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Think Pink V by Twink–Album Review
Think Pink V by Twink–Album Review
When Twink puts out a new album, one never knows what to expect. Will it be quiet and acoustic with spoken word passages and burbling synths? Will it be hardcore space rock? Maybe proto-punk à la Pink Fairies? Bits of all the above? Well, that’s part of the fun. One really CAN’T anticipate the output from this psychedelic god from outer space.
Drummer/Singer/Experimental Musician Mohammed Abdullah (né John Alder, aka Twink) has had a storied career on the music scene. He was the drummer for English psych band Tomorrow (featuring Steve Howe of Yes). He took over as drummer for the Pretty Things during one magical year, just in time to record their psychedelic masterpiece SF Sorrow. He was the original drummer/vocalist for the post-Deviants band Pink Fairies. He has done it all from the very beginnings of the FWOBP (First Wave of British Psychedelia). In addition to all that heady stuff, he is a solo recording artist whose experimental Think Pink series started in 1970 and has led up to this year’s Think Pink 5.
Though there was a 45-year gap between the first two Think Pink albums, Twink has steadily released them every couple of years since Think Pink II (2015), which featured backing by Italian neo-psychedelic band Technicolour Dream. Out of the series, Think Pink 5 is the most like Think Pink III (2018). It’s less “band-forward” and more akin to an actual solo project. After Think Pink IV’s return to space rock in 2019 featuring Canadian backing band Moths & Locusts, Think Pink 5 is more of a sparse affair while IV was on par with the greatest of the early 70s space rock.
“Sun Is A Star” kicks off Think Pink 5 with a bit of spoken word, something with which any fan of Twink’s recordings would be familiar. There are a few spoken word passages on this offering, such as in the songs “Fool Moon” and “My Rose.” He tends to lay poetry or book passages onto backing tracks for all of his solo albums.
Twink was and certainly is a child of the sixties. Most songs on Think Pink 5 have a pleasant vibe and positive message and imagery. It seems as though Twink was the psychedelic component of Pink Fairies and the rest of the band was more of the punk element. That’s most likely why he left the band after the first album. He did eventually embrace punk in the ‘76-‘77 era, but Twink is definitely more laid-back than aggro.
There is a high-pitched guitar reminiscent of Status Quo’s “Pictures of Matchstick Men” on “Silver White Horses.” The track has a similar chord sequence to that classic but with a more modern recording technique. The fresher sound is more akin to the Dandy Warhols than the Pretty Things.
“All I Need Is You” emits a pastoral and languorous Pink Floyd vibe, like a lost acoustic track from Meddle. It plays out like an early version of Floyd’s “A Pillow of Winds.”
Photo courtesy Pamela Dawson
“My Rose” seems to consist of a drum machine, hand percussion, guitar, bass, and spoken word if I’m hearing things correctly. It has a vaguely Spanish feel to it, but there is a nice amount of guitar soloing (forward AND backward) happening throughout. I’m unsure if Twink is even playing drums on this album at all as it seems to be wholly programmed. If that’s the case, it would be surprising coming from a man known as a drummer for most of his career, but not unheard of for a musician of a certain age to give up the arthritis-aggravating rat-a-tat and focus on the music and vocals.
Any song from Twink with the word “Revolution” in the title is going to draw comparisons to the classic Tomorrow track from 1968, especially as he was a member of said band. I do suspect “Revolution Now” is intended to be a modern follow-up to that psychedelic barnburner or at least a call back to that bygone era– sitars in tow with electric guitars arpeggiating into space.
This release is quite a distance away from classics like “Suicide” or “Fluid” from the original Think Pink album, but try as you might you can’t expect an artist to recreate what he has already created…especially all these decades after it was first pressed. Twink throughout the years has been put on a pedestal as one of the linchpins of the First Wave…the Donovan of a new era. Fans of course are crying out for something similar to the early seventies but are anxious to hear what Twink has to offer in any form.
Overall, Think Pink 5 is less “psychedelic” than Think Pink IV. The edges are certainly dulled…either from human age (he IS 78 years old), astral age (do people really want to hear blistering psychedelic rock? Of COURSE we do!), or religion (Twink’s 2006 conversion to Islam, taking the new name Mohammed Abdullah). But when a living legend of both the psychedelic AND proto-punk era of the “Pink Fairies Rock ‘n’ Roll Club” releases a new album, one must perk up one’s ears and take notice.
Related: Interview with Twink
Think Pink IV: Return to Deep Space by Twink
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1 thought on “Think Pink V by Twink–Album Review”
Whatever you do. Listen to this album. Twink is a seminal figure in the world of psychedelic music, and his extensive, eclectic back catalogue has to be seen to be believed.
Raconteur troubadour in the true sense of the word. and a gentle man.