S.F. Sorrow

4th LP by The Pretty Things. Originally recorded in 1967 around the same time as Pink Floyd’s Piper and The Beatles Sgt Peppers and at Abbey Road Studio’s with Norman Smith on production but for a yet unknown reason “possibly line up changes” was only released in December 1968, S. F. Sorrow is based on a short story by Phil May and is generally acknowledged to be the first rock opera ever giving Peter Townsend the inspiration to write Tommy. This album is certainly one of the best things The Pretties did and it represents a significant musical advance for them, that has influenced other artists of that era - for example, one of its tracks Private Sorrow sounded similar to subsequent Jethro Tull compositions on Aqualung. Despite its influence, it was largely unheralded at the time and did not sell well and did not chart in the UK or USA .