The Pink Fairies
Never Never Land

In 1969, Pink Fairies was born, a group formed by the union of four musicians who were part of the London underground: guitarist and singer Paul Rudolph, bassist and vocalist Duncan Sanderson, and drummer Russel Hunter, who had played together in the Deviants, and another drummer, Twink, formerly of the Pretty Things.

Respected by the rest of the English music scene (they often shared the stage with Hawkwind, with whom Rudolph would play in the future, while Twink would be briefly in Stars, the last and ephemeral band of Syd Barrett) and considered precursors of punk and late Seventies hard rock, they debuted in 1971 with "Never Never Land", which proves that the theory of Fairies as indisputable inspirations for the hard rock of subsequent generations is only partly true. It is true that their heavy side is characterized like punk by a rough and jarring sound and a bare and sometimes monotonous songwriting, but it is equally true that these characteristics were typical of late Sixties American garage. The credit of Pink Fairies is more about having made a certain type of powerful and primitive rock mainstream in their homeland, which at the time was teeming with progressive sophistication and sonic refinements, but not so much about having coined an original style that would then shape punk, a credit which should rightly be assigned to the American Stooges and MC5.

The renowned music critic Cesare Rizzi, who in his book "Progressive & Underground" placed the Fairies among the minor bands of the English "underground" scene, says that their music is full of "guitar variants that come from the '60s, from the pinkfloydian ballad, to Hendrix, Santana and Peter Green". Indeed, "Never Never Land" seems a collection of already heard music: the intense ballad Heavenly Man sounds like a post-Barrett Pink Floyd song, Say You Love Me is clearly Hendrix-inspired, the fusion of Latin and blues rhythms in War Girl puts Santana's lesson into practice. But not only: the anthemic Do It, roaring and boisterous, is an imitation of MC5 and to a lesser extent so is the tight and nervous rock'n'roll of Teenage Rebel (not surprisingly, the Fairies would collaborate with Wayne Kramer, leader of the authoritative Detroit band); Track One Side Two is a poignant piano ballad somewhat in the manner of Procol Harum until it is assaulted by a sustained rhythm and Rudolph's guitar incursions; moreover, the two shorter pieces, the instrumental intermezzo Thor and the concluding ballad The Dream Is Just Beginning, so reverberated and effected, recall Hawkwind. The more original episodes, thus the best, are the dreamy and oneiric title-track, sweet and subdued in the verses, lively and sunny in the choruses and hallucinated in the finale, and the extended hard rock escapade of Uncle Harry's Last Freakout, full of instrumental cues and characterized by a dizzying final acceleration: this track would influence the second manner Hawkwind, the "bad" ones of Lemmy and Robert Calvert, and consequently also Motorhead a few years later.

Essentially, Pink Fairies are a respectable band and "Never Never Land" is a good music album, but not as exceptional and innovative as some critics want to make believe. In the early '70s, there were more original musical realities than the band in question, and this album can prove it, as it has aged rather poorly. As for their influence, more than for their music, the Fairies inspired subsequent generations for their rebellious and violent spirit, for their adherence to extreme counterculture movements, and for the promotion of free concerts (in August 1970, they played for free just steps from the Isle of Wight festival): in socially uncomfortable and politically incorrect contexts like late Seventies punk and hard rock, these details also matter.