to track through the songs, and if you research the story, it still doesn't make sense. Those of us in this current streaming environment don't have the benefit of having the libretto that was included in the original LP release, so you don't have that to read while you're listening. Dimery, I didn't need to hear this, even though it shaped Tommy and Sgt. Pepper and everything produced by Coheed and Cambria. My Rating: 2/5, mostly because Dimery exposed us to it.

1001 albums to hear before you sorrow the pretty things 89# another band who likes to play with the stereo lol love it

Some fun guitar stuff but pretty much annoying

There was a time in my life when I am sure I would have thought this album is better than I do now. I'm now older and find psychedelic stuff that sounds like Syd Barrett exhausting and corny. And sitars too. Knowing this came out in 68 is like ... we get it man, the stones and the Beatles have already used the sitar on hit records. It's done. I gotta add that I didn't find there was much in the way of hooks here either.

Pretty good. Reminded me a bit of CSNY mixed with Genesis.

Not bad

I dug this. Some good psychedelic rock.

This is kinda cool, very early Pink Floyd

2026.05.05.-06.

Enjoyed this lovely example of 60s music but not sure it's worthy of being in the 1001 albums list.

Didn't wow me but it was pleasant enough.

Wow album cover! Not a clue. Okay wow, Wikipedia says this is known as one of the first rock operas to exist, so I’m essentially presold. And reading that this wasn’t properly marketed as a rock opera has me livid.

The Beatles if they were good

Psycadelic rock again...but not fantastic, just blah

If you are into late 60's incense and peppermint british psychedelic rock then this is probably a cool album to know. It didn't especially grab me. It has it's moments.

I can appreciate their pioneering in the rock opera genre and it was certainly creative. I didn’t really like it though. It was pretty wackadoo.

Listened Before? N Well done psychedelic concept album. Nothing special other than being first, though. It was okay. Added to Library? N Songs added to playlist: Bracelets of Fingers

good

Mostly a poor Beatles knockoff. I see what it's *trying* to do, but it fails. The Beatles without gorgeous and flowing melodies. Pink Floyd without the swell and instrumentation. The Who without songwriting. The mixing and production is terrible. Instruments are frequently panned hard to one side or the other without clear purpose. It was painfully distracting in headphones, and even awkward on a car stereo. Frequently descends into chaotic faffery. Discordant, competing cacophonies in each ear frequently left me skipping the last third of tracks for the sake of comfort.

Quite modern sounding for being from made in '68! Found there to be way too many songs for my liking. Can't say I have very strong opinions on this album other than that. Overall it was a pretty decent run, but nothing that really stood out. Strong 2.

It’s surprising how strong this sounds, especially for something so unknown. It makes you wonder why it never gained more recognition. Maybe the lack of standout singles held it back. Still it’s impressive to hear the start of what is clearly Rock Opera. At the same time, it’s hard to pinpoint when I’d choose this over bands like the Beatles, The Kinks, or The Who, since it sits quite close to their sound. Really interesting in an historical context but maybe not something I’m going to come back to in the near future.

This is one of, if not the first, rock operas ever recorded. While the concept would become synonymous with long overwrought albums, this one is just a normal psych rock album with a story. That story is quite overwrought, though maybe difficult to follow through the lyrics. The album's strength is the psychedelic feel it achieves. The vocals are whimsical, sounds pan from side to side, and the instruments - woodwinds on "Private Sorrow," piano on "Trust," a long drum solo on "Baron Saturday" - are varied. The songwriting doesn't quite keep up though. There are some twists and turns, but they often feel abrupt and many of the choruses blur together. Definitely not a bad album, but it's hard to separate it from other psych rock of the time.

I was ready to dislike this as soon as I saw it was a rock opera, but it really pleasantly suprised me. There's a ton of musical diversity on this record, and the production was very interesting for an album from the 60s. Sure, it was a bit self-indulgent and full of itself, but overall it landed pretty well with me. Easily one of the more interesting records from this time period I've come across on this list. 4/5.

I can't even recall a particular song other than I enjoyed all of the songs to some degree. Psychedelia can suffer from sounding too crazy to be enjoyed without drugs but I listened to this stone cold sober and had a good time. SF Borrow Is Born is one hell of an opening track with some of the more compelling lyricism of that era, period. Baron Saturday is quirky but playful. Trust is strangely poetic in a way that only psychedelic rock can be. Honestly, I was surprised by how much I liked this.

6/10

From the onslaught of 60s 70s psychedelic rock this list insists upon, this one is not half bad.

This was a good listen, got kinda tired of it at points though

Sounded like off brand Beatles kinda. Unremarkable

Cool project. I do feel like ive heard alot of this before in every other bands of this time. Sprinkle of beatles, some who, dash of the stones. They do some cool things with mixing and mastering. Using both channels but sometimes there are some painful flaws. Only a time or 2 but its still there. Hard to forget. Honestly that's the part that stuck out the most. Os the mixing. Its not bad and not amazing. Thought for sure this would be a 4 but it dont think it reaches thay high sadly. Still worth a listen. And id bet there are a million people who would see it differently than me. Give it a spin and find out.

I'm really liking this. Very cool that this is the first rock opera. Loving the progressive elements on it, including the weird stereo mix, which might just be an early example of a mono album remixed for stereo like those first remixes of the Beatles work. Looking into it, the mono and stereo versions came out at the same time. Some insane choices made in stereo. Love it.

Deserves a re-listen (note to self !)

Best Track - "Private Sorrow"

круто! не знал что есть что-то настолько похожее на битз! пару песен сохранил.

Mid

Rockoper

2.5

Strange one this. Great in places. Awful in other's. The lyrics are pretty poor however the ambition to try something different is be applauded. Probably needs a few more listens

poor mans kinks to start with. Ray davies without the talent. It should have been good but it became a bit banal late 60's pop trying to stay relevant.

Yep. This is great. Right up my street.

Didn’t like

No wonder I’d never heard of this. Pretty boring. Just because it was the first rock opera doesn’t mean it’s must listen to music.

This album feels like the twenty or so minutes just before sunset at an outdoor music festival. A bit playful, a hint of the bedlam that's to come; the dual energy that's slow and melodic while also intense.

Psychedelia that never trips over the edge. Flavors of all that is going on in 1968. A moments it feels a harder charging Beatles. At other turns you feel the blues and folk - all through a fracture but not broken lens. Even the bongos sound right and not indulgent. Took a few listens but this one legit grew on me.

Like it 3/5

More panning on this album than a restaurant specializing in fried eggs, and the average Robert Christgau review, combined.

Very similar to tommy. Rock operas are meh for me

Ameee!

60’s Rock ⭐️Walking Through My Dreams

It was fine.

Ouch, un sous rolling stones, ça va être dur C’est vraiment super chiant, 5 chansons in et rien qui ressort, et j’ai passé le titre phare Il y a des petits moments éparses intéressants Putain la production est cata j’ai l’impression que les écouteurs marchent mal Trust est pas mal par exemple ! Old man going commence très bien En fait j’aime pas le chanteur quoi Globalement je vais pas mentir j’a pas aimé

Bonus points for being pioneers, but I’m glad to have missed the rock opera era.

Late-60s rock opera reminiscent of early Pink Floyd that I somehow managed to never have heard of. I was intrigued by the track list, as one would be with songs named "Bracelet of Fingers" and "Death." I'm more into this than I thought it was going to be when the generator served it to me this morning. The live performances of this at the time must have been quite... memorable, with the band pretending to be playing the music while tripping. I'm tempted to give this a 4, I really am. It's a bit of a mess, but it's an interesting mess.

1. Defecting Grey 2. Mr. Evasion 3. She Says Good Morning The first half of the album was kinda slow but I really like the tempo on some of the later songs with the guitar interludes.

I enjoyed this a lot I love how silly it is at times will be listening to it again

Sounds like the Beatles and every other band from the 60s

Did not enjoy at all. Mix was odd and the sound was all over the place

Sounds like classic rock. Nothing specific stood out, but the subs did vaguely remind me of some other things

Great psychedelic rock reminiscent to early Floyd and late Beatles.

Given the fact I had not idea who these guys were, and my general dislike so far for psychedelic records on this, I was not expecting to like this album as much as I did. Interesting, and original, it's worth a listen both for its qualities as an album, and place as maybe the first rock opera in history.

Not the worst I've heard, but I'm falling asleep here.

There are many crimes the British have to answer for. Hundreds of years of colonialism, oppression, racism, etc. etc. once we get through the long list of people owed reparations, we should also address their crimes to Music. If I wanted to listen to mediocre British Invasion era rock I would just toss on one of the less well loved Beatles albums. I won’t keep harping on the point about how it’s offensive this album is on the list when so many others aren’t, as I could be saying that for so many other albums. But I very much struggle to understand why this is here so I decided to look into it. Wikipedia mentions this is one of the first Rock Operas, and while that is interesting, it doesn’t stop it from being garbage. In fact that makes the omission of albums like Delton 3030 particularly galling. Please g-d I cannot take anymore average white men being elevated into this list and yet I know there will be. The instrumentation has sparks where it sounds like it could get interesting but never actually achieves anything. Anytime I think a song is about to get good the singing starts and my mood sours. Just because something helped originate a genre doesn’t mean it’s good.

it's 3.75

4/10

it's nice fav song: Bracelets Of Fingers

Not my taste at all.

I'm only 3 songs in and I'm rating this a 5 already

If I had to rank every album on this list, I feel like this one would end up right around the exact middle. Some fantastic moments but something is keeping me from loving it. 3.5/5

I grew up in home without the Beatles but if you put this album on blindly, I would immediately guess this was the Beatles. I said it the other day, this project is showing me that when it comes to 60’s era rock music, I much prefer the darker, more eastern influenced psychedelic rock like The Doors less popular material than the more upbeat, jangly pop sound produced by bands like this. It’s just not interesting enough to put on even sometimes. 2/5

This one got off to a great start. For the first half of it I was loving it and thinking it’s gonna be a 4 or potentially even a 5 star. Second half it fell off a cliff though. It wasn’t like there was anything terrible or anything. It just didn’t hold my attention and I had basically tuned out by the end. Bit of a shame after such a good opening. Top Track - She Says Good Morning