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Balboa Island Image
Metascore
64

Generally favorable reviews - based on 6 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.7

Universal acclaim- based on 7 Ratings

  • Summary: After more than eight years, the British group returns with its latest album.

Top Track

All Light Up
All light up, all light up All light up, all light up All light up, all light up All light up, all light up Revolution sixty-nine, I was there, it... See the rest of the song lyrics
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 6
  2. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. The overall feel of the set, from the Who-like bashfest 'Buried Alive' to the gritty cover of Bob Dylan's 'Ballad of Hollis Brown,' is undeniably galvanizing in all the right ways.
  2. Ultimately, it’s the highlights that stand out most on Balboa Island.
  3. Not bad at all, but unless you're a die-hard fan you'll want to be a little selective.
  4. Q Magazine
    60
    The world will still ignore them, but mustering such firepower this late in the game is noble. [Oct 2007, p.105]
  5. Mojo
    60
    The Pretties turn in a brand new album of mostly original material recorded the righteous way on analogue gear, displaying considerably more energy and invention than most what's around today. [Nov 2007, p.108]
  6. Uncut
    40
    While they sound no less vital than their infuriatingly profitable contemporaries, they sound no more, either. [Oct 2007, p.101]
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 2
  2. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. Letty
    Oct 23, 2007
    10
    An R&B masterpiece. Raw, real, dark and emotive. Buy it! Trust me.
  2. ToddW.
    Oct 25, 2007
    5
    I look at The Pretty Things as the Cynthia Lennons of rock-n-roll. Forever waiting at the train station for their ride to stardom to come in. I look at The Pretty Things as the Cynthia Lennons of rock-n-roll. Forever waiting at the train station for their ride to stardom to come in. It's always been about timing with these guys. I consider 'S.F. Sorrow' - recorded the same year as 'Sergeant Pepper's' and the 'The Piper at the Gates of Dawn,' and in the same studio - to be one of my top 100 all-time favorite albums, and 'Parachute' is knocking on that door as well. Unfortunately, The Pretty Things never got any acclaim for either offering, but they keep plugging away undaunted in their British R&B root cellar, putting to shame most every current pretender. I guess there's something to be said for tenacity, but it won't send the ship of salvation to their island of anonymity. Collapse