Biography:
The excessive, drug-fueled Pink Fairies grew out of the Deviants, a loose-knit band formed in 1967 by members of the West London hippie commune Ladbroke Grove. Initially dubbed the Social Deviants and consisting primarily of vocalist Mick Farren, guitarist Paul Rudolph, bassist Duncan Sanderson and drummer Russell Hunter, the group also featured satellite members Marc Bolan, Steve Peregrine Took and players from the band Group X, later rechristened Hawkwind. After three noisy, psychedelic albums and a U.S. tour, Farren exited to become a music journalist; the remaining Deviants returned to London, where they recruited vocalist and former Pretty Things drummer Twink (born John Alder), who suggested the name Pink Fairies. Despite gaining a reputation for mythic debauchery, the group remained largely an underground sensation before signing to Polydor and issuing their 1971 debut Never Never Land, a manic, decadent album featuring the live staples "Do It" and "Uncle Harry's Last Freak Out."
Shortly after the record's release Twink departed, and the Pink Fairies continued on as a trio for 1972's What a Bunch of Sweeties; recorded with assistance from the Move's Trevor Burton, the album reached the Top 50 on the U.K. charts, and was the group's most commercially successful effort. Soon, Rudolph exited to become a full-time member of Hawkwind, and was replaced by UFO's Larry Wallis for 1973's hard-rock excursion Kings of Oblivion. Twink rejoined the Pink Fairies' ranks a short time later, but the group nonetheless disbanded before the end of the year.
In 1975, the Kings of Oblivion-era line-up reunited for a one-off London gig; an enthusiastic response led to the official reformation of the nucleus of Rudolph, Sanderson and Hunter, who added former Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers vocalist Martin Stone before again disbanding in 1977. A decade later, the original line-up — minus Rudolph, but including Wallis — reunited for the album Kill 'Em and Eat 'Em before calling it quits yet one more time.
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(((((Pink Fairies - Never Neverland 1971)))))
Released over a year after their formation, “Never Never Land” is one freakin’, rockin’-rollin’ monster. The group formed in early 1970 around ex-Deviants Paul Rudolph (guitar and vocals), Sandy Sanderson (bass), Russell Hunter (drums) and the recently ex-Pretty Things drummer and vocalist, Twink. At their first gig at The Roundhouse, April 5, 1970, they were met with thunderous applause before they had even played a note, and their continued support from the London underground press helped their already heavy underground credentials, dubbing them as “The People’s Band”. Their first single, “The Snake”, is—I won’t mince words here—complete punk rock for 1970, and seven years before its’ time. John Lydon once referred to The Pink Fairies as his “favourite of the old wave rock bands”, and once you hear “Never Never Land” or “The Snake” single, you’ll soon know why. Paul “Black George” Rudolph commands his Baby Gibson Les Paul effortlessly into virgin, un-navigated realms of controlled noise from pure silk to raw power as Tony Iommi, Jimi Hendrix and Pete Townshend (circa “Live At Leeds”) all take roost in his head, and the complete abandon of Rudolph’s dosed-up guitar guides the whole ensemble into a series of abandoned freak and rolls previously unheard of in England. The album opens with “Do It”, the inflammatory, Twink-penned anthem that was the b-side of the previously mention “The Snake” single, here remixed and with an additional opening acoustic intro. It takes off into a get-off-yer-ass blistering rock out, Rudolph’s stunningly raw guitar builds and builds into a blinding coda that kicks everyone’s ass twice. Twink’s other tracks (“Heavenly Man”, “Wargirl” and “The Dream Is Just Beginning”) are quieter forays by comparison, but in no way any less addled.
“Say You Love Me” and “Teenage Rebel” are but two further examples of the tight but raw rock’n’roll that get spilled out at high speed, with Rudolph’s gruff vocals bayed over the ensuing loud, stomping free festival stomp-outs. An extended double-drum solo bridges into “Uncle Harry’s Last Freak Out”, their free festival closer. Running anywhere from 10-30 minutes live, it’s a little brief here at a mere 10 minutes 49 seconds, but no less raw or hectic. The double-drumming builds up a buffalo stampede in the background, drowning out Sanderson’s polite bass, but Rudolph’s guitar is all over the place. It’s far too loud, and it’s rocketing from speaker to speaker with stereo panning. It’s also filtered through Binson Echorec, distortion, wah-wah and infused with such a spirit of going for it that the surprise BRRRRRRRRING! synthesizer chord that breaks in gets you every time, bursting in like a manic pixie throwing fairy dust straight between your eyes. It then starts up again, but the echo unit is so heavy that it captures every single wisp of riffing and amplifies it into a freight train running through your head. It can only settle down from here, and it does, with Rudolph intoning: “Everyone should be so happy/everyone could be so merry/you and me could be so fairy…” It’s breaking down, then rising up again ever so slightly, and every small strum across the guitar bridge is a huge riff across the sky, the Binson on far too high. Before the other three Fairies know it, Rudolph is storming across the heavens in a chariot, and they’re holding onto the back of his black t-shirt for dear life, cause the echo is causing all his frenetic riffing to sound like hundreds of Rudolph’s playing at once and they can barely keep up. But they relax as all smears into a single mandied and echoed haze-out. “Never Never Land” originally came in a beautiful fold out 12” x 24” double-sided poster encased in a heavy, silk-screened PVC sleeve, and is a killer testimony of psychedelic punk rock.
1. Do It
2. Heavenly Man
3. Say You Love Me
4. War Girl
5. Never Never Land
6. Track One, Side Two
7. Thor
8. Teenage Rebel
9. Uncle Harry's Last Freakout
10. Dream Is Just Beginning
11. Snake [*]
12. Do It [Single Edit]
13. War Girl [Alternate Extended Mix]
14. Uncle Harry's Last Freakout [First Version]
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(((((Pink Fairies - What A Bunch Of Sweeties 1972)))))
“What A Bunch of Sweeties” is generally considered to be The Fairies’ weakest of their three main Polydor albums, but it’s an unfair comparison. Sure: the albums that chronologically flanked it fore and aft WERE better focused, maintained a consistently higher level of energy and direction throughout, etc. But The Pink Fairies were a casual proposition to begin with, based in all manner of freak flag flying in front of an anarchic musical backdrop of incorrigible racket making. Destined to be a group unrecognised for stability in any degree, the departure of Twink (their vocalist, drummer and songwriter) a year before the release of “Sweeties” left The Fairies as a trio comprised of Paul Rudolph (guitar and vocals), Sandy Sanderson (bass), Russell Hunter (drums) with occasional augmentation from ex-Move guitarist, Trevor Burton. This left a songwriting void that left Rudolph to gather the songwriting reins in the manner he had three years earlier on The Deviants’ third, self-titled album. First and foremost a musician, Rudolph rose to the lyrical challenge by inserting guitar solos all over, vocally directing the tracks just off-microphone throughout and unveiling his newly acquired Leslie speaker system, through which the majority of his playing would be fed.
“Sweeties” is a mystifying jumble of tracks as exuberant as they are shambolic, though resonating for most of the time with a simple clarity of feeling and passion. Despite Burton’s second guitar veering into down-market space boogie on two tracks and the appearance of two minor piss-takes, many moments of raw excellence makes “Sweeties” hang together in a crazy patchwork as much as the front cover of road manager Boss Goodman’s collection of underground paraphernalia. Furthermore, they both reflect accurately the state of the then-current flagging togetherness of the London underground which was already eroding under pressures both internal and external but still maintaining a presence, albeit wearily.
After the botched fake telephone skit of “Prologue” comes the boogie stomp anthem, “Right On, Fight On” as it cuts in after a false start. Relating the story of a police break-up at one of The Fairies’ free gigs with Hawkwind underneath the Westway overpass just off the Portobello Road, it’s rough and loose as hell. Russell Hunter stomps through the whole thing as Rudolph continues with hoarse exhortations of the title, to “come together” and to “keep a strong position” in a rallying cry over the loosest, blareing-est of street jams. “Portobello Shuffle” opens with a rollicking riff and another wake up call to “Roll out of your seats/Get out in the streets/There’s a new day a-comin’!” This and the previous community anthem feature Burton’s footstompin’, boogie-on rhythm guitar, but midway through he and everybody except Rudolph falls away as the door bursts down for no reason with a careening, massive guitar solo. It continues even as the band returns. The Leslie speaker kicks in and Rudolph’s STILL soloing, as though to compensate for the lack of lyrics. Once they’ve regrouped at a far slower pace for the closing instrumental, Rudolph turns in a poignant solo that speaks more than the previous token lyrics before it ever could, as it is both hopefully expressive, yet sad as can be. “Marilyn” opens with a Leslie-gunked guitar intro, slowed into a molasses-dragging, mandied-out sensation and a blatant excuse to discharge even more mindless, directionless energy. Sanderson’s bass repeats the same line over and over as Hunter gets primed for the drum solo as everything gets chopped down by Rudolph’s side-winding solo, getting churned into a froth by the Leslies into a fucked up, sloppy, needless and heedless and a stumbling, drug punk moment deluxe. Then a drum solo ensues for no real reason at all, and once that’s over, The Fairies bash out like their very lives depended on it. “The Pigs of Uranus” features lyrics taken from a Gilbert Shelton underground comic and set to a country/western send-up reminiscent of The Deviants’ “Let’s Drink To The People”. The last two thirds of the track sees Rudolph stick it into high gear with a stinging, gun-slinging solo, abandoning all other attempts at lyrics and just going for it.
Side two is where the real heart of the matter lies on “What A Bunch of Sweeties”, unfolding with the opening thud of tom-toms and a single strum across the bridge of Rudolph’s guitar resounds like a tidal wave with a rudely loud BRAAAANNNNNGGGGG…!
You can hear Rudolph bark vocal directives over the volume of his own amps and Hunter’s bank of swishing cymbals. From nowhere, the loudly recorded series of fierce waves of rebounding guitar undertow get thrown up and against the studio walls, set upon by Hunter’s persistently swishing cymbal accenting. Rudolph’s vocals are grandly John Wetton-with-a-sore-throat, barking out:
“I went up to her room
She hit me with a broom
And then she said to me, ‘Baby,
Walk don’t run…’”
…for this is indeed a cover of the best-known instrumental track by The Ventures, “Walk Don’t Run.” Only you’d never guess it until the vocals vanish and the piece is kicked into high gear with a blistering, buzzsawing guitar blitz at ten times the speed of the original. Rudoplh just goes for it with an incredible, run-on solo which trashes up “Walk Don’t Run” beyond recognition. Soon, there’s a lurch into “Middle Run”, an entire instrumental section fashioned by Rudolph that begins like “See Me, Feel Me” from “Live At Leeds” it’s its gentle mountain stream-iness, up and down the neck with the greatest of ease and without a thought for anything in the world except for letting it all go and letting it flow through his guitar and amplifier. And since “Walk Don’t Run” was a staple in The Fairies’ live set for years, Rudolph had already adopted a number of ways to go with his extended improvisations here. Dis-chord after dis-chord it builds, with Hunter just thrashing it all out for the fuck of it until he picks up speed and catches Rudolph’s blinding velocity with snare hits. Rudolph goes for it at top speed until he’s already nudged himself back into the flight path of the main “Walk Don’t Run” riff. A last wave of searing chords, notes and sheer noise with overall cymbal bashing and a final BBBWWWWMMMUMMMM and…it is done. Wow.
The far, far gentler strains of the elongated and beautifully hazed out ballad, “I Went Up, I Went Down” appear in the form of the most over-Leslie speaker-ed riffing on the album. The sound is completely liquid-like as the guitar intro builds, falls away and begins to blossom as the seed for a simple, phased melody. The bass and drums enter slowly, over the almost-babbling brook guitar as a ballad of the girl with the special pills unravels about as much as Rudolph himself: the unnamed little pill soon sees him floating on a cushion far over Notting Hill Gate and flying all over the place. Viewing colours never seen before, the title continually repeats as though yo-yo-ing back like an in AND out of body experience that never stays. “X-Ray” is almost Blaxploitation-like in its wah-wah and chunky riffing counterpointing Hunter’s dazed, “Shaft”-type hi-hat pattern. It all gets skewered by a Leslie’d to death guitar riff as Rudolph proclaims he’s “ready/steady to rock and rave”, and although it seems weary, it just pulls away from the threshold of collapsing. Even though it’s a Merseybeat-era Beatle cover, their version of “I Saw Here Standing There” is given an almost New York Dolls treatment as Rudolph’s twin overdubbed guitar separation allows for the same two-prong blitz of “Human Being”. His riffing is so Thunders-like as it drives down the middle of the song, trashing it all up harsh enough it’s almost a parody -- especially when his vocals get all hoarse on the Little Richard-inflected “woooo”s. It ends the album on a quick flourish, and for all its inconsistencies, “Sweeties” just might be a more punk statement than one may have initially guessed…And at top volume it’s damn near undeniable.
1. Prologue
2. Right on, Fight On
3. Portobello Shuffle
4. Marilyn
5. Pigs of Uranus
6. Walk Don't Run
7. I Went Up, I Went Down
8. X-Ray
9. I Saw Her Standing There
10. Going Down [*]
11. Walk Don't Run [*]
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(((((Pink Fairies - Kings of Oblivion 1973)))))
This was The Pink Fairies’ last stand right before the rot of inactivity from lack of funds set in and cancelled their Polydor contract. An album of soaring Marshall Superfuzz anthems and Ladbroke Grooves, this was their last album while they were still (for a short time, anyway) a cohesive unit. The undertow of Paul Rudolph leaving in 1972 and the sacking Mick Wayne after one shite single and a tour cancelled after a few gigs left The Fairies down to just the rhythm section of drummer Russell Hunter and bassist Sandy Sanderson. Their old friend Mick Farren suggested a replacement guitarist he knew from years earlier who had performed at the Phun City festival he had organized. The guitarist was none other than Larry Wallis, who had moved onto later-period Blodwyn Pig and then UFO before Farren’s suggestion. Lazza Wallis—a true Pink Fairy if there ever was one! He brought not only his cranked Stratocaster riffing and a good sense of structured songwriting to hang his flowing reckless guitar style upon, but a gleeful sense of humour and overall wiseacre rock and roll sensibility. “City Kids” (co-written by Wallis and Sanderson) is a street punk anthem of raving, speeding, hanging out and when Wallis sings the line “Park the car/And ruuuuuun…” it’s about as “Under My Wheels”-era Alice Cooper as it gets. “I Wish I Was A Girl” begins another musical fray with soaring intro guitar and Russell Hunter spraying all his cymbals like a Merseybeat Ringo on methedrine and if that’s Sanderson on bass it was his most pronounced playing ever on record. An elongated bridge in the middle continues as Wallis’ guitars have now four-folded into an overdubbed, pile driving ecstasy, yet it’s beyond mere boogie as the momentum keeps plateauing up and up. Lazza’s guitar is not only melody but rhythm as well, as Hunter and Sanderson keep getting in and out of sync and overcompensate with just thrashing it out. The title gets repeated over and over as a faded mantra to the back of this rough and ready work out. “When’s The Fun Begin?” is a Notting Hill Gate doper weaving down a deserted West London street, the only light his blurred vision can see is the reflection of street lights on the wet tarmac. It’s coiled and tense yet opiate-slackened at the same time, and Hunter’s bashing over Wallis’ foot-controlled police siren solo make the bust inevitable as the vocals are shoved into the back of a police van, the last words a panned, repeated phrase on the fadeout.
By this time the album has such a weirdly energetic and wasted atmosphere, you wonder how they can JUST keep it from falling apart— Larry Wallis’ structured songwriting and stunningly raw liquid-feel guitar playing keeps the sole surviving rhythm section busy, and the riotous instrumental, “Raceway” is where the three-man Fairies blast-out in a mid-sized hall at full volume with bright white overhead spotlights flicker on and off in an off-beat pattern catching the three longhairs in the act of proceeding to pummel the disbelieving audience. If Russell Hunter had four arms, he still wouldn’t be hitting half as many cymbals as he does here, and multiple Wallis solos are bending in the air over the trio. The coda is a flurry of high-pitched “Axe Victim” riffing, but trapped in a mandrax haze at twice the speed. “Chambermaid” and “Street Urchin” round out an album most people weren’t expecting from The Pink Fairies at this point in time—a strong, vibrant testimony to their no-bullshit rock and roll. And live it was even shatteringly LOUDER than before, which is damn near incomprehensible and frightening to even think about.
1. Do It
2. Heavenly Man
3. Say You Love Me
4. War Girl
5. Never Never Land
6. Track One, Side Two
7. Thor
8. Teenage Rebel
9. Uncle Harry's Last Freakout
10. Dream Is Just Beginning
11. Snake [*]
12. Do It [Single Edit]
13. War Girl [Alternate Extended Mix]
14. Uncle Harry's Last Freakout [First Version]
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+ 2 Bonus Albums.....
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