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.
(by Dave Thompson, AMG)
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