The Pretty Things - Balboa Island (2007)

"One of the greatest R&B bands of all time--real wild!" -- Van Morrison "The Pretty Things always made the Stones look tame, and the time has definitely come for their renaissance." -- Dave Gilmour, Pink Floyd "The Pretties were great on stage--always far more rebellious than The Stones. You could like The Stones, but if you were a real rebel, it was always The Pretties." -- Gary Brooker, Procol Harum

Balboa Island is legendary British rock group The Pretty Things' long-awaited eleventh studio album in a forty-three-year recording career! Their first CD release in over eight years, many already regard it as on par with the band's very greatest '60s and '70s recordings. From the stadium-sized rock of "All Light Up" to the raw acoustic guitar blues of "Feel Like Going Home" and the Beatles/Abbey Road style of "Dearly Beloved," The Pretty Things have crafted a dark album--brooding, powerful, mysterious, and edgy. These thirteen new songs--mostly originals, but also including an acoustic cover of early Bob Dylan song "The Ballad of Hollis Brown"--have a rawness, intensity, depth, and passion unmatched by any of the band's contemporaries: the Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, or The Who. None of the class of '64 has enough gas left in the tank to make an album like this! Founded in 1964 by lead vocalist Phil May and lead guitarist Dick Taylor--who was the Rolling Stones' original bass guitarist prior to starting The Pretty Things--the band has always followed its own fiercely independent path. Although the huge international breakthrough of the Rolling Stones or The Who has eluded the group, the members' uncompromising musical integrity has given them a cult following around the world.