Los Angeles, California: For a three LP-long moment there, at the start of the 70s, the Pink Fairies were arguably the most important band on earth.
They had no hits, they sold out no arenas. But as the pathetic ashes of the hippy dream were finally swept into the dustbin of history, the Fairies were the broom that not only cleared away the clutter of the past, it also opened up the pathway that would ultimately lead to punk rock.
The late Brian James, guitarist and songwriter with the original line-up of The Damned, was a die-hard Fairies fan; Alan Lee Shaw of The Maniacs got his first break in ZZZ, a new band led by Fairies drummer Twink, and rejoined him in The Rings in ’77; the first two singles by The Adverts were produced by latter-day Fairy (and Mötorhead co-founder) Larry Wallis. Up there with the MC5, the Edgar Broughton Band and The Stooges, the Fairies’ uncompromising breed of sky-high octane rock’n’roll soundtracked more teenaged dreams of fiery rebellion than anyone else around.
Then they broke up… reformed… broke up… reformed… it’s hard to say precisely how many line-ups the band has had over the years, but as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of their first reunion (and a single on Stiff Records, another of punk’s most alluring midwifes), they’re back once more, following up 2023's Screwed Up (the title track was penned by guitarist Paul Rudolph and Deviants frontman Mick Farren in 1977) with Covered In Pink - a covers album that is less a collection of great songs, than it is a love letter to the Fairies’ own period of early 70s invulnerability.
With guest appearances from Nik Turner (Hawkwind) and sci-fi author and performer Michael Moorcock adding to the sonic carnage, brutal takes on “American Woman” (The Guess Who), “Mississippi Queen” (Mountain) and “Communication Breakdown” (Led Zeppelin) all hail from the same era during which the Fairies were at their mightiest; “Motörhead,” with Moorcock on vocals, recalls former Fairies Wallis and Lucas Fox's earth-shaking role in the first incarnation of Lemmy’s snaggle-toothed throng; “Baby’s On Fire” recaptures Paul Rudolph’s contributions to Eno’s Here Come The Warm Jets debut album; and cuts by Dr Feelgood and David Bowie nod gently in the direction of Wallis and fellow Fairy Mick Wayne’s time with those acts. Yes, the Fairies family tree has many, many branches.
And wait till you hear what they do to the Pretty Things’ “Rosalyn”!
The album itself hits the streets on January 16. But kicking it off today, the first single from the Covered In Pink is, appropriately, a churning new version of the first single the band ever released, the incendiary coruscation of “Do It,” and a riff so ginormous that even The Rollins Band was barely able to tame it - although if you remember the first time you heard their version, you might still be recovering from the volcanic devastation the song unleashed upon the late 1980s.
Paul Rudolph loved it. “I was chuffed that Henry covered the song.”
Rollins recalls his introduction to the Fairies in 1981, during his Black Flag days. "One of the members, Dez Cadena, a great vocalist, guitar player and a truly good guy, had pitch perfect taste in music. He always had cassettes of albums that upon hearing, I immediately liked: live Curtis Mayfield, live James Brown, The Scorpions, Lightnin' Hopkins, (with whom Dez's father, the legendary producer Ozzie Cadena worked), Hawkwind and the Pink Fairies.
"I absorbed all this music with great interest. I instinctively liked the straight up gut punch of the Pink Fairies, and when my finances allowed me, I got their records. I thought their song 'Do It' was amazing."
So amazing that, six years later with the Rollins Band, "I asked my bandmates if they wanted to try covering the song. It remained in our set until some of the final shows we ever played.
"Such a cool band - the real thing."
According to bassist Alan Davey (Hawkwind, Ace of Spades, Gunslinger) it was inevitable that the band would cover the song. "He said do it, she said do it, they wanted us to do it....so we did it..!! DO IT!!!!!!!"
Paul continues, “When I think of ‘Do It,” the first thing that jumped into my mind was The Pink Fairies playing this live to a huge crowd in Trafalgar Square, London. Very powerful. The song was a staple at all our gigs - especially the free ones - and I think it stands the test of time.”
Oh, it does more than that. Live recordings from the early 70s, crowned by the version that highlights the 1971 Glastonbury Fayre album, and numerous latter-day revisitations all capture the sheer immediacy with which “Do It” walloped the audience, and this new version - banged out by the band’s current line-up of Paul, Alan and the mysterious One-Legged Pete on drums ("he once won an ass-kicking contest," recalls Paul) - roars with exactly the same energy, a call to action that… as the guitarist continues… remains “so relevant today as it seems the world is bogged down in political correctness and bureaucracy. Everything seems to take forever.”
When all we really need to do is… don’t think about it, don’t lie about it, just DO IT!
SINGLE: https://orcd.co/pinkfairies_doit
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AarZOIuNn4Q
CD/VINYL: https://cleorecs.com/search?q=pink+fairies+covered+in+pink
DIGITAL: https://orcd.co/pinkfairies_coveredinpink
Track listing
1. Garden Of My Mind
2. Rosalyn
3. Cracked Actor
4. Baby's On Fire
5. Motorhead
6. Communication Breakdown
7. American Woman
8. Right To Decide
9. Milk And Alcohol
10. The Loco-Motion
11. Mississippi Queen
12. Do It
13. Dum Dum Bala Bala Bow Row...Yeah!!
