The Fairytale - Guess I Was Dreaming (b/w "Run and Hide")

Label: Decca

Year of Release: 1967

Another facsimile copy of a single, I'm afraid - although why I should be "afraid" when that means infinitely better sound quality than something dusty, scratchy and beer-stained I might have found on a second-hand stall I'm not too sure.  I suppose I'm only too aware of how many readers would perhaps favour authenticity.

The Warrington-based psychedelic band The Fairytale managed two singles for Decca in 1967 before evaporating, this debut and the less remarkable "Lovely People".  The A-side here "Guess I Was Dreaming" is a gentle, slightly fey track with a foreboding piano riff and throbbing bassline occasionally popping its head up into the mix to add some extra beef to the recording.  It's ever so slightly West Coast in its sound - which as one compilation-compiling wag has already pointed out, is quite a feat for a band from Warrington - and is an interesting piece of work.

The B-side "Run and Hide", on the other hand, is straight sixties pop, so lovably cliched it could almost be out of some "Austin Powers" styled parody.  A screechy organ riff, foot stomping beat and incessantly catchy chorus make it almost bubblegum, quite honestly, but that's not necessarily a terrible thing.  They sound like they're having a whale of a time, and that's what counts.

The band's line-up was John Weston on guitar, Mally Rabbit on organ, Billy Fagg on drums and Chaddy Penketh on bass guitar.  With names like that, one wonders if any pseudonyms were being used, or if it's perfectly possible for several people with such insane birthnames to join the same band at the same time.  What a strange old era it was.

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