Emotions & Singles A`s & B`s ( 2 CD Set )

Emotions & Singles A`s & B`s ( 2 CD Set )

The Pretty Things' third album, 1967's Emotions, exists in a sort of creative no-man's-land within the group's body of work -- at this point, the Pretties were moving past the blood-rare R&B of their early hits, but they hadn't yet embraced the ambitious psychedelia of S.F. Sorrow and Parachute, and on Emotions they sounded like a tougher-than-average pop band with a taste for folk-rock and plenty of interesting ideas...but that wasn't what anyone wanted or expected of the Pretty Things at the time. The band was also saddled with a less than sympathetic producer, Steve Rowland, who handed several of the tracks over to arranger Reg Tilsley, who added string and horns that distract from what the group was doing rather than complementing the songs. Heard all these years later, the best moments of Emotions recall Face to Face-era Kinks (especially the cheeky "Photographer") and the Stones circa Between the Buttons ("Growing in My Mind"), though the Pretty Things still sound tougher and leaner than either group, even when they're embracing acoustic guitars (cue up the bluesy "Tripping" for evidence). In 1998, Emotions was reissued in an expanded edition that added an additional seven tracks, including alternate mixes of "Photographer," "My Time," "The Sun," and "There Will Never Be Another Day" that strip away Tilsley's orchestral gingerbread and allow us to hear the songs the way the Pretties originally intended (generally to their advantage), while also including a storming cover of the Kinks' "House in the Country." In 2008, Snapper reissued Emotions yet again in tandem with Singles A's & B's, a compilation originally released in 1977 that features 13 tunes recorded during the band's tenure with EMI. Leading off with the superb psychedelic single "Defecting Grey," this collection is an enjoyable overview of the wildly adventurous period that followed Emotions, though most of it is a very different kettle of fish than the album that's this set's main event, and like Emotions, the material has been remastered and sounds great. Snapper's new edition also includes great liner notes from noted Pretty Things scholar Mike Stax. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi