The legendary John ‘Twink’ Alder will require no introduction to fans of underground rock. Starting out with freakbeat pioneers The Fairies, he spent the summer of love playing with psych favourites Tomorrow, before joining the Pretty Things for their genre-defining SF Sorrow album in 1968. As the decade drew to a close, he recorded his solo debut, the fabled Think Pin...k. Produced by the late Mick Farren, it featured his former bandmates as well as members of Tyrannosaurus Rex and the Deviants. In 1970 Twink formed the Pink Fairies, defining underground rock and anticipating punk with their anarchic attitude.
Sunbeam is delighted to be releasing Twink's mind-expanding new album, YOU REACHED FOR THE STARS, which finds him collaborating with highly-regarded Italian psychedelic rockers The Technicolour Dream. Recorded in Rome and mastered at Abbey Road by the great Peter Mew (who has also worked with Twink's old friends Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett, David Bowie, Kevin Ayers and many others), it’s sure to delight all lovers of psychedelic rock.
The project began in Morocco, where Twink now lives, following his conversion to Islam. Having composed the lyrics, he flew to Rome to join Marco Conti and Fabio Poretti from the Technicolour Dream, and begin laying down vocal, drum and percussion parts at Gulliver Studios. The album is semi-autobiographical, Twink explains, chronicling the years he spent living in Los Angeles. "This has been a very special project for me," he explains. "I feel it's a continuation of where I left off in 1971, after recording Never Neverland with the Pink Fairies".
YOU REACHED FOR THE STARS is very much a collaboration, and a chance for old friends to recapture the magic of previous ventures. Having knocked about with psychedelic pop heroes the Blossom Toes in the late 60s, Twink was thrilled to have the band's lead guitarist Brian Godding guest on the album, while mixing and mastering it at Abbey Road gave him the chance to rejoin forces with Peter Mew, who'd worked with him on albums by Tomorrow and the Pretty Things decades earlier.
Following Sunbeam's acclaimed remaster of Think Pink earlier this year, YOU REACHED FOR THE STARS is available from September 25 2013.
For review copies of these releases, more information or to arrange an interview with Twink, please contact Cari at [email protected].
