Pink Fairies - What A Bunch Of Sweeties (1972) [Reissue 2002]

What a Bunch of Sweeties is a 1972 album by the UK underground group Pink Fairies. Twink had left the band before the recording of this album. Former The Move guitarist Trevor Burton occasionally joined the band for gigs and contributes to a couple of tracks, otherwise the band is the same line up stranded in San Francisco as The Deviants in '69 following the loss of vocalist Mick Farren.

The best-loved of the original Pink Fairies' three Polydor albums is also, contrarily, the lesser of them all. Recorded in 1972 at a time when the band's own reputation as hippie hell-raisers was already being eclipsed by the soaring Hawkwind, What a Bunch of Sweeties found the band realigning themselves with the twisted Americana rock sensibilities of the latter-day MC5, high on noise but, sadly, low on the blistering commitment that was the hallmark of their debut album. The loss of founding member Twink may or may not have contributed further to the collapse, although there is no denying that, in full instrumental overdrive, the three-piece (plus guests) incarnation of the group was at least as dramatic as its predecessor. Indeed, a nine-minute assault on the Ventures' "Walk Don't Run" rates among the finest Pink Fairies recordings of all time, while the bonus inclusion of an even longer version lends this reissue even greater gravitas. There's also a hot version of the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There," the twisted country opus "Pigs of Uranus," and, rounding off the bonus tracks, a grimy reinvention of Don Nix's "Goin' Down." Elsewhere, however, What a Bunch of Sweeties founders on too many weak ideas drawn for far too long and too much reliance on churning rock jam riffs that could have been peeled off by any half-competent festival bill-filler of the era – a status that the Pink Fairies should never have been reduced to. ~ Review by Dave Thompson







Track Listing

01. Prologue (1:21)
02. Right On, Fight On (7:59)
03. Portobello Shuffle (4:24)
04. Marilyn (5:34)
05. The Pigs Of Uranus (3:27)
06. Walk Don't Run (9:13)
07. I Went Up, I Went Down (8:22)
08. X-Ray (3:08)
09. I Saw Her Standing There (Lennon/McCartney) (3:09)

Bonus tracks
10. Going Down (Previously unreleased) (5:39)
11. Walk Don't Run (First version) (Previously unreleased) (10:32)

Produced by Pink Fairies

The Band

• Paul Rudolph (The Deviants, Hawkwind - Guitar and Vocals
• Duncan Sanderson (The Deviants) - Bass
• Russell Hunter (The Deviants) - Drums

*****
• Trevor Burton - Guitar ("Right On, Fight On" and "Portobello Shuffle")

Notes

CD reissue researched, compiled and produced by Mark Powell
Tracks 9 and 10 mixed from the original multi-track master tapes by Paschal Byrne and Mark Powell on April 23rd 2002
All tracks remastered from the original master tapes by Paschal Byrne at The Audio Archiving Company, London April 2002

The cover was designed by Pennie Smith (who went on to become staff photographer for frendz). She gained legendary status with her pictures of The Clash, including the cover of London Calling.



Many thanks to the original uploader: lom404