The last album recorded by
the Pretty Things before
Phil May left; within months of this recording, the band split for a few years. Even more than
Silk Torpedo,
Savage Eye seemed to have been cannily devised with an eye toward picking up FM airplay in the U.S. There were hard rock, glam rock, and AOR rock influences from
David Bowie,
Queen,
John Lennon, and
Paul McCartney to be heard at various points, and while this album wasn't explicitly derivative of any of them, it didn't have much of a personality of its own, either. It certainly didn't sound like
the Pretty Things, for gosh sakes. And although it went to number 163 on the charts and was one of only two records by the band to chart in the States, it was one of their least memorable. ~ Richie Unterberger