The name of the band and the naked nymph on the cover marshal an appetite for sounds far more psychedelic than you actually get on
Tinkerbell's Fairydust's self-titled album (realized in test-pressing form only by Decca in 1969, though issued on CD in 1998). The leadoff cut, "Twenty Ten," is also deceptive -- it's pretty respectable, atmospheric late-'60s British psych with a slightly classical feel and some cool wah-wah guitar and distorted organ. But not only does nothing else on the album match it, not much on the album even sounds like the work of the same band. Covers of
the Brooklyn Bridge's "The Worst That Could Happen,"
the Association's "Never My Love," and
Spanky & Our Gang's "Lazy Day" are not only psychedelic, they're not very good, sounding like attempts to closely cover American hits for the British market. Other tracks sound like similar British equivalents to
the Happenings and
the Tokens -- not exactly among the more exciting American '60s bands to begin with -- but not even doing harmony pop/rock as well as those groups did. "In My Garden" is a half-decent track a step above their other sunshine pop-oid songs. Yet it's not nearly enough to save a record that lurches to a close with a note-for-note cover of
the Yardbirds' blues-rock instrumental "Jeff's Boogie," indicating that the group might have had some trouble deciding what kind of stuff they wanted to imitate. ~ Richie Unterberger