Warthur Stripped down to a power trio, with a new lead guitarist in the form of Larry Wallis, on their third album the Pink Fairies hardened their sound and went for a more rough and ready garage rock approach. Gone are the occasional softer moments and harmonies of Never Never Land; here, they present what may qualify as the closest thing to fully-fledged punk that any UK-based proto-punk band attained. (They aren't quite on the Stooges level of "basically punk several years early", but you could see how they could get to punk from this starting point.) A nicely executed evolution which injected the project with new life just when it needed it.

Warthur Sounding for all the world like a less spacey, more poppy, and more hard rock-oriented version of Hawkwind, Pink Fairies' debut album delivers a psychedelic sound which clearly represents a major update from the 1960s and bridges the gap between the hippie-era classics and the neo-psychedelic works by the likes of the Bevis Frond. Whilst there were already harder, louder, heavier, more metallic sounds on the scene by 1971, few managed to convey a sense of sheer psychedelic anarchy to the same extent as this one. Worth a listen for anyone who appreciates the heavy psych sound of the early 1970s.

cannon On one side of the Atlantic there was The Fugs and thier freak folk/proto-punk poetry protests, thus followed by The Stooges and the MC5 scratching, spitting and crawling thier way out of the Motor City and on the other side of the pond, The Deviants who molted into the Pink Fairies and Third World War slithering out from the underground sewer of London with thier libertarian left wing anarchy to shake the establishment. 1970, the free festivals were flourishing with the hippy haze and biker battalions indulging in the ingestion of hallucinogens and marijuana and the Pink Fairies were the house band.

Guitarist/vocalist Paul Rudolph, bassist Derek Sanderson and drummer Russel Hunter had left the proto-stoner/freak folk hippy funsters The Deviants in 1970 and hooked up with drummer "Twink" who had played on the psychedelic rock opera masterpiece, 'S.F. Sorrow' from The Pretty Things in 1968 and released a solo album with the help of some of the Deviants titled, 'Think Pink' in 1970. Though with two drummers in the band it was "Twink" that laid down some tracks taking the lead vocals and drums with Rudolph completing the rest of tracks with his vocals on the Fairies 1971 debut, 'Never Never Land'.

The album opens up with "Do It" which would become thier anthem, "It's rock and roll man, and the message is, Do it!" A punch in the gut, a kick in the ass and a 2X4 to the teeth. Raw, ravishing, revolution rock 'n' roll. "Twink's" other tracks, "Heavenly Man" is somewhat a Floydian floating psych trip. "Wargirl" is laid back and Rudolph's reverbing guitar is right out of this world and "The Dream Is Just The Beginning" is a short acoustic number, just over a minute long.

Rudolph's brusque vocals with his raw, sloopy slammering guitar chops out boot stomping proto-punk on "Say You Love Me" and "Teenage Rebel". "Uncle Harry's Last Freakout" proto-typifies what the Fairies are all about, LSD induced interstellar illusions, good times, hectic heavy metal and revolting rioting rock 'n' roll. This is Rudolph's all out guitar assault. Over the wall wah wahs, entrenching echoes, deaf defying distortion and far too loud. An eleven minute mayhem. No control.

The title track takes on that space/psych sound similar to Floyd's, 'Obscured By Clouds" as does the opening two and half minutes of "Track One, Side Two" and then kicks into proto-metal pyro-technics and is followed by the Hawkwind-ish space/psych exploration instrumental, "Thor".

"The Snake", originally released as a single and is the A-side to "Do It" is contained as a bonus track on some reissues is argubly with "Do It", the Fairies MO, has to be one of the most unrefined, blistering proto-punk songs in history.

Paul Rudolph would leave after the Fairies second album, 'What A Bunch Of Sweeties', fed up with Sanderson's and Hunter's LSD use joined Hawkwind and former UFO guitarist Larry Wallis stepped in for 'Kings Of Oblivion'. Die hard fans of The Stooges and the MC5 are recommended to check out this album as are the loyal anarchists of punk rock's hey day.