How To Buy: Twink Records

Twink mimes with The Pretty Things on French TV - October 1968

The career of Twink (the English drummer/singer, not the Irish “entertainer”) is a long and complex journey, but his releases from the mid-’80s onwards on both his own and other record labels are a particular minefield for the uninitiated. First finding notoriety as drummer/leader of Colchester R’n'B band The Fairies in the early 1960s, John ‘Twink’ Alder went on to greater fame with psychedelic pop group Tomorrow. When that band began to disintegrate, he tasted his first glimpse of solo stardom as singer with spin-off duo The Aquarian Age, who issued one single on Parlophone Records in 1968. This single, and an unreleased track, were included on a CD re-issue of the self-titled Tomorrow album in 1999.

1. 10,000 Words In A Cardboard Box [single 'A' side]
2. Good Wizard Meets Naughty Wizard [single 'B' side]
3. Me [previously unreleased]

Twink with The Pretty Things on German TV - 1969

Twink followed this with even bigger success as drummer with The Pretty Things during their most critically-acclaimed period. It was towards the end of his time with the Pretties, in July and August 1969, that he recorded his excellent solo LP Think Pink (released in July 1970), which featured members of The Pretty Things, Tomorrow, The Deviants, and Steve Peregrin Took from Tyrannosaurus Rex. It’s a great psychedelic rock record and it put Twink on the map as an artist in his own right rather than just a sideman.

1. The Coming Of The Other One
2. Ten Thousand Words In A Cardboard Box
3. Dawn Of Magic
4. Tiptoe On The Highest Hill
5. Fluid
6. Mexican Grass War
7. Rock And Roll The Joint
8. Suicide
9. Three Little Piggies
10. The Sparrow Is A Sign

The Think Pink album also credited “The Pink Fairies Motorcycle Club and All-Star Rock and Roll Band” – a collective name for the musicians involved, taken from a short story written by The Deviants’ manager Jamie Mandelkau (rather than in reference to The Fairies). In October 1969, Twink, Took and ex-Deviants singer Mick Farren performed a gig billed simply as The Pink Fairies, and all three participated in a Mick Farren solo album recorded in December 1969 (with Took credited under the pseudonym ’Shagrat the Vagrant’). This incarnation of the Pinks did not last however; Twink soon fell out with Farren and Took, with Took and guitarist Larry Wallis then forming the band Shagrat in early 1970 (this sequence of events would be the subject of a bitter dispute between former friends thirty years later). Twink apparently spent the end of 1969/early 1970 recording a series of highly experimental, mainly drum or electronics-led demos played by Julian Briggs (bass) and himself (everything else) at Wizard Studios – Briggs’ basement studio in Hornsey. Briggs rediscovered the tapes in the ’90s and Twink remastered them in Los Angeles for a 1999 release on the Get Back label as ‘Twink – The Lost Experimental Recordings 1970‘. Some of the extended electronic passages are very industrial, approaching Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music, and far more atonal than anything else from Twink’s back-catalogue. Other pieces are marked by frantic drumming and heavy electric guitar riffs, and the album is really quite good in places. Unexpected Party is a reading from Tolkien’s ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’, while King Tin Tagel uses a sample apparently from the 1962 children’s adventure record ‘The Knights of the Round Table’, co-crediting it’s script-writer Jay Maurence.

1. Within
2. Ice Cool
3. Unexpected Party
4. Witches Brew
5. Psychedelic Electrician
6. You Reached For The Stars
7. Moondog
8. You Have Been Chosen
9. Drum Crazy
10. Angel
11. King Tin Tagel
12. Peter The Pill
13. Psychedelic Electrician (Scene 2)
14. Psychedelic Electrician (Scene 3)
15. Duel At Dawn
16. Psychedelic Electrician (Scene 4)

Get Back released further archive recordings in 2001 as ‘Twink - The Never Never Land & Think Pink Demos‘, again apparently recorded in the Winter of 1969/1970. Mick Farren has insisted that no demos were made for the Think Pink album, and the authenticity of these recordings has been questioned, with some suggesting they are actually the released tracks overdubbed with new parts. However, a comparison with the original albums reveals that they are indeed significantly different versions of the songs, and furthermore – to these ears at least – they sound like they were recorded in the same era. The one exception is the version of Do It noted as a demo, but which is identical to the single edit of the song (which is itself the same as the version from Never Never Land, but without the acoustic guitar intro). They are all excellent quality recordings – some tracks are (arguably) even better than the released album versions - and are highly recommended. One unresolved question is why Twink would record demos, at the end of 1969, of the tracks he had already completed for his debut solo album the previous July. One possible reason – which could also explain why Mick Farren has no recollection of making any demo recordings – is that Think Pink was not released until July 1970 – a full year after being recorded. It’s reasonable to guess that Twink thought the album would not be released in it’s original form and might have to be re-cut for a different record label, possibly under the Pink Fairies band-name he was planning to revive.

1. The Coming Of The Other One [much longer than the Think Pink track]
2. Dawn Of Magick [longer than the Think Pink track]
3. Fluid [alternative version of the Think Pink track]
4. Suicide [acoustic version of the Think Pink track]
5. Rock And Roll The Joint [faster version than the Think Pink track]
6. Sound Of Silk [acoustic version of the Never Never Land track Heavenly Man]
7. Thor [heavy phasing and feedback version of the Never Never Land track]
8. The Dream Is Just Beginning [acoustic version of the Never Never Land track]
9. Do It (demo) [single edit version]
10. Fluid (slow version) [slightly slower version than the Think Pink track]
11. Gandalf’s Garden [acoustic song about Hobbits]
12. Ten Thousand Words In A Cardboard Box [slower version than the Think Pink track]

In March 1970, the three remaining members of The Deviants - Russell Hunter (drums), Duncan ‘Sandy’ Sanderson (bass/vocals) and Paul ‘Black George’ Rudolph (guitar/vocals) - returned from a North American tour and immediately joined Twink (vocals/drums) in a new Pink Fairies. It’s plausible that they might have played on some of the material on The Never Never Land & Think Pink Demos, but they would definitely go on to cut the landmark proto-punk single The Snake / Do It, the Never Never Land LP, and numerous recorded radio and festival appearances before Twink departed in July 1971.

After spending some time in Morocco, Twink occasionally stood-in as Hawkwind‘s drummer at the end of 1971, and by early 1972 he had turned up in Cambridge playing in The Last Minute Put Together Boogie Band with Bruce Michael Paine (vocals/guitar) and John ’The Honk’ Lodge (bass, later replaced by Jack Monck). During January and February of ’72, Twink, Monck and guitarist Syd Barrett (ex-Pink Floyd) formed the short-lived trio Stars, and at some point around 1972, Twink, Monck, Dan Kelleher (guitar/keyboards) and George Bacon (guitar) completed a recording session at London’s Polydor Studios, with one song later surfacing on a 1991 compilation album. Twink briefly rejoined the Pinks at the end of 1973, and took part in at least one Pink Fairies reunion concert in 1975 (13 July – released in 1982 as Live At The Roundhouse). Another ’90s compilation album featured three tracks recorded in 1976 by a band called Glider, which included Twink (drums), Roger D’Elea (lead guitar/vocals), Andy Colquhoun (rhythm guitar) and Chas McKay (bass). Twink next formed The Fallen Angels in August 1976 with Greg Ridley and Mickey Finn (both formerly of The Steve Marriott Allstars), but a car accident on the way to their first gig left Twink hospitalised, following which this line-up disintegrated.

Twink then formed punk band The Rings after his recovery in early 1977, with himself as singer joined by Alan Lee Shaw (guitar), Rod Latter (drums) and Dennis Stow (bass). They played a gig at The 100 Club on 26 April 1977 which was recorded and would much later be released on CD. Shortly after this gig, Chiswick Records issued the bands only single – I Wanna Be Free / Automobile. The rest of the band split from Twink in August ’77 and became The Maniacs, while Twink reportedly kept The Rings going with stand-in musicians and planned to release a new single titled ‘Psychedelic Didgeridoo‘. Ultimately, the songs Psychedelic Punkeroo and Enter The Diamonds, recorded by Twink (drums/lead vocals), Kid Rogers (guitars/vocals), Fingers Falkner (keyboards) and Chris Chesney (lead guitar), were rejected as singles by Chiswick Records and were instead used to back a rushed new recording of Do It cut by Twink and Kid Rogers with Duncan (‘Danger Sun’) Sanderson (bass) and Little John Hodge (lead guitar) of The Lightning Raiders. The resulting 12″ EP Do It ’77 was issued in February 1978, credited to Twink & The Fairies (justified by the inclusion of former Pink Fairy Sanderson). Twink next moved to Belgium, where he played drums on British punk outsider Elton Motello‘s 1978 album Victim Of Time. By 1984, Twink was playing drums with a Swindon, Wiltshire-based band known as This World, later renamed Jazz, alongside Andy Davies (bass/vocals), Ricky John Cumner (guitar) and Wacka/John Williams (keyboards). Shortly afterwards, Twink would launch his solo career in earnest by founding his own record label.

 

TWK 1: Twink with Elton Motello - Apocalipstic / He’s Crying (7″ single, 1986). The first release on Twink’s label would appear to be a pairing of two tracks from Elton Motello’s 1978 album Victim Of Time, on which Twink played drums. Both tracks are British-style punk/new wave. The picture sleeve promised a forthcoming album to be titled ‘Twink meets Elton Motello‘, but this never materialised.

TWK 2: Twink & The Fairies - Space Lover (versions: Rock ‘n’ Roll No. 1 / Rock ‘n’ Roll No. 2 / Psychedelicised / Instrumental / Percussed) (12″ maxi-single, 1986). Reviving the Fairies’ name again with a band featuring Twink (drums/vocals), Chris Chesney (bass), Phil Capon (guitar) and producer Alan Ward (alias Elton Motello, keyboards), this EP offered multiple variations of one new track which, whilst not a bad song, didn’t really need five remixes. Also around this time, Twink, Chesney and backing vocalist Silvia recorded the song Mr. Coconut, apparently the theme tune for a rejected cartoon series.

TWK 3-7: Twink - Driving My Car / Wargirl (7″ single, 1987?). The 1991 compilation LP Odds & Beginnings included both sides of this single and credited the members of Twink’s mid-’80s group Jazz on Driving My Car, with new overdubs by Phillippe Capon (guitar) and Shelly Law & Lisa Goodenough (backing vocals) added at The Studio, Brussels; Wargirl featured his mid-’70s group Glider, with crowd noise background effects added at Portwell Studios, Weeley.

TWK 4-7: Kids Aid - Children Of The World / Instrumental / Letters (7″ single, 1986). In late 1985 the children of St. Benedict’s School, Colchester, inspired by Bob Geldof, launched a lottery for the benefit of the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development (CAFOD). Coordinated by religion teacher Bob Hastie, ‘Kids Aid’ prizes included a walk-on part in ‘Dempsey & Makepeace’, a year’s supply of Rolo’s and a day in the BBC’s ‘Dr Who’ studios, and the school raised £42, 000. They then began looking for a promoter for a charity record and in November 1986 this single was released on the Colchester-based Twink label, featuring members of new wave pop group The Fixx alongside 45 pupils of St Benedict’s. It was written by music teacher Adrian Queen and produced by Twink at Portwell Studios, Farmyard Studios, Terminal Studios and The Studio, Brussels, and sounds only slightly better than you would expect an ’80s school choir charity record to sound.

In 1987, The Pink Fairies reformed for an album and tour, featuring founder members Twink, Duncan Sanderson & Russell Hunter, with guitarists Larry Wallis and Andy Colquhoun. Kill ‘Em And Eat ‘Em was released on Demon Records in 1987, while Chinese Cowboys: Live 1987 was eventually released through Captain Trip Records in 2005. Twink quit the band during the tour and turned to other projects; he joined veteran rockers Magic Muscle as drummer for a series of reunion gigs in mid-1988, one of which (1 August) was released as the 1989 live album One Hundred Miles Below on the One Big Guitar label. Twink’s input was limited to the role of drummer, but the album is quite strong if you’re a fan of proggish psych rock, and is very well recorded for a live album, albeit with sparse ’80s production. On 22 October 1988 Twink sang some of his back-catalogue in Chicago backed by psych revivalists Plasticland, which resulted in the 1989 Twink & Plasticland live album You Need A Fairy Godmother on Midnight Records. The musicians from Plasticland thankfully shunned any attempt to make the songs sound relevant to an ’80s audience and instead ripped through them very much as they were originally intended. While the playing is a bit rough in places it’s an enjoyable album and has aged better than Twink’s next solo album, which covered much of the same territory in a less satisfying way.

1. The Snake
2. Do It
3. 10,000 Words In A Cardboard Box
4. Mama Keep Your Big Mouth Shut
5. Psychedelic Punkeroo
6. Seize The Time
7. Alexander

During 1988, Twink played with his own band featuring Robbie Gladwell (lead guitar), Roy Little (bass), Mark Hebden (rhythm guitar) and Geoff Knight (drums), who made an appearance at the Henham Music & Arts Festival. He collaborated with The Bevis Frond on the 1990 Bevis & Twink album Magic Eye (Woronzow Records), before returning to his solo career. This is much more of a Bevis Frond album than a Twink album, in spite of the billing, with most of the songs treading a familiar angsty alternative rock path. The notable exception is, of course, The Fairy, on which Twink sings about, well, himself. It’s a good album, but Bevis fans will enjoy it more than Twink fans.

1. Sorrow Remembered
2. Flying Igloos
3. The Fairy
4. She Darks The Sun
5. Eclipse
6. Fractured Sky
7. Black Queen
8. Gryke
9. Bag Drip

 

TWK 5-7: Twink - Psychedelic Punkeroo / Seize The Time (7″ / 12″ single, 1990). The reboot of Twink’s solo output, and a pre-cursor to his belated second solo album.

TWK LP1; TWK CD1: Twink – Mr. Rainbow (LP, CD, 1990). Revisiting songs from his personal history, including tracks from Tomorrow, The Pretty Things and The Pink Fairies as well as some solo material, this album was cut by a line-up of Twink (vocals), Robbie Gladwell (lead & rhythm guitar), Darrell King (bass/electro-drums), Andy Dowding (drums), Richard Harker (backing vocals) and Tim Smith (guitar), and was produced at DJK Studios in Clacton. The label’s first CD was a digital version of the album. This collection really sums up the main problem with Twink’s solo material from the ’80s and ’90s: an over-reliance on past glories. The songs were all great first time around, but here they are needlessly re-recorded adding only one newish track. None of the songs sound better than the originals, with the possible exception of Psychedelic Punkeroo, which is more lean and heavy than the version on the 1977 EP. What works well on this track is Gladwell’s heavy metal guitar style, but this sounds quite out-of-place and overpowering on some of the other songs. It’s overall a bit disappointing.

1. Psychedelic Punkeroo
2. Baron Saturday
3. Teenage Rebel
4. Mr Rainbow (Hallucinations)
5. Seize The Time
6. The Snake
7. Three Jolly Little Dwarfs
8. Wargirl
9. Balloon Burning
10. Do It

TWK LP2: Twink – Odds & Beginnings (LP, 1991). A collection of bits and pieces from over the years, the oldest track was the rather nice Bob Dylan song Yeah! Heavy And A Bottle Of Bread - apparently recorded with Jack Monck in 1972. ’80s singles Space Lover, Driving My Car and Wargirl were all represented; an unissued ’electro-drum mix’ of The Snake from the recent album sessions; a new Bevis & Twink song; and snippets from various radio interviews, mostly with some very irritating DJs. There was also the new ambient piece I Miss Your Eyes, recorded with Darrell King at King’s DJK Studios in Clacton. Of particular interest was a reunion with early ’60s colleagues Dane Stephens (vocals/harmonica) and Mick Weaver (fiddle) from The Fairies. On sessions recorded in Clacton and Chelmsford, Stephens and Weaver played with Twink’s regular band members on The Fairies’ single Anytime At All and on Don’t Bring Me Down (written by Johnnie Dee, road manager for The Fairies who rejected the song and it instead became a hit for The Pretty Things in 1964). It’s nice to hear these old R’n'B numbers brought back to life, and with a distinctive country music feel courtesy of Weaver’s fiddle, but Stephens’ vocals have unfortunately matured into a cabaret crooner style that just doesn’t suit these songs. Twink and his band played a garage-rockin’ version of Get Yourself Home (also written by Johnnie Dee, but rejected by The Pretty Things and recorded by The Fairies in 1965), again with a metallic Gladwell guitar solo. Only on Boot Black did Stevens, Weaver and Twink actually reunite, performing as a skiffle trio with Twink playing “cardboard box”.

1. The Snake (electro-drum mix)
2. Space Lover (psychedelicized version)
3. Driving My Car [Jazz, with overdubs]
4. Wargirl [Glider, with overdubs]
5. The Jimi Hendrix Experience [interview]
6. I Miss Your Eyes
7. Anytime At All [Twink/Fairies]
8. Yeah! Heavy And A Bottle Of Bread [circa 1972]
9. Get Yourself Home [Twink/Fairies]
10. Don’t Bring Me Down [Twink/Fairies]
11. Jissom Analogy [Bevis & Twink]
12. Boot Black [Twink/Fairies]

TWK LP3; TWK CD2: Pinkwind – Festival Of The Sun (LP, CD, May 1995). Pinkwind was a name used by combinations of Pink Fairies and Hawkwind members at live appearances in the early 1970s, and the name was revived for this live album featuring Twink with Hawkwind’s Nik Turner (vocals/sax/flute), alongside Judge Trev Thoms (guitar/vocals), Dani Speakman (guitar/keyboards/vocals), Mike Quartermain (bass), Barry Coombs (drums) and Captain Rick ‘Baby Face’ Walsh (trumpet). It was recorded at the first Festival of The Sun in Norfolk on 30 August 1993, with the opening track recorded in Preston on 9 April 1994. Reviews describing it as a “poorly recorded sprawling mess” which should be avoided might be slightly unfair as the sound quality isn’t that bad for a live recording, but aside from God Rock and Cosmic Rock & Roll (which sounds a lot like the tail-end of Do It), the album is really just for completists.

1. God Rock
2. Cosmic Rock & Roll
3. Stonehenge ’95
4. Silver Machine
5. Master Of The Universe
6. Rainbow Ron [CD only]
7. Call Of The Tribes [CD only]

TWK CD3: Twink - Odds & Beginnings / The Rings – Live At The 100 Club (CD, 1995). This CD re-issue of the 1991 LP added a 30-minute live performance by punk band The Rings recorded in April 1977. Book-ended by two versions of their then forthcoming single, the band tore into ragged Pinks and MC5 covers. CD bonus tracks:

1. I Wanna Be Free
2. News Of The World
3. Kick Out The Jams
4. The Snake
5. Do It
6. Teenage Rebel
7. Shoot You Down
8. I Wanna Be Free

TWK CD4: The Psychik Atters – Mystic Minutes (CD, 1995). The Psychik Atters featured Twink’s Pinkwind collaborators Dani Speakman (guitar/keyboards/vocals) and Barry Coombs (drums), with Kozmic Andy (bass), Rob Jackson (keyboards) and guests.

TWK CD5: Pinkwind Returns As: The Hawk Fairies – Purple Haze (CD, 1996). Recorded live at The Purple Haze Club in Peterborough on 15 April 1995, The Hawk Fairies included Twink (drums), Nik Turner (vocals/sax), Duncan ‘Danger Sun’ Sanderson (bass), Judge Trev Thoms (guitar/vocals), Dani Speakman (guitar/vocals), Captain Rick ‘Baby Face’ Walsh (trumpet), Captain Jim Hawkman (keyboards/synthesizer), Commander Johnny Coupland (guitar) and Sarah Wayne (backing vocals). Sarah Wayne is the daughter of the then-recently deceased ex-Pink Fairy Mick Wayne, and the album was dedicated to Mick and to Steve Peregrin Took. This was as poorly received as the Pinkwind album but, while the Hendrix covers were completely unnecessary, tracks like Space Rock and Thoth have some very tasty psych lead guitar.

1. Master Of The Universe
2. Space Rock 1999 And Seven Months
3. Thoth
4. Brainstorm
5. Foxy Lady
6. Purple Haze
7. D-Rider/Stormbringer

TWK CD6: Pink Fairies – PleasureIsland (CD, 1996). Quitting the Pinks after their second album in 1972, guitarist Paul Rudolph spent a few years in various bands (including a stint as Lemmy’s replacement in Hawkwind) before moving back to his native Canada in the late ’70s to run a bicycle shop. In 1996 he suddenly popped up again for a reunion with Twink and helped record this brand-new Pink Fairies album. While it’s far from the classic Pinks albums, it has it’s moments and is probably no worse than the 1987 reunion record, but whether it should be considered a Pink Fairies album is debatable. The stand-out track is Cargoe In Jamaica – a 32 minute(!) instrumental jam on which Rudolph shows whippersnappers like Porcupine Tree and Ozric Tentacles just who invented their genre. As Above So Below is also good for the same reasons. However – unlike his guitar playing – Paul Rudolph’s singing voice deserted him on this record, while songs like Eccleston Chambers – featuring long, repetitive synthesizer beats – are truly awful and shouldn’t be inflicted on the innocent.

1. As Above So Below
2. Eccleston Chambers
3. We Run We Hide
4. The Man With The Golden Gun
5. Jungle Drums
6. Cargoe In Jamaica

TWK LP4; TWK CD7: Twink – Think Pink (LP, 1996; CD, 1997). A “25th anniversary” reissue of Twink’s classic debut solo album, and always worth another listen.

TWK CD8: Pink Fairies – No Picture (CD, 1997). A second album recorded by Twink and Paul Rudolph, this lacks the redeeming features of Pleasure Island, and is overall a pretty poor album. I have no evidence to back this up, but I suspect it might even be the left-overs from the sessions for that previous album. Love Punks is okay, even if it sounds quite a lot like As Long As The Price Is Right (a Pinks’ song recorded after both Twink and Rudolph had left the band). Once again there are audio atrocities lurking on this disc (especially the title track) just waiting to assault the senses of the unprepared listener. This would appear to be the final release from the Twink Records label. RIP.

1. People Helping People
2. Love Punks
3. No Picture
4. You’ve Got A Problem
5. Going Down To The City
6. ’67
7. Rokon

Around 1996 or 1997, HTD Records issued a live CD titled Out Of The Pink Into The Blues and credited to Mouse & Twink: Fairies, with liner notes suggesting it was “recorded at the Pink Bridge mid 70s till 80s” by Twink (drums), P. ‘Mouse’ Pracowik (guitar), Andrew Doran (vocals), Matthew Bailey (bass) & Chris Pinkerton (drums). “P. Pracowik” is presumably Peter Pracownik – occasional guitarist with Astralasia, Hawkwind, etc. - which would indicate the album was recorded much more recently than claimed. Pracownik is better known for his excellent new age/fantasy artwork, examples of which form the cover images for both this album and the Pleasure Island CD. The album consists of a poorly-recorded pub rock band playing mainly blues numbers. The band are competent enough (there’s some nice slide-guitar playing), but to market this bog-standard record with the Twink/Fairies name attached to it is extremely cynical. There’s no solid proof of Twink even playing on this album and I really can’t find anything positive to say about it – just go to your local bar and listen to any covers band instead.

1. Out Of The Pink Jam
2. Red House
3. Going Home
4. Find Yourself Another Fool
5. Talk To Me Babe
6. Oye Como Va
7. Youngblood
8. Stepping Out
9. Tulsa Time
10. Kansas City
11. Rambling
12. Out Go The Lights
13. Midnight Rambler
14. Midnight Rambler Return

 

Around the turn of the century there was a glut of bootleg-quality Pink Fairies archive recordings released on vinyl and CD, such as Mandies And Mescaline Round At Uncle Harry’s (New Millennium Communications 1997; Burning Airlines Recordings 2001), Uncle Harry (Get Back LP 1998), The Golden Years: 1969-1971 (Cleopatra Records 1998) and Do It! (Total Energy 1999), collecting live tracks and radio sessions mostly from the Twink-era line-up (and deserving a separate post to untangle them). At about the same time, Twink – by now apparently resident in Los Angeles - began an association with the Italian-based Get Back label, and he is suspected of having been behind many of these archive releases on this and other labels, among them being the Twink LP From The Vaults (1999) – another collection from his personal archives which is aptly also known as ‘Odds & Beginnings Volume 2‘. Chronologically, the album includes a 1971 Pink Fairies French radio show recording, three tracks recorded by the band Glider in 1976, one soft-rock live track by the group Jazz from 1984, a dire theme tune for an imaginary cartoon recorded in 1987, a great version of Psychedelic Punkeroo from 1988, and two newly-completed songs – Passing Clouds and The Pink Fairies Story. The Glider tracks are a worthy inclusion as they reveal a slick rock band with hints of the Canterbury Sound and even late-period Velvet Underground. Passing Clouds is a sound collage assembled over decades and reminds me slightly of the work of Holger Czukay - ironically, the last original song Twink has released to date might just be his best since Think Pink. The Pink Fairies Story, suitably, brings the journey full-circle with Twink reciting the Jamie Mandelkau short story that gave the Pink Fairies their name thirty years earlier, over an acoustic tune similar to The Dream Is Just Beginning (the 1971 Pinks song which itself borrowed lyrics from the short story).

1. Passing Clouds
2. Psychedelic Punkaroo [rehearsal, 1988]
3. The Pink Fairies Story
4. Praying’s No Good [Jazz, 1984]
5. Tomorrow Never Knows [Pink Fairies, circa 1971]
6. The Continuing Story Of A Young Man’s Lament [Glider, 1976]
7. The Season Is Winter [Glider, 1976]
8. Take My Hand [Glider, 1976]
9. Mr. Coconut [1987]

Also in 1999, Get Back issued The Lost Experimental Recordings 1970 - the long-forgotten demos recorded at Julian Briggs’ Wizard basement studio in Hornsey – followed in 2001 by The Never Never Land & Think Pink Demos – alternative versions of tracks that appeared on both Twink and Pink Fairies’ debut albums. Both collections were apparently recorded around the same time. Shortly afterwards, Get Back released Pink Jackets Required (2001). This CD proved the most controversial of all, as it purported to include unreleased 1969/1970 demos by Steve Peregrin Took’s band Shagrat. In the ’90s, Japanese label Captain Trip released both known Shagrat studio sessions from 1970 and 1971 as the CD Lone Star, but denied Twink’s request to be credited. The sleeve notes written by Twink for the Pink Jackets Required CD (“produced & directed by Twink, re-mixed and remastered at Westwood Studios in Los Angeles”) labelled the earlier Shagrat releases as bootlegs, and claimed that the four tracks featured were actually recorded in late ’69 and early ’70 by Steve Peregrin Took (guitar/vocals), Twink (drums/percussion) and Paul Rudolph (bass). These four Shagrat songs appeared both in “version 1″ form and, with added percussion, as “version 2″, augmented by three tracks from Think Pink on which Took had sung or played.

1. The Sparrow Is A Sign [Think Pink version]
2. Beautiful Deceiver (demo version 1)
3. Still Yawning, Still-Born (demo version 1)
4. Amanda (demo version 1)
5. Strange Sister (demo version 1)
6. The Coming Of The Other One [Think Pink version]
7. Three Little Piggies [Think Pink version]
8. Beautiful Deceiver (demo version 2)
9. Still Yawning, Still-Born (demo version 2)
10. Amanda (demo version 2)
11. Strange Sister (demo version 2)

The “version 1″ demos had already been included on the Lone Star CD a few years earlier, which credited a line-up of Steve Peregrin Took (guitar/vocals), Larry Wallis (bass) and Dave Bidwell (tambourine) as having recorded them in early 1971 (Paul Rudolph himself has never claimed to have been in Shagrat). It was speculated that the percussion overdubs on the ”version 2″ demos were newly-recorded for this release. Some Pink Fairies members and associates had made complaints over the years regarding lack of payments from the previous Twink Records and Get Back releases, and the fact that Steve Peregrin Took had passed away in 1980 prompted some of Took’s friends to condemn Twink in the strongest possible terms. It was pointed out that, at that time, the only releases that paid royalties to Took’s next-of-kin were Twink’s albums Think Pink and Pink Jackets Required, and while this was a valid point, it did little to restore his reputation amongst some of his peers.

The Pink Fairies (LA), featuring Twink (vocals) with Jonathan Hall (guitar), Heath Seifert (bass) and Bob Lee (drums) – all of the band Backbiter - played a few shows in Los Angeles in 2001, one of which was recorded and may be released, while Twink also recorded with Smallstone, The Tyde and The Quarter After during his time in LA. After that, little was heard from Twink for many years. A planned reunion gig by the Larry Wallis-era Pink Fairies has been on indefinite postponement since 2007, while the Paul Rudolph line-up recorded a new version of Do It for a tribute album released in November 2010, both without any involvement from Twink. It would be an unfortunate way to end an occasionally illustrious career, but recent murmurs indicate Twink is coming out of retirement to reclaim his contribution to rock history. A May 1996 gig in a record store in Connecticut was recorded and released on CD in 2012. Titled The Snake, the Whiplash Records CD was credited to The Fairies featuring Twink – Twink (vocals/percussion), Rick Rivets (guitar/vocals), Geo (drums) and Dana Place (bass).

1. Pipeline
2. Psychedelic Punkeroo
3. The Snake
4. Seize The Time
5. My Babe
6. Bo Diddley Jam
7. Wild Thing
8. Diamond Head
9. It’s All Over Now
10. Brand New Cadillac
11. I Don’t Care

The Fairies featuring Twink – live in Connecticut 1996

At the end of 2012 Whiplash Records also released The Rings – Live At The 100 Club as a stand-alone CD, and Twink – now living in Morocco and known as Mohammed Abdullah after having adopted Islam – was recording songs written for voice & drums and working on translations of the Quran & Hadith. Early 2013 brought news that he was recording an album in Rome with Italian group The Technicolour Dream, with one-time Pink Fairy Martin Stone also guesting. Titled You Reached For The Stars, the album will include new versions of his classic tracks alongside some new songs written for the project. In addition, he was reported to be writing his autobiography, writing a new solo album and even planning some live shows.

A purely hypothetical ‘Best Of’ Twink’s post-Pinks career might look something like this:

1. Hawkwind – Silver Machine (live)
2. Twink/Monck/Kelleher/Bacon - Yeah! Heavy And A Bottle Of Bread
3. Glider – The Season Is Winter
4. Glider – The Continuing Story Of A Young Man’s Lament
5. The Rings – I Wanna Be Free
6. Twink & The Fairies – Do It 1977
7. Twink with Elton Motello – Apocalipstic
8. Twink & The Fairies – Space Lover (rock ‘n’ roll version #1)
9. Magic Muscle – One Hundred Miles Below (live)
10. Twink & Plasticland – The Snake (live)
11. Twink & Plasticland – 10,000 Words In A Cardboard Box (live)
12. Twink – Psychedelic Punkeroo (rehearsal)
13. Bevis & Twink – The Fairy
14. Bevis & Twink – Gryke
15. Twink – Psychedelic Punkeroo
16. Twink – The Snake
17. Twink – Get Yourself Home
18. Pink Fairies – As Above So Below
19. Pink Fairies – Love Punks
20. Mouse & Twink: Fairies – Stepping Out (live)
21. Twink – Passing Clouds

 

See also:

How To Buy: Pink Fairies

Wikipedia: Twink

It’s Psychedelic Baby: Interview with John ‘Twink’ Alder (November 2012)