Saturday, July 12, 2008

pink fairies: down and out in neverneverland



peter pan needn't apply; wendy really ought to bring a chaperone.


Exploding onto the UK scene in 1970 out of the still smouldering ashes of The Deviants and The Pretty Things, Pink Fairies were the darlings of Ladbroke Grove and the underground free press.

Sex Pistols' Johnny Rotten had not one bad word to say of the Fairies, something of an achievement given his zeal to rubbish anything outwith his small coterie built around Finchley, Fullham and the Kings Road. If The Stooges and MC5 were progenitors of punk in the U.S., then Pink Fairies were sperm donors who refused to fuck about.

They also could turn it down a notch too, to great effect, on quieter tracks like "Heavenly Man" which - to my mind - recalls the best of the Twink's ex-band, The Pretty Things, and dare I say it, the Pink Floyd.

Paul Rudolph (guitar, vocals); Sandy Sanderson (bass); Russel Hunter (drums); and the effervescent "Twink" (John Alder) on drums and vocals.

If you can't groove to this LP, you're already dead.

This is much more my cup of tea, down in the park or otherwise. Maybe I should've led off today's preceding post with 'twinks' in the park...

PINK FAIRIES: DO IT from "NeverNeverLand" LP (Polydor) 1971 (UK)

PINK FAIRIES: HEAVENLY MAN from "NeverNeverLand" LP (Polydor) 1971 (UK)

PINK FAIRIES: WAR GIRL from "NeverNeverLand" LP (Polydor) 1971 (UK)

REMASTERED - BUY IT

13 comments:

Löst Jimmy said...

Never Never Land is a superlative album.

ib said...

Agreed. Thanks for the props. Pink Fairies are sadly very much overlooked, I feel.

Mr. Beer N. Hockey said...

The quarter hour long version of the Velvet's "Waiting For the Man" I saw them perform a little better than 30 years ago had me thinking I should not have cut my hair for a while there.

ib said...

It's the eternal rock n' roll animal dilemma, Beer ; short or long ?

Mr. Beer N. Hockey said...

The long rock song is one of the hardest tricks to perform. Off the top of my head two such examples are Status Quo's "4500 Times" and Biafra and DOA's "Full Metal Jack Off."

ib said...

Joy Division done good, I believe, on their marathon cover of the Velvets' "Sister Ray"; the original being just as entertaining and exhausting in equal measure. And also the Pistols' cover of "No Fun" on the flip side to "Pretty Vacant".

Actually, when I think on it the more I tend to agree with you. I am fond of a great many long, long songs. But most of them are more jazz oriented than rock.

That sounds almost unforgivably cheesy, doesn't it ?

ib said...

P.S., Beer. I just remembered how long and frazzled are some of the Buttholes' best moments.

The Ministry, too.

ib said...

Admittedly, it depends on your definition of "long".

Mr. Beer N. Hockey said...

Sister Ray is some sweet jazz. Any song that cannot fit onto a 7" 45 fits my definition of long.

ib said...

Agreed. I feel duty bound to remind you that the Pistols version of the Stooges was rudely edited to fit on their 45, however.

Mr. Beer N. Hockey said...

When I was living in England I played the Pistols' "No Fun" in the tiny bedroom, with the window I almost fell out of because I was so loaded, on a record player fitted with its own speaker. 5 watts of merciless power. Later today I shall entertain the neighbours and myself with the same record and a few beer. Then maybe I will play the ding dong song.

ib said...

Have a beer for me, Beer. I just opened a bottle of red wine here. I will toast you and possibly play that same track as an MP3. I still have the 45. VS 184. For some unaccountable reason, I have remembered the Virgin serial no. down through the years. It remains indelibly printed on my brain.

ib said...

Actually, I was purchasing said bottle of wine when the proprietor of the Off Sales told me about the stabbing at T in the Park. Apparently, although I can find no account of it, a body was found dead in a tent also. It just goes to prove how terrible the music was.