| What a Bunch of Sweeties | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | July 1972 | |||
| Recorded | 1972 | |||
| Length | 46:38 | |||
| Label | Polydor | |||
| Producer | Pink Fairies | |||
| Pink Fairies chronology | ||||
| ||||
 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(January 2024) |
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    [1] |
What a Bunch of Sweeties is a 1972 album by the UK underground group Pink Fairies.
Twink had left the band before the recording of this album. Former The Move guitarist Trevor Burton occasionally joined the band for gigs and contributes to a couple of tracks, otherwise the band is the same line up stranded in San Francisco as The Deviants in 1969 after they sacked vocalist Mick Farren.
The sleeve came in a gatefold cover by Edward Barker, the front showing a box full of goodies mostly taken from roadie Boss Goodman's personal collection of underground badges etc., the inner gatefold a cartoon strip.
The lyrics for "The Pigs of Uranus" are taken from a Gilbert Shelton comic strip Wonder Warthog versus the Pigs from Uranus. "Walk Don't Run" is a cover of The Ventures song, and there is a cover version of The Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There". "Marilyn" features a drum solo. A single from the album "I Saw Her Standing There/Pigs of Uranus" was released in Germany with a picture sleeve of an earlier version of the group.
Before its release, singer/guitarist Paul Rudolph left the band, briefly causing its deactivation. Bassist Duncan Sanderson and drummer Russell Hunter formed a new band with singer (and ex Tyrannosaurus Rex percussionist) Steve Peregrin Took and guitarist Mick Wayne (ex Junior's Eyes). After one abortive recording session at Olympic Studios, Wayne, Sanderson and Hunter split from Took and formed a new version of the Pink Fairies for an unsuccessful tour and a single "Well Well Well/Hold On" and also a Radio 1 session, before replacing Wayne with Larry Wallis (formerly of Took's 1970 band Shagrat). Rudolph's departure was generally viewed as a disaster brought about by disparate drug habits and visa problems but the trio reunited in 2009 to re-record "Do It!" from their first single for the Boss Goodman tribute CD Portobello Shuffle.
John Andrew Wilkinson, better known by the stage name Wilko Johnson, was an English guitarist, singer, songwriter and occasional actor. He was a member of the pub rock/rhythm and blues band Dr. Feelgood in the 1970s. Johnson was known for his distinctive guitar playing style which he achieved by not using a guitar pick but playing fingerstyle. This enabled him to play rhythm guitar and riffs or solos at the same time creating a highly percussive guitar sound.
Larry Wallis was a British rock guitarist, songwriter and producer. He was best known as a member of the Pink Fairies and an early member of Motörhead.
Shagrat was a British supergroup formed by Steve Peregrin Took and Mick Farren in February 1970 after they split with Twink, their partner in the prototype Pink Fairies supergroup of late 1969. They recruited Larry Wallis and Tim Taylor (bass), both formerly of The Entire Sioux Nation. Farren left the band shortly after its establishment and never recorded or performed with them. Shagrat then became Took's band outright with Wallis, Taylor, Phil Lenoir (drums), and later Dave Bidwell (percussion).
Steve Peregrin Took was an English musician and songwriter, best known for his membership of the duo Tyrannosaurus Rex with Marc Bolan. After breaking with Bolan, he concentrated on his own singer-songwriting activities, either as a solo artist or as a frontman for several bands.
Pink Fairies are an English rock band initially active in the London underground and psychedelic scene of the early 1970s. They promoted free music, drug use, and anarchy, and often performed impromptu gigs and other stunts, such as playing for nothing outside the gates at the Bath and Isle of Wight pop festivals in 1970, as well as appearing at Phun City, the first Glastonbury and many other free festivals including Windsor and Trentishoe.
John Charles Edward Alder, also known as Twink, is an English drummer, actor, singer, and songwriter who was a central figure in the English psychedelic movement.
The Deviants were a British psychedelic/proto-punk rock band originally active from late 1966 to 1969, but later used as a vehicle for the musical work of writer Mick Farren until his death in 2013.
Motörhead is the debut studio album by English rock band Motörhead. It was released on 12 August 1977 by pub rock and early punk rock label Chiswick Records, one of the first for the label, and the band's only release under Chiswick. The album contains the "classic" Motörhead line-up of Lemmy Kilmister on bass and vocals, "Fast" Eddie Clarke on lead guitar, and Philthy Animal Taylor on drums. The sleeve artwork featured the debut of Snaggletooth, the War-Pig, the fanged face logo created by artist Joe Petagno that would become an icon of the band.
Enoch Henry Light was an American classically trained violinist, danceband leader, and recording engineer. As the leader of various dance bands that recorded as early as March 1927 and continuing through at least 1940, Light and his band primarily worked in various hotels in New York. For a time in 1928 he also led a band in Paris. In the 1930s Light also studied conducting with the French conductor Maurice Frigara in Paris.
Paul Fraser Rudolph is a Canadian guitarist, bassist, singer, and cyclist. He made his mark in the UK underground music scene, and then as a session musician, before returning to Canada to indulge his passion for cycling. He resided in Gibsons, British Columbia, where he owned and operated a bicycle business, Spin Cycle. He has since retired to Victoria, British Columbia.
Picnic – A Breath of Fresh Air is a sampler issued by the Harvest Records label, originally released in 1970 and notable for including the previously unreleased Pink Floyd song, "Embryo".
The Deviants 3 is the third and final album by the UK underground group the Deviants, released in 1969.
Never Never Land is the 1971 debut album by the UK underground group Pink Fairies.
Kings of Oblivion is the third album by the UK underground group Pink Fairies, released in 1973.
Live at the Roundhouse 1975 is a 1982 album of a 1975 concert by the UK underground group Pink Fairies.
Previously Unreleased is a 1984 EP by the English guitarist Larry Wallis, released under the name Pink Fairies.
Human Garbage is a 1984 live album by the UK underground artist Mick Farren and friends, released under the name The Deviants.
Oh, by the Way is a compilation boxed set by Pink Floyd released on 10 December 2007, by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and the following day in the United States through Capitol Records.
Junior's Eyes was a British group led by guitarist Mick Wayne, which recorded one album and is notable for acting as David Bowie's backing band during 1969.
Bumpers is a double sampler album from Island Records, released in Europe and Australasia in 1970; there were minor variations in track listings within Europe but the Australian release was fundamentally different. The title refers to the basketball-style shoes on the front of the album cover and to the meaning "unusually large, abundant or excellent". The album is left to present itself: there are no sleeve notes; the gatefold interior consists of a photograph showing publicity shots of the featured acts attached to the stump of a tree on a seemingly wet and gloomy day, without any identification. This image is flanked on each side by the track listings, but even there, the information given is unreliable. Unlike its predecessors You Can All Join In and Nice Enough To Eat, there are no credits for cover art. [It was in fact by Tony Wright - his first sleeve for Island.] The English version of the album came out in two pressings, first with the pink label and "i" logo, and later with the palm motif on a white background and pink rim, each version with some minor variations in the production of individual tracks.
