Silk Torpedo provides an interesting glance into the glam era.
Beginning with "Dream" -- a ghostly instrumental prelude that the group's friends in Led Zeppelin would later cop for "In the Evening" -- this album launches into "Joey," a superb combination of piano boogie, crashing drums, and melodramatic choruses draped in Hammond organ.
Phil May's vocals on this piece run somewhere between Ian Hunter and Steve Tyler, and are every bit as effective.
"Maybe You Tried" is a glittering slice of glam rock, all pouting and hip-thrusting, with a simply killer guitar hook from Pete Tolson.
From this strong start, though, the album falters into a torpid sort of introspection.
Still, "Belfast Cowboys" deserves kudos for taking on the Irish question long before U2 was taking its first music lessons.
The CD reissue adds live versions of "Singapore Silk Torpedo" and "Dream/Joey," both recorded in 1974.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dream/JoeyPhil May, John Povey | The Pretty Things | Play | 06:45 | 15 MB | 47 MB |
| 2 | Maybe You TriedPhil May, Pete Tolson | The Pretty Things | Play | 04:20 | 9 MB | 33 MB |
| 3 | AtlantaPhil May, Pete Tolson | The Pretty Things | Play | 02:40 | 6 MB | 17 MB |
| 4 | L.A.N.T.A.Phil May, John Povey, Al Smith | The Pretty Things | Play | 02:23 | 5 MB | 16 MB |
| 5 | Is It Only LovePhil May | The Pretty Things | Play | 05:05 | 11 MB | 34 MB |
| 6 | Come Home MommaPhil May | The Pretty Things | Play | 03:42 | 8 MB | 27 MB |
| 7 | Bridge of GodPhil May | The Pretty Things | Play | 04:57 | 11 MB | 35 MB |
| 8 | Singapore Silk TorpedoPhil May, Pete Tolson | The Pretty Things | Play | 05:08 | 11 MB | 32 MB |
| 9 | Belfast CowboysPhil May, John Povey | The Pretty Things | Play | 04:55 | 11 MB | 35 MB |
| 10 | Singapore Silk TorpedoPhil May, Pete Tolson | The Pretty Things | Play | 05:08 | 11 MB | 32 MB |
| 11 | Dream/JoeyPhil May, John Povey | The Pretty Things | Play | 06:45 | 15 MB | 47 MB |
| 51 mins | 118 MB | |||||
| 51 mins | 361 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Skip Alan | Drums, Percussion, Vocals |
| 2 | Gordon Edwards | Bass, Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals |
| 3 | Jack Green | Vocals |
| 4 | Keith Harwood | Engineer |
| 5 | Phil May | Bass, Composer, Guitar, Percussion, Vocals |
| 6 | John Povey | Composer, Keyboards, Percussion, Vocals |
| 7 | Graham Preskett | Score |
| 8 | The Pretty Things | Primary Artist |
| 9 | Al Smith | Composer |
| 10 | Norman Smith | Producer |
| 11 | Pete Tolson | Bass, Bass (Acoustic), Composer, Guitar |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |