The Deviants -

The Deviants were an English psych-rock band that self-released the album Ptooff! in 1968. It was picked up by Sire, which released the group’s 1968/69 efforts Disposable and The Deviants. Frontman Mick Farren became a rock writer and occasional solo artist. Guitarist Paul Rudolph and bassist Duncan Sanderson formed the Pink Fairies.

Members: Mick Farren (vocals, piano), Sid Bishop (guitar, sitar), Cord Rees (bass), Russell Hunter (drums), Duncan Sanderson (guitar, bass), Paul Rudolph (guitar)

Background

Mick Farren assembled the first lineup in Ladbroke Grove as the Social Deviants. He was born Michael Anthony Farren on September 3, 1943, in Cheltenham and later moved to Worthing, Sussex, where he attended Worthing High School for Boys. In 1963, he enrolled at Saint Martin’s School of Art in London.

By 1966, Farren frequented the underground scene in Ladbroke Grove, where he assembled the Social Deviants with guitarist Clive Muldoon and multiple short-term members. In early 1967, drummer Russell Hunter and bassist Cord Rees joined the band, which shortened its name to The Deviants after Muldoon cleared for guitarist Sid Bishop. Backed by the son of a millionaire, they recorded their first album for private distribution.

Ptooff!

The Deviants completed their first album, Ptooff!, in August 1967 for distribution on Mick Farren’s Underground Impresarios imprint. In June 1968, the album appeared in France and North America on Sire Records.

Mick Farren wrote the lengthy “Deviation Street” and co-wrote songs with Sid Bishop (“Charlie,” “Child of the Sky”), and third writer Russell Hunter (“Garbage” “I’m Coming Home”). Ptooff! also includes the group-written “Bun” and Farren’s “Nothing Man,” co-credited to one Jack Henry Moore.

Ptooff! features secondary input by guitarist Bishop (sitar) and bassist Rees (Spanish guitar).

A1. “Opening” (0:05)
A2. “I’m Coming Home” (5:52)
A3. “Child of the Sky” (4:25)
A4. “Charlie” (3:30)
A5. “Nothing Man” (4:22)

B1. “Garbage” (5:32)
B2. “Bun” (2:35)
B3. “Deviation Street” (9:08)

Sessions occurred at Sound Techniques in London with producer Johnathon Weber and bassist/arranger Duncan Sanderson, who replaced Rees halfway through the album’s creation.

Original UI copies appeared in a six-fold poster sleeve with a comic illustration of an onomatopoeic explosion outside a spacecraft, where the commander says “When the mode of the music changes, the walls of the city shake!” The flipside contains a blue-scale illustration about Degepa, the city of enlightened ones who meet to discuss the problems of the universe.

Disposable

The Deviants released their second album, Disposable, on November 8, 1968, on Stable Records. The album features a reconfigured four-piece with Mick Farren, Sid Bishop, Duncan Sanderson, and Russell Hunter.

“Fire In the City” and “Guaranteed to Bleed” feature brass arrangements by Bluesbreakers saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith, the subsequent heart of Colosseum.

A1. “Somewhere to Go” (7:17)
A2. “Sparrows and Wires” (0:28)
A3. “Jamie’s Song” (3:28)
A4. “You’ve Got to Hold On” (3:47)
A5. “Fire In the City” (2:57)
A6. “Let’s Loot the Supermarket” (2:21)

B1. “Pappa-Oo-Mao-Mao” (2:20)
B2. “Slum Lord” (2:08)
B3. “Blind Joe McTurk’s Last Session” (1:17)
B4. “Normality Jam” (4:20)
B5. “Guaranteed to Bleed” (2:35)
B6. “Sidney B. Goode” (0:50)
B7. “Last Man” (5:36)

Sessions occurred in September 1968 at Morgan Studio.

After Disposable, the newly married Bishop cleared out for Canadian-born guitarist Paul Rudolph.

The Deviants

The Deviants released their self-titled third album in September 1969 on Transatlantic Records. The album features the four-edition lineup with Mick Farren, Paul Rudolph, Duncan Sanderson, and Russell Hunter; augmented by Harmony Grass organist Tony Ferguson.

A1. “Billy The Monster” (3:23)
A2. “Broken Biscuits” (2:09)
A3. “First Line” (2:43)
A4. “The People’s Suite” (2:24)
A5. “Ramblin B(l)ack Transit Blues” (5:32)

B1. “Death of a Dream Machine” (2:45)
B2. “Playtime” (3:06)
B3. “Black George Does It With His Mouth” (1:20)
B4. “Junior Narco Rangers” (0:15)
B5. “People of the City” (1:27)
B6. “Metamorphosis Exploration” (8:49)

In June 1969, Farren and Rudolph partook in the sessions for Think Pink, the debut solo album of ex-Fairies/Tomorrow drummer John Alder, aka Twink.

The Deviants promoted their third album on a tour of the US West Coast, where tensions arose between Farren and his bandmates. Farren abandoned the group and returned to London, where he enlisted Twink and ex-Tyrannosaurus Rex percussionist Steve Peregrin Took for a solo album, Mona – The Carnivorous Circus, released in March 1970 on Transatlantic. After a few ramshackle performances, Farren entered music journalism.

Twink teamed with Rudolph, Sanderson, and Hunter in the Pink Fairies, which debuted with the 1971 Polydor single “The Snake,” followed by Never Never Land, their first of three albums.

Discography: