Various Artists - Oh! You Pretty Things: Glam Queens And Street Urchins 1970-76 (Grapefruit)

Format:  3 x CD Clamshell
Cat No:  CRSEGBOX087

In the teenage wastelands of grey early Seventies Britain, where the musical landscape was dominated by introspective singer-songwriters and dour rock bands, the emergence of the outrageous, androgynous, peacock-plumaged Glam Rock scene provided a vital spark in the dark.
Sadly the genre was quickly hijacked by the backroom hustlers of the British music industry and their mutton-dressed-as-glam pop idol marionettes. However, Oh! You Pretty Things ignores such lightweight fripperies to concentrate on the real deal.
This collection focuses on the twin central strands of Glam Rock: the cerebral and the visceral, with the artier, experimental element of the scene joined by the Ladbroke Grove street rockers and the Steve Marriott-channelling chirpy Cockney geezer street urchins, many of whom had been to drama school and knew how to strike a pose.
We examine the trash-aesthetic fault line that joined the seedy, no-longer-swinging London of the early Seventies with New York’s sleazy demi-monde and the incorrigible hucksters of Hollywood. The latter were led by Kim Fowley, ably assisted by LA scenester Rodney Bingenheimer, who opened Rodney’s English Disco (allegedly at Bowie’s suggestion), where the underage groupies, teenage runaways and glitter queens of Sunset Strip hung out with visiting British rock royalty and the likes of Alice Cooper and a wasted Iggy Pop.
Incorporating huge British bands (Roxy Music, Slade, Sweet etc) and the leading US acts on the scene (New York Dolls, Jobriath, Lou Reed, Iggy & The Stooges), this four-hour anthology of prettiest stars, prima ballerinas and real cool traders covers all bases. Some acts were defined purely by glam, others (ELO, Strawbs, Thin Lizzy) merely paid the neighbourhood a fleeting visit, while the likes of Despair and England’s Glory would only find their niche after the more streetwise element of glam mutated into punk.
Big hits, inexplicable misses, seminal glam texts, cult classics, key album tracks, alternative versions and even a clutch of previously unreleased but essential recordings: Oh! You Pretty Things – housed in a clamshell box that contains a 40-page booklet of amazing photos and incredible stories - assembles all these and more to act as the definitive primer of a relatively short-lived but glorious musical and popcultural phenomenon.

TRACKLISTING:

DISCO ONE:
1. PYJAMARAMA – Roxy Music
2. MA-MA-MA BELLE –
Electric Light Orchestra
3. BARBECUTIE - Sparks
4. JOEY (single version) –
Pretty Things
5. TUMBLE WITH ME –
The Hollywood Brats
6. ROLLING WITH MY BABY
(single version) - Silverhead
7. TEENAGE ARCHANGEL –
Be-Bop Deluxe
8. ON THE BALL - Streak*
9. ONCE BITTEN TWICE SHY
(album version) – Ian Hunter
10. KERB CRAWLER
(single version) - Hawkwind
11. PAYROLL - Brutus
12. BRIGHT LIGHTS –
England's Glory
13. ANDY WARHOL – Dana Gillespie
14. BLUE MOVIE STAR - Rococo
15. WHITE LIGHT WHITE HEAT –
Mick Ronson
16. SEND ME THE BILL FOR YOUR
FRIENDSHIP – Duncan Browne
17. POWERMAN – The Kinks
18. UP IN THE AIR – Bearded Lady
19. THE PRETTIEST STAR –
Simon Turner
20. THE COPS ARE COMING –
Heavy Metal Kids
21. GLITTERY OBITUARY –
Blackfoot Sue
22. STREET URCHIN – Pink Fairies

DISCO TWO:
1. TAKE ME BAK 'OME - Slade
2. LITTLE DARLING – Thin Lizzy
3. CAT'S EYES - Zior
4. SATELLITE OF LOVE – Lou Reed
5. GUN – John Cale
6. LADY EASY ACTION - Despair
7. SHAME SHAME SHAME –
The Hammersmith Gorillas
8. B-MOVIE BEDTIME (demo version) –
Doctors of Madness
9. GIMME SOME SKIN –
Iggy & The Stooges
10. RAT CRAWL – Third World War
11. GIVE YOURSELF A CHANCE –
Agnes Strange
12. CHANCE MEETING – Bryan Ferry
13. THE PURPLE SPEED QUEEN –
Curved Air
14. EARTHLING - Jobriath
15. BIG DAY –
Phil Manzanera featuring Eno
16. AROUND AND AROUND - Slowload*
17. STRANGE MOVIES – The Troggs
18. ROSIE'S COMING TO TOWN - Rosie*
19. QUEENAGE BABY – Wayne County
20. SWEET TRANSVESTITE – Tim Curry
21. THE SIX TEENS - Sweet

DISC THREE:
1. PERSONALITY CRISIS –
New York Dolls
2. I'M WAITING FOR THE MAN –
Tina Harvey
3. SMALL TOWN, BIG ADVENTURES –
John Howard
4. SPACE ACE – Brett Smiley
5. THE DANCER – Leo Sayer
6. PEACHES (WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?) -
Richmond
7. GOING HOME - Strawbs
8. I LOVE YOU FOR YOUR MIND (NOT
YOUR BODY) - A Raincoat
9. THE MONK – Rupert Hine
10. ALL I WANNA BE - Rusty
11. THE BROWNS - Duffy
12. LAST CHANCE – The Winkies*
13. RAGMAN – Hard Stuff
14. DOG MEAT – Flamin' Groovies
15. DOZY DORA - Bullfrog*
16. LITTLE GIRL - Spiv
17. NOT FADE AWAY (single version) -
Fumble
18. HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT –
Crushed Butler
19. DODGEM DUDE (demo version) –
Michael Moorcock & The Deep Fix
20. HOLLYWOOD NITES – Kim Fowley
21. KING OF THE NIGHT TIME WORLD –
Hollywood Stars
22. THE LAST OF THE TEENAGE IDOLS –
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
23. SATURDAY GIGS – Mott The Hoople