Neverneverland (Anniversary Edition)

Kicking off the most exhaustive exhumation yet of the Pink Fairies' early-'70s catalog, the remastered Neverneverland readily takes its place among the era's most crucial debuts, a hard-rocking, free-flowing, and, above all, anarchic monster that opens with the definitive statement of yippie intent, "Do It," and doesn't look back. Titled for radical Jerry Rubin's book of the same name, "Do It" remains a manifesto for the revolution that never quite got off the ground, a gutsy affirmation that the Pink Fairies were never to eclipse. Originally released as a January 1971 single, "Do It" also appears among the bonus tracks in its edited (three-minute) 45 rpm format, together with its turbulent B-side, the similarly barnstorming "The Snake." And it must be admitted that anybody entering the realm of the Pink Fairies from those points of view is in for at least a few surprises. While "Say You Love Me" and "Teenage Rebel" certainly adhere to the band's rockiest tendencies, the ballad "Heavenly Man" sounds like nothing so much as those other pink things, Pink Floyd circa Obscured by Clouds, while "War Girl" has a distinct American R&B tinge to it. Other moods float in and out of focus before Neverneverland returns to Free Festival central for the live crowd-pleaser "Uncle Harry's Last Freak-Out" -- present in both its 11-minute LP form and, among the bonus tracks, the 12-minute instrumental prototype that was one of the band's first studio attempts at the piece. Needless to say, both are as relentless as the title insists -- and as fiery as the Pink Fairies' own reputation demand they should be. ~ Dave Thompson