447) The Fairytale — “Guess I Was Dreaming”
In ascending order of adulation:
1) 23 Daves says that the song “is a gentle, slightly fey track with a foreboding piano riff and throbbing bassline occasionally popping its head up into the mix”. (http://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2009/07/fairytale-guess-i-was-dreaming-bw-run.html)
2) Vernon Joynson calls it “quite an interesting debut of flowery psychedelia”. (Tapestry of Delights Revisited).
3) Bruce Eder says it’s the Fairytale’s “magnum opus, a trippy piece of psychedelia that’s pop-ish without being wimpy, with a great beat and some weird guitar sounds from John Weston, who probably didn’t deserve the obscurity that he achieved in music.” (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/fairytale-mn0000632040) Probably? Is this Richie Unterberger impersonating Bruce Eder?
4) Derek See says the song “is one of those cuts where the stars line up for absolute magic. . . . from the early psychedelic days that distills the strong r&b influence into music that was somehow able to be wispy, propelling, danceable and mind blowing all at the same time”. (http://dereksdaily45.blogspot.com/2011/05/fairytale-guess-i-was-dreaming.html)
I’m with Derek all the way. He also relates that:
Allegedly, Don Arden (UK music bigwig who managed the early career of the Small Faces and others), asked the group if they had any songs with psychedelic imagery, and this song (allegedly about a bad acid trip) was what they presented. Arden may have practiced questionable business tactics, but the man certainly knew a great song and with his help this was the debut release from the group.
As to Fairytale, Vernon Joynson says that it was “[a] short-lived Lancastrian outfit who formed in Warrington [near Manchester] in March 1967 and tended to blend pop psychedelia with a taint of punk-rock . . . . When neither of their 45s ‘happened’ Fairytale had called it a day by 1968.” Oh, and 23 Daves adds that “[t]he 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.” Yes, it was.
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