Tuesday Tuneage
The Pretty Things - "Blue Turns To Red"
1999

The Pretty Things formed in the UK in the mid-sixties, are named after a great Bo Diddley song, and are noted for (among other accomplishments):

- Being considered in their formative years to be like the Rolling Stones, but - pick your descriptor - "more raw" or "more raunchy" or "nastier."

- Recording S.F. Sorrow, one of the early concept albums.

- Also being known as Electric Banana, which recorded stock music that ended up on soft-core and horror films. (And not to be confused with The Electric Prunes or Kevin Arnold's Electric Shoes.)

- Being on Led Zeppelin's Swan Song label for a time in the seventies. (This doesn't seem like that big of a deal when you consider the prior entry. Electric Banana!)

As for "Blue Turns To Red," it's from their 1999 album Rage Before Beauty, which is one of those aging-heavyweight-still-packs-a-punch affairs. It's a tasty tune with a killer chorus, sweet backing vocals behind Phil May's gutsy lead, and is pretty much flawless in my book.