S.F. Sorrow (studio album) by The Pretty Things
The Pretty Things bestography
S.F. Sorrow is ranked as the best album by The Pretty Things.
Upcoming concerts


Listen to S.F. Sorrow on YouTube
S.F. Sorrow track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 81 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
S.F. Sorrow rankings
Latest 20 charts that this album appears in:
You can include this album in your own chart from the My Charts page!
S.F. Sorrow collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 123 members
S.F. Sorrow ratings

where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 255 ratings for this album.
Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
---|---|---|---|---|
70/100 ![]() | 07/24/2022 03:06 | ![]() | ![]() | 68/100 |
60/100 ![]() | 07/19/2022 15:52 | TheWongs | ![]() | 65/100 |
75/100 ![]() | 07/16/2022 05:09 | mityam | ![]() | 75/100 |
90/100 ![]() | 06/12/2022 14:40 | ![]() | ![]() | 80/100 |
75/100 ![]() | 05/18/2022 11:52 | ![]() | ![]() | 69/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 78.7/100, a mean average of 77.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.9/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.0.
Please log in or register if you want to be able to leave a rating
S.F. Sorrow favourites
Showing latest 20 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 47 members
S.F. Sorrow comments
Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 21 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Maximum Rated First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)

Always a big pleasure to listen; as every concept album/opera rock, it gets more and more points if listened from the beginning till the end no stop.
Got sucked into the album in the first listen. This is a really crazy psychedelic story about some strange guy named SF Sorrow. There are some really trippy songs on here, my favorites being Baron Saturday and Defecting Grey. There’s great guitar playing throughout and this band can really rock. This has become one of my favorite albums ever after a random encounter with it a few days ago. This is a highly under rated album. There’s a dark sort of theme throughout this album that for some reason gives me Courage the Cowardly Dog vibes. SiTtInG aLoNe On A bEnCh WiTh YEW!
pretty things. musical. decent enough
An album that while very much of its time, is never a boring listen. It's often called the first rock opera, but the storyline becomes a bit incoherent lyrically. Interesting to listen to this against some of the albums doing the same thing in the era ("Tommy" and "Arthur" come to mind immediately) and compare/contrast.

Not sure what to expect going into this. Wasn't half bad. Rating (73.46)

S.F. Sorrow contains a lot of what makes music from the 60s appealing. The Beatles' pop sensibilities and chemistry, The Velvet Underground's willingness to push the boundaries of rock music, The Who's loudness and rock 'n' roll. And to tie it all together, this S.F. Sorrow may very well be the first ever rock opera. I'm glad to see it hasn't been completely forgotten on this website.
RIP Phil May, great singer and the first true long haired rock musician!!
Excellent album. Takes a few listens to get into but once you do you are rewarded time & time again

Pretty much underrated! They are way ahead of their time.

One of the best - and perhaps the most musically prophetic - albums of the 60’s. Aspects of it are so way ahead of its time that it shocks you on first listen.
In terms of comparisons to Tommy and whether it influenced that album. I don’t find it at all similar other than the conceptuality of it. It is also a way better album than Tommy which is a prime example of trying way to hard.
Please log in or register if you want to be able to add a comment
Your feedback for S.F. Sorrow

A lot of hard work happens in the background to keep BEA running, and it's especially difficult to do this when we can't pay our hosting fees :(
We work very hard to ensure our site is as fast (and FREE!) as possible, and we respect your privacy.