S.F. Sorrow

Back to back Rock operas..unlike The Wall/Tommy they had the common decency to keep it down to a single album but still a tough listen, the production didn't help here.

It was ok. But that's all. There are too much records sounding the same.

I feel like the concept of this rock opera is stronger than the opera.

Sympathisch, psychedelisch, durchgeknallt - aber auch ziemlich anstrengend. Weitestgehend Neuland für mich. 2/5 (5/10)

Two stars for song writing and musicianship which is there but the aggressive mixing of stereo separation and panning effects is hard to get on board with.

This psyche band have been on my to listen list for eternity, and finally I have at long last. It wasn't too bad if you ignore the fact that it is a rock opera with some crappy story. Instrumentally it was excellent in places but over all it was a bit underwhelming.

Apparently this was the first known rock opera, which would explain why some of it was good and other parts of it were grating noise that I could barely get through (looking at you Well of Destiny). Do they actually think people want to listen to that? And then there's Old Man Going, which made me look at my phone to make sure I didn't somehow jump to a Black Sabbath album. So many songs had promise and then just switched to something weird halfway through. Oh well.

Okay, even if The Who copied from this album, they made a much better version anyway. The opening song on S. F. Sorrow was good, but the rest is just like a big opera filler. Disappointing album, very boring.

felt very, very familiar 🤔

it was fine. apparently it was extremely edgy in its time. it sounded like any other 60s rock.

rarete, exageradisimo el paneo

We’re only ~10% into the list at this point and we’ve gotten so much psychedelic rock 😩😩😩😩😩 No thanks

I can hear the Beatles and The Who, but Pink Floyd? No ma’am. Had I been a fan in the 70’s, I probably would’ve enjoyed this more. Now it sounds dated and overindulgent. And the bands that some say are followers of these lads are far better.

Didn't do anything for me. I get the eclectic and experimental sounds but I was annoyed with the different sounds coming through on each speaker. I was wearing earbuds and it was more disorienting than anything. Not bad music, just not anything that spoke to me

It might be because I didn't pay too much attention while listening to this, but it didn't grab me.

Concept albums are tough in this format. That said I listened to Tommy from the Who right after and liked it a lot more

boring

Some pretty interesting production ideas on here, even though the overall products quality is really rough. Couple of good songs, but very often sounds derivative of the Beatles. Didn't hate it as much as some of the other early psychedelia on this list.

60’s psychedelic Brit, sounds like a more tripped out Beatles, not really my thing, too hard to follow

Meh. Heard too much of the Beatles but I suppose nothing is made in a vacuum. Great '60s sound though.

Mediocre version of the Beatles

The opening riff of this album was so cool and the rest of it was a let down.

I'll be real, I don't know if it was just because I was oddly tired today or this album actually really didn't hit me that well... But, wow, I did not really feel this thing at all. And it's like, I was honestly a little excited for this thing. This is pretty much the first rock opera ever! I love a little bit of story connecting a whole buncha songs together! This shoulda been right up my alley. And yet, I'unno — besides the awful 60's stereo mixing that made me hafta put my phone on mono, I needa remember I'm not very much a "lyrics first" girl anyway, so leaving me with just the music... Yep! That's sure 60's psych rock! Like, please, believe me, I get that I didn't exactly listen to this the "right way," and it's more than possible I was just too tired to appreciate this thing right. Even giving all of those benefits, though, gawd, this thing just washed the hell over me. I just didn't terribly enjoy it too much. I can recognize its historical importance, but... Ah, whatever. I don't care. I'm gonna go take a nap.

Trying to hard to be like The Beatles, don’t quite get there.

No en kyllä osannut kuunnella tätä rockoopperana, vaikka nyt jälkikäteen tajuan, että eka biisihän antoi ohjeen siihen. Muuten basic 68-levy siinä että kuulostaa vähän Beatlesilta.

En tiedä millä tavalla tämä on rock-ooppera, enkä haluakaan tietää, mutta pidin paikoin levyn melodisesta sisällöstä. Se yksi kitarakuvio toimi.

Wasn't expecting to like this much at all, but I'm somewhat pleasantly surprised to find that it's not completely terrible. The album art, however, is. Additionally, it's a bit tiresome to listen to some of this reverb-laden early psych for very long, let alone an hour. Of course, there's the obligatory sitar. That said, the writing seems pretty good for a band that is mostly forgotten. The arrangements are decent and there's some breadth to the sound throughout. I won't come back to this, but I can understand why some would enjoy it.

Nothing stood out or leapt out here. The album art was more interesting than the album itself here!

Occasionally interesting, but hour-long-psychedelic-rock-album-from-1966-that's-also-a-rock-opera is an impossible bar to clear.

I think I’ve had my fill of rock operas for a bit. This one sounds pretty good but I couldn’t (and didn’t really find myself wanting to) follow the narrative. The mid period Beatles guitar tones were the best part of the album in my opinion. 2.4

Well, that's that.

On par with the music of that time but it was just okay.

Ja dit is dus een vrij standaard rock album. Ik word hier niet echt warm of koud van, dat ik denk "Goh, blij dat ik dit gehoord heb zeg" Het is allemaal super psychedelisch, en ik heb hier gewoon nog niet genoeg psychedelica voor gedaan om dit echt te kunnen waarderen. Ik vind de blend tussen de super trippy muziek en dan weer het wat hardere rock werk wel echt hilarisch, beste nummer daarvoor is Defecting Grey, sowieso mijn favoriete nummer van het album, omdat het tenminste echt iets anders doet. Dat nummer voelt echt als een bad trip in een nummer ofzo, met het continue herhalende "Sitting alone in a bench with you" en dan opeens weer een hard rock stuk erover heen. Waarom word dit niet veel vaker gedaan op dit album? Leun gewoon volle bak op rare shit en dit album was veel interessanter geweest, nu is het voornamelijk 13 in een dozijn rock shit en heb ik me echt dood verveeld. Jammer. FAVO: She says good morning, Defecting Grey

Not for me thanks

The album makes one confront the annoyingness of this list project's title: "Must hear" and "die" are hyperbole, and you do not in fact need to hear this album. It sounds like 1968 psychedelic rock. It has some moments. There is no standout track. For a better look at the genre/period, I suggest playing this album with the sound down, then turning it up when Apple Music goes on to Autoplay Similar Music. Pete Townshend's legacy is not threatened by this little thing. Saying someone was born in track #1 does not an opera make.

Whilst I appreciate the ambition and experimentation behind the rock opera that is “S.F Sorrow” I don’t think that this is one of the better psychedelic rock albums of the 60’s. The opening tracks on the album sit firmly in the sgt peppers era Beatles style, but just nowhere near as good and lacking the catchy sound or intricate songwriting. Other than “She says good morning” which is an early highlight, with a great sounding guitar and almost gritty sound. “Bracelets of fingers” is the worst offender of being a worse sounding Beatles track whilst the opener “S.F sorrow is born” is just okay. “Private sorrow” is passable but not very interesting. The next track “Balloon Burning” is much more interesting with a nice guitar sound and a good solo. The drums sound great and the track has a good fast-paced almost punk like energy. The vocals here also hit better. “Death” is a fairly boring song, where the instrumental just isn’t interesting enough to pull the track along. Thankfully, “Baron Saturday” is much better giving the experimental sound a more ‘accessible’ touch with a nice drum solo. “The Journey” and “I see you” also keep up a good run on the album full of really nice guitar parts whilst keeping the experimental elements. The latter fades into “Well of destiny” which is a forgettable instrumental track. “Trust” picks things back up again as a fairly standard but nice tune. “Old man going” brings a raw rock energy with trippy sounds and unique vocals which make it a good & interesting track. “Loneliest person” is one of the more standard sounding songs on the album, but it does a decent job, and it’s appreciated for its simplicity. “Defecting grey” is a weird tune which changes between these slow hypnotic passages and into heavier rock sounds. Whilst I do like the sound of the rockier parts, the changes between the sounds is just too jarring and even though I appreciate the uniqueness of what they were going for the track just isn’t listenable for me. “Mr evasion” does a good job of the more simple rock sound and “Talkin’ about the good times” is a good psychedelic rock track. The album ends on a high with “Walking through my dreams” which is, in my opinion, the psychedelic Beatles-y sound done right. Whilst I appreciate the ambition of what they were going for on this album, and I don’t deny the possible influence it had on albums going forward, I can’t see myself revisiting this one. It has some good psychedelic rock tracks which I like that come through with a raw energy and power, but as a full album has too many misses and bad executions. It pales in comparison to the albums that the likes of The Beatles, The Doors & Pink Floyd were making around the time in a similar style and instead of listening to this album you could just listen to those guys do it better. 2/5.

It was decently enjoyable and seems ahead of it’s time for when it was released, but I couldn’t shake the feeling this was just discount Beatles/Rolling stones. And I’d rather just go for the real thing.

Felt so random

++: S. F. Sorrow Is Born, The Journey, Well of Destiny +: Private Sorrow, Baron Saturday, I See You, Trust +-: She Says Good Morning, Balloon Burning, Death, Old Man Going, Loneliest Person -: Bracelets of Fingers 4,5/10

Deutsche Beatles, aber mit Fokus auf all dem, was ich an den Beatles nicht mag

Not for me

S.F. Sorrow is Born Defecting Grey Talkin' About the Good Times

The Beatles if they weren't great songwriters.

I could maybe see this having some influence back in the 60s but had not aged that well and Lordy is it long.

2 star. Pleasant but not remarkable.

I think I messed up by listening to this one while grading assignments instead of just relaxing and listening to the storytelling. The music reminded me of The Beatles from time to time, but besides that, nothing ever really grabbed my attention. Maybe one day I’ll give it another shot in a better environment.

WARNING L ................................................ R Holy ................................................ shit. Do ................................................ not try ................................................ to listen ................................................ to this ................................................ album with ................................................ only one ................................................ headphone on. ................................................ You will ................................................ only hear ................................................ half the ................................................ album.

no thoughts. like what is this list even about

they’re no cream but they aren’t horrid either now are they

Too much like the Beatles 🧐

Reminds me of the Beatles... just less melodic and with a few screechingly painful sections.

Ok, so maybe the first rock opera. But this did not hold my interest musically.

First rock opera vs first concept album? Who gives a fuck?

Why listen to this when you could instead watch the part of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox story about his psychedelic album?

Who decided that rock operas were a good thing? All over the place, cacophonic. Giving a two because at least they had a vision...

I think this was conceived as something bigger than it actually turned out to be. I appreciate the scope but it still doesn't do much for me. Supposedly the inspiration for Pete Townsend to create "Tommy", but I don't see the connection.

Well, this album "was recorded between December 1967 and September 1968 at the Abbey Road Studios, while Pink Floyd were working on A Saucerful of Secrets (also produced by Norman Smith) and the Beatles worked on their 1968 self-titled album." On first listening, track 1 sounds like the Beatles, but the album quickly veers into early Floyd. It's listenable, but I don't think I'll be going back to it. If I want to listen to Floyd/Beatles, I'll listen to them - not to some sound-alike band. It really is like second-rate Floyd, mostly.

This is a tough one to rate because I found it very interesting in a lot of ways, and borderline obnoxious in many other ways. I strongly disliked the production value of this album, and disliked most of the vocals as well. But there were some wildly creative ideas coming to life within these songs, and it’s hard not to appreciate that. It’s like a 2.5, not quite a 3.

Im always so interested when its an album form the 60's that has like 1 million plays per song or less. Like, did this just get added, or is it really a deep pick? Anyways, I had to wait until the weekend to listen to this, because in true 60's fashion the vocals and some instruments were panned completely to one ear. Can't one-ear listen at work. As for the album itself, it sadly fades into 60's pastiche around song 8ish. There's even an indian-psych-inspired track! Truly the complete late 60's rock package. For this, I must reluctantly give it a 2 out of 5, there isnt much that's very distinct about this album that isnt already done many times over or many times better by many other groups. My highlight is probably "Bracelets of Fingers"

Could be interesting but the production is just so bad

The sound is not dynamic enough for me. The whole production is a bit messy. Some interesting nuggets but not enough to really draw me in.

- und nochmal moody, aber teilweise hat es mich nicht so richtig gecatched

Not my speed.

It’s a rock opera

If it rocked out more, I would have liked it. But it tries too hard to sound like the Beatles and like most bands of the era, not succeeding. Very much stuck in the 60s which isn't my favourite sound.

Ok, I guess. Sound like a beatles rip off.

Sounds like the Beatles but worse

Sounds like modern time bards

Item plops Block broken Block breaking < Footsteps < Eerie sound >

the beatles if they werent bad

Like the beatles if they were even less good than their already-hyped selves.

It was fine but then again, i didnt like it, so not fine and kinda boring, and all the buildups were flat I think. maybe it was because I was at work and bored, but I wont give it a second chance, ive got better things to do, like drinking milk and coffee

Psicodelia y ópera rock de fines de los 60. He escuchado mejores combinaciones, la verdad.

hippy vibes - seemed more like Sgt Pepper than Rolling Stones and I'd heard these guys were meant to be more aligned to the stones, was fine but didn't really pick out much of note and had a level of expectation so felt a touch let down overall

4/10 - It's a 60s album so it sounds like the Beatles. Especially bracelets of fingers, aren't those just rings?. Some of the songs are just really bad, i.e. well of destiny and baron saturday.

I couldn't find anything compelling about this album.

Deutsche Beatles, aber mit Fokus auf all dem, was ich an den Beatles nicht mag

Not for me.

What is with the opera rock in the late 60’s and early 70’s?

I just don’t think psychedelic rock is my thing. I don’t think rock operas are my thing. I tried to keep an open mind while listening to this, but I just didn’t feel it.

As rock operas go.. I prefer Tommy.

Fine, but forgettable.

Has some good songs, but a tad bit too long and gets all over the place. Favorite track: S.F. Sorrow is born other picks: private sorrow, baron saturday, death, journey

Another generic 60s album. It's inoffensive but I could definitely have lived a contented life without hearing this album before I died. Sounds like a Beatles b-sides album.

One of those (again) that’s historically/culturally notable but not terribly interesting musically.

I don't really know how I feel about this album. There was nothing that I particularly liked and I think what I'm learning from listening to this (and a few other previous albums) is that I'm just not a fan of psychedelic rock. It's not that I hated the album, I just didn't find anything that I particularly enjoyed. 2/5

Couldn't get into it.

Eh. Easy-to-forget psych record that maybe unfortunately got buried by its contemporaries. Regardless of whether The Who “stole” the idea for Tommy, Tommy is leagues beyond this album. Sorry.

Kind of reminds me of late-Beatles era. But not really memorable.

I see the take psychadelic rock and I wince. This is painful. Why are they doing silly voices and singing about nonsense ffs.

Was vibing to a few of the songs. Sounds a lot like late era Beatles.

2.5 / 5 - Bracelet of fingers stood out.

"In 1969, the band opted to mime recordings from the album for a television performance because they, along with the mixing engineer, had taken LSD before they were to go on the air"

Groupe totalement inconnu. Album assez original, avec quelques morceaux remarquables comme : Balloon Burning Old Man Going Mais je n'ai pas vraiment accroché sur le reste. =>2/5

I want to hate this more than I do for some reason. It may be because I never heard of this band or this record even though for a 60's records it's pretty experimental. It may be because there are other bands from the era or other bands in the future (king crimson and jethro tull on the prog/folk side, The Byrds, 13th floor elevators for more psychedelics, Frank Zappa/Captain Beefheart for just being weird) that got more acclaim and I truthfully like better. That being said, these guys rock pretty hard and have some interesting ideas plastered all over the record. Wild riffs on Balloon Burning, Bracelets of Fingers has weird production and cool instrumentation. I don't know if I see myself revisiting this anytime soon but it's a more solid/varied 60's rock record with a pretty stupid name.

Wailing guitars, hippie shake. All par for the course here. It's one of those classic psychedelic rock albums that wasn't loved enough to make the band a household name in spite of it being their 8th(!) album. This is okay.

Surprised to find a 60s psychedelic band that I had never heard of before in The Pretty Things. But pretty much nothing here felt like it warranted a classic rock legacy. "Balloon Burning" was the best on "S.F. Sorrow," with a breakneck fuzzy lead guitar that seemed ahead of its time. But I also didn't realize that this was a rock opera/concept album until reading about it afterwards, maybe because all psychedelic rock feels weird and operatic and about who-knows-what acid trip fever dream?

Lots of sorrow to go around here. Album title: S. F. Sorrow; song titles: S. F. Sorrow Is Born and Private Sorrow; and the greatest sorrow of all: my sorrow for having suffered through the whole album.

Wasn't particularly invested in this album. I didn't connect with the story being told at all. It feels disingenuous to call this a "rock opera" - it's just a concept album, and a rather flat one at that. Some decent moments, but nothing that noteworthy. Top tracks: Death, Loneliest Person

A psychedelic rock opera. It all sounds a bit dated now.

Noteworthy songs - 808080808 Magical Dream - Kinda catchy synth, but the rest is bland. Ancodia - Good background noise. Cobra Bora - Actually kind of cool, reminds me of Bomberman Hero. Pacific 202 - N64 vibes, but melody isn't great. Donkey Doctor - Nothing too special, weird ending. 808080808 - Really cool beginning. A little slow in the middle but stays interesting enough. Sunrise - Nothing remarkable. The Fat Shadow - Eerie. Very short.

Interesting, but after song 2, it didn't seem like like my cup of tea.

..

This was alright. Nothing too crazy or exciting here.

It's like the Beatles but in rock opera form and it's fine. 4/10

Psychedelic rock psychedelic pop. Sin más.

Can't stand the mixing in this, it just sounds so bad

Baron Saturday was a fantastic song. Everything else was middling at best, but nothing particularly bad. If Narduar actually made music, I'd imagine it would sound something like this. toot-tu-tah loo-too

I don't know what the F this is supposed to be. Early Rock Opera? If so - needs some major help. To include its description with Tommy, the Who, Beatles, Pink Floyd - is not cool. Move on!

Had a hard time paying attention to this one. Nothing really grabbed me and everything was pretty boring. 2/5 Won’t listen again

Cutrate Beatles?

Pre-listening thoughts: oh Christ a rock opera. I’m a little terrified of this I’m not going to lie. Hoping the story will captivate me. I’ve also never heard of this band before. I feel like I’m saying that a lot! Post/during listening thoughts: the album cover scared me! Ahhh! Why does the audio do that in Bracelets of Fingers it makes me mad. Some of the production is incredibly 60s (and just plain bad). Balloon Burning sounds like something from that Magazine record, Real Life. Sort of a Shot By Both Sides kind of track. There’s actually a lot sonically that reminds me of that album in a weird way (Deflecting Grey reminds me of Beautician in the Sky) but I dont like this one as much. To me this album is missing the weird character that Magazine album has. Plus some of the panning/audio choices are worse here imo. It would absolutely take me multiple listens to grasp any sort of story going on here. I’m the type of listener where it has to sonically grab me before lyrics are even a factor (unless the lyrics are very obviously terrible). Why does the audio keep tweaking?! I don’t like Well of Destiny or songs like it where it’s just sort of soundscapey style instrumentals and noises out of tune. Makes me feel like I’m having a panic attack. This is an okay listen and I’m sure influential to the Pink Floyd/Who sort of music but idk if this is a necessity before I die 5/10 DID I NEED TO HEAR THIS BEFORE I DIE: no Fav tracks: Balloon Burning, Baron Saturday, Trust Least fav tracks: Old Man Going, Well of Destiny, Deflecting Grey

Lots of fun and exciting sounds but goddamn do I hate this motherfucker's voice

It was pretty good. I mean id be proud of it if I'd created it... But a handful of songs were enough for me. I hope I haven't missed a belter

Alt rock. Seems heavily influenced by Sgt Peppers etc

Turns out rock opera narrative stuff isn't my bag. I enjoy that this annoyed the who. The quality is fine but I'm not ever going to revisit

Man, that was pretentious. Perilously close to one-star territory. Why do I care about this protagonist?

It was fine.

Was not overly compelled by the story of Mr. Sorrow

Didn't do much for me. It's like a blend of 60s Brit rock and Beatles worship but with all of the wrong elements, I couldn't help listening thinking that this is a subpar effort at emulating another band. I just went back and re-listened to the highest play count songs to see if I missed something. "Baron Saturday" is the highest so I went there first, and my opinion hasn't really changed. The vocal parts start to get cool in the middle with that rough and raw chorus at 00:45 and again at 1:21 and then it almost suddenly drops into an unexpected and unwanted? bongo jam. 2/5; I think I'd like it more if it wasn't presented to me as an album I must hear in my lifetime.

S.F. Sorrow: A Psychedelic Stumble The Pretty Things’ S.F. Sorrow is a bold attempt at a psychedelic rock opera, but it ultimately falls short of its ambitions. While the album’s concept is intriguing, the execution often feels muddled and uneven. The band's experimentation with sound and structure is commendable, but the songs lack memorable hooks or choruses. While there are moments of psychedelic brilliance, they are too few and far between. The narrative, delivered primarily through liner notes rather than the music itself, is confusing and difficult to follow. Ultimately, S.F. Sorrow is a fascinating historical document rather than a truly enjoyable listening experience. It’s a record that rewards patience and multiple listens, but casual fans will likely find themselves drifting off.

Psychedelic rock hardly ever sounds good and, spoiler alert: this didn't either. It's actually kind of incredible how music from this era was either incredible or downright terrible - no in-between. 4/10.

Passable, but not much more I can add

Fairly uninteresting, alright as background music but even then didn't really grab me all that much

Psychedelic, rock opera feel

No

I always have a little bit of an itch to play these albums through one headphone and pump up the volume so I can do other things while listening. Definitely do not do that here. There were a lot of cool little parts in here, but overall I was bored to a little annoyed by the end of almost every track. Not much more to say than that.

5th rate Beatles

A couple of decent songs buried under a tonne of garbage

At first i thought this was gonna be another rolling stones-esque slog, but the psychadelic boat ride it became meant i actually enjoyed parts of it. Don't think id listen again so it gets a 2 but very close to 3 stars

I prefer the Bowie version

Psychedelic rock psychedelic pop. Sin más.

I'm probably being unfair as I wasn't able to concentrate on this fully, but it didn't really grab me

You can tell these guys loved the Beatles. It's not bad, but if I was in the mood for the like, Sgt. Pepper is just going on instead.

I listened to it twice through, and forgot it was on after about the second or third song. So I have no lasting impression of this. It didn’t make me want to turn it off, but clearly it didn’t get to a three star rating.

Apparently the author of this book loved any music that came out of 1968. That's great. I don't. But now my Spotify thinks I do. 2/5

When I was listening I was telling myself this was a pale imitation of The Who. Afterwards I read the history and realized the Who were a better version of Pretty Things. Never for a mind did I think S F Sorrow was a “rock opera” like Tommy. When you listen to Tommy you understand the story, with Pretty Things I had no clue it was anything but bad unrelated tracks. So did the Who take from this? Yup, most likely so. But hey Edison didn’t invent the light bulb either, but he gets the credit because he perfected it. Same with The Who and Rock Opera.

Yuck. 2.11

Alright.

Didn’t really listen to this properly but I mostly hated what I heard of it.

Just another bit of hippy dribbling.

Trust // 2.5/5

I’m not sure I particularly liked this? It’s a strange piece of 60s rock. One I didn’t find all that thrilling. It’s certainly unique but…not great. I don’t think I’d recommend this to others. It’s a bit too obscure.

I really liked the final track Pretty Big Mouth…which turned out to be from another one of their albums that had auto played. Everything from the above album completely washed over me unnoticed.

This was decent. I hear influence of a lot of bands I love. But ended up getting bored with it.

that was okay i suppose?

This website keeps giving me post Beatles bullshit. It’s comparable of all the playboi carti and opium copy cats now.

Really enjoyed this Beatles-eque style.

2.5 Just a Beatles rip off

Nothing special

Started okay but it lost me

May have been pioneers. Sounded like Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band but was released six years prior. 2/5

When I came to rate this I forgot what it sounded like and had to put it on again to remind me.

Late 60s psychedelic rock.

I’d never even heard of this lot even though they’re apparently influential and couldn’t be more 1960s even if they were Twiggy wearing Mary Quant at a happening with Timothy Leary. I did find myself tuning in and out and losing interest quite quickly. There was nothing awful about this and I admire the whole concept album/rock opera vibe. But I wouldn’t say it was in any way memorable. I can’t even pick out one tune… I thought I should listen to it again but by track two my interest had waned again.

To beatleesque

Not really my thing but some pretty cool guitar for before it's time, Balloon Burning is great. 2.5

Fine first track was cool, rest kind of blended. I couldn’t pick up on the narrative themes but I did listen on a busy commute.

Oh god, how much more of this 60’s English rock do we need?

Rock opera... cool

Voelde als een wannabe Beatles album

Not a fan. Sounds like Flaming Lips and Oasis had a love child. Not in a good way. Hippy stoner rock.

ei ehkä syytä olla 1968 albumi joka rekordattu näin paskalla laadulla. mutta myös hyvin erilainen (sanon sanan beatles tähän aikaan) eksperimentaalista ja joo ensimmäinen arvostelu sivulla puhuu tuosta vittu vihaan tätä sivustoa ja myös itseäni montako kertaa pitää sanoa. kiinnostavaa kuunneltavaa annetaan propseja siit mutta toivottavasti unohdan koko homman... death

Like many others, I got a hell of a lot of Beatles vibes from this. I wouldn’t say they have quite the magic that The Beatles have when it comes to hooking people, though. Not a bad listen by any means, but I wasn’t really hooked. Not sure this quite warrants a 3 from me, so gonna leave it at a 2.

gets better toward the middle but overall not that exciting

Meh. It’s like the Byrds and Monkees got together, got high and wrote a musical. I do wonder if I had heard this before Tommy if I’d have a different opinion?

This seems ok, but I was just not in the mood for a 60 psychedelic concept album yesterday.

I was sorry that this was a sorry album

Some good jams hidden throughout. Some very questionable mixing. Overall, I'd rather just listen to the Beatles. Will I listen to again: 0%

Proto Prog Psychedelic Rock Opera, pretty dull despite its best intentions.

Ahead of their time - but the sonic concepts exceeded their engineering capabilities. I can hear a strong late 60's Beatles influence with the psychedelic sound.

Se me ha hecho pesado y solo me ha llamado la atención la última canción del disco: Walking through my dreams.

Another late 60’s album that was trying a lot of things and some were great! The use of the left/right fader on this album is beyond distracting! Every other song was “what wackadoo left/right fading are they gonna do now?” Lots of breathy British singing, but the album crescendos with a could really good songs. 2.5⭐️s

Album très typique du rock psychédélique des années 60. Interchangeable avec plusieurs autres albums de l'époque. Par contre, coup de coeur pour Old Man Going, une pièce proto-metal qui fait penser à du Judas Priest.

I could not enjoy this no matter how hard I tried. All the songs put me on edge… I don’t know how else to describe how I felt listening to it. Parts of it might have made for a cool movie soundtrack. I did not like the over-dramatic vocals.. at all. I could hear a little bit of a Beatles sound, a little Pink Floyd, but way too much weirdness.. it was too prickly to my ears. 2 stars because I’m sure they’re all talented musicians, in their own way.

Psychedelic rock. Authors favourite genre. Some forgotten albums should just stay forgotten

Best Song: Loneliest Person. The lyrics were cute and clever. Worst Song: Private Sorrow. The kind of song that just sounds like someone trying to be subversive in the sixties. Overall: Early progressive music can sometimes come off feeling "wacky" as the artists throw dozens of disparate ideas at the wall to see what sticks. That is absolutely what is happening here. Despite this ostensibly being a rock opera, there is absolutely no musical cohesion to tie the whole album together. No idea sticks around long enough to make much of an impact.

I'd never heard of this before... and it's difficult to form a connection with an album like this (one that is totally fresh to you) in just one day. My first impressions are that it sounded like a kind of alternate universe psychedelic-era Beatles, not quite as polished. Some good songs though: Baron Saturday and The Journey being favourites. I've given this a low score, but I suspect it would grow on me... so it has been saved in my Keepers playlists for future work.

Standout tracks: Baron Saturday Defecting Grey I See You Mr Evasion You can hear the influnce they had on Bowie. Their later stuff sounds more up my street so might check that out. I did like the Spoitify follow-on tracks more though... Groovy baby.

klingt wie die schlechten Songs von den Beatles

I’m too young to appreciate thiy

Sometimes I wonder if the Beatles are actually that good, or if their reputation makes them unassailable. Then I hear a band that sounds like them, who while decent, don’t come close to the Beatles. This is one of those bands. Pretty good songs, I really liked the drumming. But it didn’t rise above “pretty good.”

Like the Beatles but not.

Was not into this. Interesting concept. 2/5

Est-ce que c'est plutôt du sous-Beatles, du sous-The Who ou du sous-Pink Floyd ? En tout cas pas très emballé, ça manque clairement du petit je-ne-sais-quoi qui aurait rendu ça mieux.

Tedious Beatles wannabes. 2/5

The first two songs kind of get in there, but there is no follow-up. 2.5/5.

I didn't know what to expect heading into this album, but it was pretty middle of the road for me. There were some things that I thought worked well; the overarching rock opera element and story were interesting, and I enjoyed some parts of the instrumentation. Overall though, this album kind of dragged on for me. Plus, it felt like someone told these guys to make an album that sounded like The Beatles. I really felt like this sound was completely borrowed. It's one thing to draw on influences of a band, but something else entirely to try to duplicate their sound. It's cool that this was one of the first rock operas, but this album was just okay in my book.

Sitar-forward, tinny harmonizing, it's an English psychedelic band from the 60s ladies and germs! fuck outta here.

60's tunes. ok. nothing special

I can definitely see the similarity to Tommy. While maybe you can say that it's unfair that The Who probably ripped them off a bit, at least The Who took the concept and made it a classic album. These songs are just "meh".

The best song is 'Loneliest Person' because it sounds nothing like the rest of the album.

*sigh*

SF Sorrow is born-quite annoying chorus effect, this is fine if a little overblown Bracelets of Fingers- Ahh, the old panning effects, but this is fine overall, I like the refrain 👍 She says good morning- good 4 u i guess Private Sorrow- this was fine, whatever Balloon Burning- finally a little energy, at least in the guitars 👍 Death- decently atmospheric.. surely this is quite early on in the album tho lol 👍 Baron Saturday- kinda hate everything about this The Journey- the set up to a better song next I See You- guitar shines more on this one and vocal effect is something? Well Of Destiny- doesn’t really count as a song init Old Man Going- 👍 Loneliest person i was never gonna like this lol 2/5

Maybe the worst mixing I’ve ever heard on an album.

They really liked their crazy instruments back in the 60s didn't they? Psychedelics. Yeah... Maddening. Some parts sound like Beatles. Some parts sound like beetle dung. Ugh.

Meh, nothing special here at all.

This album has an interesting place in history. It’s one of if not the first concept albums. It sounds like all the sounds of the decade together.

Rock opera. Hade kanske gillat det mer om jag lyssnat lite mer noggrant och läst texterna men nu blir det för konstigt.

Ganska likt Beatles men den psykedeliska stereo-mixen gjorde det nästan olyssningsbart...

Not bad, but suffers from the pacing and confusion issues all rock operas have

So I can see (hear) how this album influenced a lot of other bands work in the late 60s and 70s and maybe even the 80s, but that doesnt make it "good". Its overwrought and the lyrics are boring and unappealing. All of the albums which were influenced by this are better than the original work itself. All in all, I'd rather be listening to the Moody Blues. 2/5

Normally, I love this kind of music, and although there were a couple songs that I liked, I ended up finding most to be unenjoyable noise.

Bad psychedelics

First of all, the stereo mix on this is SO WEIRD and not in a good way. It's tough to listen to on headphones, as the music is popping from ear to the other and doing all sorts of strange things. Very distracting and unpleasant. As far as the music, it's sort of the Beatles plus the Who - there are some fun catchy tunes in the middle (I liked "Private Sorrow"), but overall it's really not my thing. Apparently this is the first "concept album" and inspired other albums that I like better? So I can appreciate its place on the list but it's not my thing. 2.5/5 but I'm rounding this one down for the horrible production/stereo mix, which was just painful to me.

The first half of this was really interesting - a lot of great ideas and sounds that seem quite ahead of their time. Even though not all of it worked, there was enough ambition there to give a 3 or maybe a 4 too. Unfortunately the album just seemed to tail off towards the end, and the last few tracks were nowhere near as exciting

Its 60s psych rock for sure. Im at a lose for stars

Similar to beatles but worse

Very meh and slow

2.5

another Beatles knock off this one take a lot from sgt pepper era beatles 2.5

It was ok

It might be the first concept album ever but it's late sixties beat psychedelia and the tunes are Europa League.

Alkoi lupaavasti: kiinnostuin tarinallisuudesta ja voimakkaan läsnäolevasta brittisaundista. Alkoi kuitenkin puuduttaa melko nopeasti, ei ollut riittävästi vaihtelua ja levy oli kuitenkin piiiiiiiitkä. Muutama ihanahko biisi välissä.

Eipä herättänyt kummoisia tuntoja. En bändiä juuri tunne, mutta aika geneeriseltä 60-luvun psykeltä kuulosti. Toki ymmärrän vuosiluvun perusteella, että oli varmaan eturintamassa.

It’s a rock opera. Bit jumpy. Good sound but not something you wanna sit down and listen to.

no real stand outs or anything special

Not bad, but not great

This album was like when you make pancakes or something, right? And you put in a little too much salt and little too little sugar or something? It has all the pancake ingredients, but it doesn't taste right. It's not satisfying or enjoyable, but it smells pretty good? Anyway.

Psychedelic rock psychedelic pop. Sin más.

Not a fan here, Sorry

That was strange. Psychodelia from a group that I associate with heavier blues type rock. An early concept album, perhaps one of the first to tell the story of a life. This does not compensate though for the musical weakness of the album. A lot of mediocre composition and nothing really memorable. Fairly innocuous psychodelic pop of the period.

weird.

Very Beatlesy, quite liked it to start but it dragged after the first half

Never heard of these before. Very Beatlesy. I liked the first 2 tracks but the rest didn't really grab me. I like the "sound" of it though kinda

it got worse and worse as i kept listening. basically a rip off beatles-sounding band. perhaps the first song could be described as decent but it got progessively worse after that. no thanks :( BAD!

Good time, little long

Not special, not terrible.

This was a big old bucket of not very much. Sounds ahead of its time, but not in a particularly interesting or exciting way. There's a lot of talk in the reviews and wikipedia about similarities to The Who's Tommy - by all accounts Tommy is a lot better. This doesn't really have any memorable tracks, the story of the album isn't particularly clear and it just all sounds a bit beige. 2/5

An eh album for an week full of ok albums.

It’s like a satire of psychedelia.

Bit trippy. Don't think enjoyable.

Some nifty late 60s Beatlesqye/Who-et tracks, but not my favourite kind of psychedelia. Good to learn about another 60s Brit band that is not so well known.

Deteriorated as I listened

Heavily indebted to the Beatles and Beach Boys. With all due respect, I think if this didn't have the claim of "first ever rock opera", it wouldn't have made the list. Favorite tracks: "Balloon Burning", "I See You"

While I have been known to like bands coming of similar backgrounds during that same era, I find this album rather uninspiring.

Nyt ei kolahtanut ja raskaan päivän jälkeen en kyllä muista levystä juuri mitään...

Ce matin, un phénomène surnaturel s'est produit. En effet, au moment même où je terminais cet album, j'avais déjà oublié ce qu'il contenait.

S.F. Sorrow is a mix of early Pink Floyd with late Beatles, but the result is just one more band doing psychedelic rock in the late 1960s. "Baron Saturday", the album highlight, is a good combination of those references.

Voor mij iets te pop-psychedelisch. Blijkbaar een rock-opera (bron:wiki), dus dat verklaard voor mij dat ik al snel kriegelig werd..

Zoals de kolonel in Sjors en Sjimmie altijd zegt: Bareuh.

2.4 - Somewhat unremarkable - no song really stood out to me, despite my general affinity for the genre.

The nostalgia value is strong, and it's pretty easy to consider the sergeant pepper vibes and saucerful of secrets vibes. Unfortunately, for me these comparisons put Pretty Things in an unfair position because it becomes glaring that they're simply not as good as the other bands they influenced and we're influenced by - nowhere near it. Personally it comes down to the lyrics and vocals (musically I think they can keep up, but if your front man only has one tone of voice to bring to the table or makes it difficult to show your diverse ability as a group). The style of lyrics would be fine for one iconic song, but across a whole album you realise the words are just so simplistic and often clichéd or forced while the beatles and the stones were exactly in this period moving away from this sort of canned shit, and Pink Floyd never did it.

Sounds like a mixture of the Stones, Beatles, Pink Floyd and the Doors. Some alright stuff but nothing stands out.

S.F. sorrow and Old Man Going are great tracks but overall it was a bit boring. I get its one of the first rock operas but it didn't suit well for me

The so-called "first rock opera?" - I thought I'd be down for this but....ehh? So I didn't want to leave a lame review like the above but so why is, say, "Tommy" (which apparently these guys thought was at least somewhat cribbed from them...ok...) so much better? Not really fair of me to compare the two since I've heard Tommy about 400 times in my life and this exactly once, today. If I had to hazard a guess, there's no anchor - there's no obvious central musical theme, and/or no "killer single" - just a bunch of very psychedelic-sounding nice enough songs, some have some really nice harmonies (e.g. "The Journey"), but it's honestly hard to really remember any of them. i.e. where's the album's "Pinball Wizard" or "Tommy Can You Hear Me?" I might need a few more listens to fully digest the story/opera part and I suppose I could since I didn't dislike it...but I kinda don't want to. Just a touch above boring as an album. Maybe a good long 17 minute epic would have tied everything together, but to be fair that's not so easily well-done. Speaking of which, I'll head over to my copy of "Supper's Ready..." 5/10 2 stars.

First Listen. I am sure back in the 60's this might have been something. but, to hear it now in 2021 for the first time. It kind of loses something. It does have some good sounds, so I'll give it a chance again in the future. 2/5 for now.

A bit too beatlesy and i'm not a beatles person to begin with.

Started off strong, but it got old 3 songs in and it was just irritatingly Beatlesy after that

Interesting from a history kind of thing, but no real stand out songs for me, all just good.

Träger Hippie-Harlekin 68er Psych Rock. Es schimmert etwas die Kaputtheit der späteren Olivia Tremor Control durch. Malo gibt weniger als 1.6

Had no idea what this was when I loaded it up to stream, but I guess this was out around the same time as The Who’s Tommy. That one is a classic. I’d never heard of this one before which suggests it was overshadowed by Tommy then as well as now

Apparently this is the first rock opera and tells the story of a person (S.F. Sorrow) from birth to death. This sounds an interesting concept, but not one I would have noticed had I not read it on wikipedia. I'm sure it would emerge on repeated listens with and/or with closer attention, but I didn't enjoy the music enough to be motivated to do that. Basically this is an just-about-ok 1960s/70s psychedelic rock album. It starts in a fairly accessible way (I like the opening track, 'S.F. Sorrow is born') but becomes harder work later on. I didn't hate it, but didn't really like it much either. 2/5.

Like a watered-down Stones, which not watered-down is cringe enough

I thought I was a sucker for sunshine pop; turns out I'm a sucker for good sunshine pop. Stick to Tommy. Choice Cuts: Bracelets Of Fingers, Defecting Grey

Very much of its time, sounds like Beatles. Some funky tracks but overall not my bag. 2/5

Meh not great but not bad

A curious album. I enjoyed the opening tracks but there were too many silly voices and meandering psychedelic moments for me to truly get into. An album of its time - not one to revisit.

El día de la bicicleta. No mucho más para agregar. Está bueno pero para una única pasada. 5/10 ludomatics.

Meh.

Het heeft wel iets, maar ik werd er niet warm van. Het concept van een rock opera spreekt me duidelijk meer aan dan de uitvoering.

Weinig speciaals. In vergelijking is Tommy van The Who, het soortgelijke conceptalbum dat al eerder passeerde, nog net iets beter

2/5

Oh yeah, SF Sorrow... SF Sorrow is the kind of dippy hippy bullshit I think about when I think about dippy hippy bullshit that I'm actually completely unfamiliar with. It felt like it took heavy influence from earlier psychedelic works, but I wasn't really sold on the narrative, mostly because I didn't know what the fuck was going on. Apparently The Pretty Things think that The Who stole the format of rock-opera for Tommy, but that's lame. A rock opera was an inevitability; I think they are sore only because The Who did it better.

The concept was better than the execution. Feel a bit mean to only give it two stars as I felt like they reached for the stars but frankly I wouldn't rush to listen again.

boring

Eh

1.5 meh

It might be my mood, my foot injury, or just all around exhaustion from this existence - but the album of the day is not landing at all. It's a concept album, or like a rock opera that apparently inspired Roger Daltrey of The Who to write Tommy. It feels a bit meandering to me right now and I'm trying to appreciate it's place in the British invasion and psychedelia. It's like this band put together the entire blueprint for something very familiar, and all the music is here and accounted for. But other bands (The Stones, The Who, et al) came and took this music and made it better and more accessible. But the music is here and the purists know.

boring

1968: I See You, Bracelets of Fingers

lol yet another album from the late 60s. Sounds exactly like British rock of the time, goes for an hour. No surprises, no reason to include it in the list. 2/5.

Big too hippy dippy that one.. didn’t quite have the melodies to cut through.

"This album sucks!", Tara offered without solicitation. She was right.

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

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.

nao gostei

Shite!

Horrible, couldn’t end soon enough!

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.

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

Rambling nonsense

Different, but not good

meh

No. Kind of boring 60's music.

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,

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

Not my taste at all.

A few songs reminded me a tad of simon & garfunkel, as well as ledzep

Unoriginal

Some echoes of the Beatles and Rolling Stones but no song that really interested me. First album so far that I just wanted to turn off because I couldn't get into it.

Nicht meins...