Under The Counter Culture Dept.

No internet, no phones, just life being lived.

Compared to the US [avers Steve Shark - Ed.], the UK counterculture that straddled the late 1960s and early 1970s was a relatively low key affair, and musical acts with a "message" weren't really all that common.

However, there certainly was a British underground scene, replete with drugs, a radical press and various forms of freaking out. Publications like OZ, the International Times (IT) and Frendz promoted a freer society which drugs and music tried to encourage - not that it really amounted to very much in the end. The writing was (literally) on the wall as far back as Paris in 1968 - there would be no Establishment approval for any form of alternative society.

The musical scene back then was quite incestuous and three of the four albums presented here for your perusal are linked by musicians they had in common.

The Deviants - Ptooff! - 1967
Fronted by the late Mick Farren, the Deviants were one of the first counterculture bands, but certainly not the best! Mick was a far, far better writer than he was a singer and the album is a total mess. There are lengthy freakouts and a couple of what might be termed "songs", which are disappointing, to say the least. They were trying to be the MC5, but sounded more like the MCC. The drummer was Russell Hunter, of whom more later.

Hawkwind - Hawkwind - 1970
Produced by the Pretty Things' lead guitarist, Dick Taylor, Hawkwind's debut has stood up to the test of time rather better than "Ptooff!", although the reverb-heavy "let's go ape shit" numbers are a little difficult to listen to today. There are some worthy attempts to add texture in places with some acoustic guitar and there are some obvious nods to what was coming out of the US a couple of years previously. Not a bad album, but they went on to make better ones.

Pink Fairies - Never Neverland - 1971
Now this is more like it! Russell Hunter - remember him? - reappears on drums, along with ex-Pretty Things drummer Twink. Album opener "Do It" is the stand out track here. Beginning with an acoustic guitar piece, it then gets heavy with Paul Rudolph's guitar driving it along. Rudolph eventually got to play with Hawkwind and Mick Farren - I told you it was an incestuous scene! It's a fine album, although the Fairies couldn't resist an overlong wig-out on "Uncle Harry's Last Freakout".

Edgar Broughton Band - Keep Them Freaks a Rollin' (1969) - released 2004.
Edgar couldn't decide whether he was Captain Beefheart, Howlin' Wolf or a Fug, but his band was certainly a festival favourite. "Out Demons Out" was their best known song and I can still remember seeing them perform it several times and chanting along whilst extremely stoned. Recorded live at Abbey Road studios, but not released until 35 years later, this is far more representative of the band than their studio albums. Again, some numbers go on too long and too aimlessly, but that was just the way things were back then.

Through the next several decades, musical alliances were formed out of the same pool of musicians. So, for example, Twink went on to play with some of Hawkwind in Pinkwind, and then Mick Farren. Apart from the Deviants, the other three bands above are still extant and they continue to record. The Pink Fairies, in particular, are well worth further investigation.

If I'd also chosen an album with singer/guitarist the late Larry Wallis (Deviants, Farren, Fairies, Martin Stone, Blodwyn Pig, Motorhead, UFO, Dr Feelgood, Wreckless Eric), I'd probably still be making musical connections long after this reached Farq!

Incidentally, for those people wishing to read the groovy publications of that time, or maybe catch up on news they were too stoned to understand, there are online achives of a couple I mentioned above.

Here's the International Times:,,
https://www.internationaltimes.it/archive/

...and here's OZ:
https://archivesonline.uow.edu.au/nodes/view/3495/

...so that's how you roll a 5 leaf joint?