Some Short Rememberances Of Pete Tolson

Pete Tolson was an amazing guitarist who stood head and shoulders above most of his
contemporaries. Most of his best work never found it's way onto any studio recordings because he
had a very low boredom threshold - he couldn't bear to play anything more than once. He thrived in
a gig situation where there were no second chances, and you only got one shot. Despite all that
I'm about to high-light a couple of Studio performances to illustrate his incredible talent, one from
the beginning of his career and one from near the end.
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The dying chords of "Stone-Hearted Mama" were still ringing in my ears as I swung open the
control room door and descended the long flight of stairs down to the studio floor. The Scene was
'Abbey Road - Studio 2', the date was sometime in early 1971. Phil, Pete, Jon and Skip were
already down there and something was sounding pretty interesting.

Studio 2 Abbey Road

We (The Pretty Things) had just spent the best part of three days carefully constructing, overdubbing and 'manicuring' the A-Side of our next single (Stone-Hearted Mama). We were at the end
of our three day session in Abbey Road, in which we had been expected to come out with the
entire release, finished and wrapped up, but nobody had given much of a thought to what we were
going to put on the B-Side. It was already late - midnight had come and gone. I was always pretty
involved with the production side of things, so it wasn't till the A-Side was mixed that I finally went
down to the studio to see what was going on. And what was going on was: Pete had started
playing a riff and Phil and he were writing, and everybody (minus me) were playing a song called
"Summer Time". It sounded great. I picked up the Bass and it just rolled along - the whole thing
was such a natural good vibe. Engineers were scurrying about adjusting microphones and stuff.
We ran it through a few times. This was not something that we had thrashed out in rehearsals - this
was really fresh to everybody. We were almost ready to put it down (record it) ... It just seemed to
me that it needed a musical bridge. We had a verse and we had a chorus - when I suggested a
third part - "like what" came the reply ... "Well, something like" - and I found myself singing
"Count the Bluebirds in the sky" ... Etc., Yeah that's cool said Pete and Phil gave it his nod too,

(that's how I ended up having my name on the writing credits). The whole song was constructed on
the studio floor and ten minutes later we were recording it. During the previous three days, we'd
lost sight of who we really were, with almost every note being carefully scripted and rehearsed, in a
completely 'clinical' and controlled way, but then suddenly we were remembering who we were: a
rock band, and musicians who could play a bit.
Pete Tolson could certainly play a bit - he was 19 when we made this track. His playing on this
(essentially live) track was inspirational. Once he had been released from our more formal
recording mode that Norman Smith had devised for us, he grew and flourished in this new
environment. His playing on "Summer Time" is something that I go back to time and again,
whereas I never ever play "Stone-Hearted Mama" (which to my mind was not one of our finest
hours).

Pete Tolson Paris 1971

Strange indeed then, that "Summer Time": this song, recorded in such a hurry - and just to make
up the numbers (because we needed a quick B-Side), should stand out as such a gem. And
standout it does, thanks in no small measure to our brilliant young (at the time) guitarist Pete
Tolson. Pete had joined the Pretty Things about a year earlier and he had always impressed right
from the beginning, but in my mind at least, that night in Studio 2 really marked him out as
somebody extra-special.
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Have you ever ridden down Pacific Highway on a motor-bike ('Sickle'), with the wind in your hair,
the sun on your back, and shimmering also off the wide blue ocean below you? A blue ocean that
stretches out as far as the eye can see? ... No? ... Well, neither have I, but I've done the next
best thing. I've listened to to Pete Tolson's solo at the end of "Sickle Clowns" from our (XPTs)
"Parachute Reborn" album 2012. The original "Parachute"(1970) album was written by Phil May
and myself in 1969-70, and "Sickle Clowns" was an ode to "Easy Rider"(1969), which was a movie
that left quite an impression. When I listen to Pete's solo at the end, I can just smell the freedom of
the ocean and feel the warmth of the Californian sun. No flash bullshit here, no attempt to dazzle
the listener with technique or dexterity (all of which Pete had in bucket-loads). Just a few simple
notes, beautifully crafted with heart and soul into an evocative master-piece ... Well anyway,
that's what I hear. His supreme musicality went so much deeper than mere 'fingerboard
gymnastics', it went to the very centre of who he was - a man who struggled with communication,
except through his extraordinary ability as a musician to reach out and touch us and move us
emotionally - the object surely of all great 'art'.

Pete Tolson Malaga 2012

Picking out Pete's best work is an very personal thing, and if you ask the other guys who have
worked with him, they would probably all come up with completely different things to the ones I
have chosen. One thing we would all agree on is that he was one hell of a guitar player. I'm not
even sure that these examples are my favourites anyway, but they were for me significant
milestones. I'm sure that successive generations will be discovering his legacy, and although it was
a life so tragically cut short, there is plenty to discover.
He was a difficult man to know, but an amazing musician to work with.

Dearest Pete ... R.I.P. (And thanks for the memories)

Wally Waller
July 2016